SaveroftheFranks's Personal Name List
Adair
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ə-DEHR
From an English surname that was derived from the given name
Edgar.
Adalet
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Turkish
Pronounced: a-da-LEHT
Means
"justice" in Turkish, ultimately from Arabic
عدل (ʿadala) meaning "to act justly".
Adalwolf
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic [1]
Old German form of
Adolf.
Adolphe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-DAWLF
French form of
Adolf, rarely used since World War II.
Adolphus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic (Latinized)
Agimar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic [1]
Derived from Old Frankish
aggju or Old High German
ekka meaning "edge, blade" combined with
mari meaning "famous".
Aidan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English (Modern)
Pronounced: AY-dən(English)
Anglicized form of
Aodhán. In the latter part of the 20th century it became popular in America due to its sound, since it shares a sound with such names as
Braden and
Hayden. It peaked ranked 39th for boys in 2003.
Aideen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: AY-deen(English)
Ailish
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: IE-lish(English)
Anglicized form of
Ailís.
Aimery
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Medieval French
Ainsley
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English (Modern)
Pronounced: AYNZ-lee(English)
From an English surname that was from a place name: either Annesley in Nottinghamshire or Ansley in Warwickshire. The place names themselves derive from Old English
anne "alone, solitary" or
ansetl "hermitage" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
In America, this name received a boost of popularity in 2000 when a character bearing it began appearing on the television series The West Wing.
Alana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Breton
Pronounced: ə-LAN-ə(English) a-LAHN-a(Breton)
Alarik
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Frisian, Norwegian, Swedish, Finland Swedish
Pronounced: AH:-lah:-rhik(Dutch) AH-lah-rik(Finland Swedish)
Variant form of
Alaric.
Name day in the Finland Swedish calendar: May 24th
Aldith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Medieval English
Aldyth
Gender: Feminine
Usage: American (Archaic)
Pronounced: AHL-dith, AL-dith
Alerick
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (American, Rare), Spanish (Mexican, Rare)
Pronounced: ah-LAYR-ick(American English)
Aliona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Алёна(Russian) Альона(Ukrainian)
Pronounced: u-LYUY-nə(Russian)
Alison 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: AL-i-sən(English) A-LEE-SAWN(French)
Norman French
diminutive of
Aalis (see
Alice)
[1]. It was common in England, Scotland and France in the Middle Ages, and was later revived in England in the 20th century via Scotland. Unlike most other English names ending in
son, it is not derived from a surname.
Álmos
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hungarian
Pronounced: AL-mosh
Possibly from Hungarian
álom "dream", though perhaps of Turkic origin meaning "bought". This was the name of the semi-legendary father of Árpád, the founder of the Hungarian state. Álmos's mother
Emese supposedly had a dream in which a turul bird impregnated her and foretold that her son would be the father of a great nation.
Alois
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Czech
Pronounced: A-lois(German, Czech) A-lo-is(German)
Aloys
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Medieval Occitan
Medieval Occitan form of
Louis.
Alvilde
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian (Rare)
Amyas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Meaning unknown, perhaps a derivative of
Amis. Alternatively, it may come from a surname that originally indicated that the bearer was from the city of Amiens in France. Edmund Spenser used this name for a minor character in his epic poem
The Faerie Queene (1590).
Andriana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek, Bulgarian
Other Scripts: Ανδριάνα(Greek) Андриана(Bulgarian)
Annora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Medieval English variant of
Honora.
Anri
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Georgian
Other Scripts: ანრი(Georgian)
Arabella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ar-ə-BEHL-ə
Medieval Scottish name, probably a variant of
Annabel. It has long been associated with Latin
orabilis meaning "invokable, yielding to prayer", and the name was often recorded in forms resembling this.
Unrelated, this was an older name of the city of Irbid in Jordan, from Greek Ἄρβηλα (Arbela).
Arke 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Frisian (Archaic)
Short form of names beginning with the Old German element
arn meaning "eagle".
Arlen
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AHR-lən
Meaning unknown, possibly from a surname.
Arlette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AR-LEHT
Arne 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: AHR-neh(Swedish) AH-nə(Danish)
Originally an Old Norse short form of names beginning with the element
ǫrn meaning
"eagle".
Árpád
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hungarian
Pronounced: AR-pad
From Hungarian árpa meaning "barley". This was the name of a 9th-century Magyar ruler who led his people into Hungary. He is considered a Hungarian national hero.
Ashling
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: ASH-ling(English)
Askell
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Manx
Aston
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AS-tən
From a surname that was originally derived from either a place name meaning "east town" in Old English or from the given name
Æðelstan.
Astor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AS-tər
From a German and French surname derived from Occitan astur meaning "hawk". The wealthy and influential Astor family, prominent in British and American society, originated in the Italian Alps.
Astoria
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: as-TAWR-ee-ə
Feminine form of
Astor. This is also the name of several American towns, after the businessman John Jacob Astor.
Astrid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German, French, English
Pronounced: AS-strid(Swedish) AHS-tri(Norwegian) AS-trit(German) AS-TREED(French) AS-trid(English)
Modern Scandinavian form of
Ástríðr. This name was borne by the Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002), the author of
Pippi Longstocking. It was also borne by a Swedish princess (1905-1935) who became the queen of Belgium as the wife of Leopold III.
Athelstan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Modern form of
Æðelstan. This name was revived in Britain the latter half of the 19th century.
Auberon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Carolingian Cycle
Pronounced: AW-bər-ahn(English) O-bər-ahn(English)
From a
diminutive form of
Auberi, an Old French form of
Alberich. It is the name of the fairy king in the 13th-century epic
Huon de Bordeaux.
Aubert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: O-BEHR
Aubrey
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AWB-ree
From
Auberi, an Old French form of
Alberich brought to England by the
Normans. It was common in the Middle Ages, and was revived in the 19th century. Since the mid-1970s it has more frequently been given to girls, due to Bread's 1972 song
Aubrey along with its similarity to the established feminine name
Audrey.
Audley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AWD-lee
From a surname that was taken from a place name meaning
"Ealdgyð's clearing" in Old English.
Audrey
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: AWD-ree(English) O-DREH(French)
Medieval
diminutive of
Æðelþryð. This was the name of a 7th-century
saint, a princess of East Anglia who founded a monastery at Ely. It was also used by William Shakespeare for a character in his comedy
As You Like It (1599). At the end of the Middle Ages the name became rare due to association with the word
tawdry (which was derived from
St. Audrey, the name of a fair where cheap lace was sold), but it was revived in the 19th century. A famous bearer was British actress Audrey Hepburn (1929-1993).
Aulay
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Auley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Manx, Scots
Pronounced: AH-leh(Scots) AW-leh(Scots)
Manx and Scots form of
Olaf, from Old Norse
Áleifr via Old Irish
Amlaíb. This name used to be Anglicized as the etymologically unrelated
Humphrey.
Averill
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
From an English surname that was originally derived from the feminine given name
Eoforhild.
Avery
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AY-və-ree, AYV-ree
From an English surname that was itself derived from the Norman French form of the given names
Alberich or
Alfred.
As a given name, it was used on the American sitcom Murphy Brown (1988-1998) for both the mother and son of the main character. By 1998 it was more popular as a name for girls in the United States, perhaps further inspired by a character from the movie Jerry Maguire (1996).
Avis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AY-vis
Probably a Latinized form of the Germanic name
Aveza, which was derived from the element
awi, of unknown meaning. The
Normans introduced this name to England and it became moderately common during the Middle Ages, at which time it was associated with Latin
avis "bird".
Avonlea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Created by L. M. Montgomery as the setting for her novel
Anne of Green Gables (1908). She may have based the name on the Arthurian island of
Avalon, though it also resembles the river name
Avon and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Avtandil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Georgian, Literature
Other Scripts: ავთანდილ(Georgian)
Pronounced: AV-TAN-DEEL(Georgian)
Created by the Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli for his 12th-century epic
The Knight in the Panther's Skin. Rustaveli based it on Persian
آفتاب (āftāb) meaning "sunshine" and
دل (del) meaning "heart". In the poem Avtandil is a knight who is sent by
Tinatin to search for the mysterious knight of the title.
Axelle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: A-KSEHL
Aymeric
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: EHM-REEK, EH-MU-REEK
Bagrat
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Armenian, Georgian (Rare)
Other Scripts: Բագրատ(Armenian) ბაგრატ(Georgian)
Pronounced: bahg-RAHT(Armenian) BAG-RAT(Georgian)
Armenian and Georgian form of
Bagadata. This name was borne by several Georgian kings, though it is now uncommon there.
Banquo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: BANG-kwo(English)
Meaning uncertain, possibly derived from Scottish Gaelic bàn "white" and cù "dog, hound". This is the name of a character in William Shakespeare's semi-historical tragedy Macbeth (1606). He earlier appears in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), one of Shakespeare's sources for the play.
Barclay
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: BAHR-klee
From a Scottish and English surname that was derived from the English place name
Berkeley, itself from Old English
beorc "birch" and
leah "woodland, clearing".
Barrett
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BAR-it, BEHR-it
From a surname probably meaning "quarrelsome, deceptive" in Middle English, originally given to a quarrelsome person.
Barry
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English
Pronounced: BAR-ee(English) BEHR-ee(English)
Anglicized form of
Barra.
Bede
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History (Ecclesiastical)
Pronounced: BEED(English)
Modern form of the Old English name
Baeda, possibly related to Old English
bed "prayer".
Saint Bede, called the Venerable Bede, was an 8th-century historian, scholar and Doctor of the Church.
Bellamy
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
From an English surname derived from Old French bel ami meaning "beautiful friend".
Bennett
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BEHN-it
Medieval form of
Benedict. This was the more common spelling in England until the 18th century. Modern use of the name is probably also influenced by the common surname
Bennett, itself a derivative of the medieval name.
Bentley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BENT-lee
From a surname that was from a place name, itself derived from Old English
beonet "bent grass" and
leah "woodland, clearing". Various towns in England bear this name.
Beorn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Anglo-Saxon, Literature
Pronounced: beh-orn(Old English)
Derived from Old English
beorn meaning "man, hero, warrior". In some cases it could be an Anglicized form of the Old Norse name
Bjǫrn.
This was used by J. R. R. Tolkien who used Old English to represent the Rohirric language. In his novel The Hobbit (1937) Beorn is a shapeshifting woodsman who sometimes takes the form of a great black bear. He receives Gandalf, Bilbo and the thirteen Dwarves into his wooden house between the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood and aids them in their quest to reclaim the Dwarves' kingdom.
Berengar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic [1]
Old German name derived from the elements
bern "bear" and
ger "spear". This was the name of two medieval kings of Italy and a Holy Roman emperor.
Berenguer
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Catalan
Pronounced: bə-rəng-GEH
Bernt
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: BENT(Swedish)
Blaine
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BLAYN
From a Scottish surname that was derived from the Old Irish given name
Bláán.
Blair
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: BLEHR(English)
From a Scottish surname that was derived from Gaelic
blàr meaning
"plain, field, battlefield". In Scotland this name is typically masculine.
In the United States it became more common for girls in the early 1980s, shortly after the debut of the television sitcom The Facts of Life (1979-1988), which featured a character named Blair Warner. The name left the American top 1000 rankings two decades later, but was resurrected by another television character, this time Blair Waldorf from the series Gossip Girl (2007-2012).
Blaise
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: BLEHZ
From the Roman name
Blasius, which was derived from Latin
blaesus meaning
"lisping".
Saint Blaise was a 4th-century Armenian martyr. A famous bearer was the French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal (1623-1662).
Blanid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Bonnie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BAHN-ee
Means "pretty" from the Scottish word bonnie, which was itself derived from Middle French bon "good". It has been in use as an American given name since the 19th century, and it became especially popular after the movie Gone with the Wind (1939), in which it was the nickname of Scarlett's daughter.
Boone
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BOON
From an English surname that was either derived from Old French bon meaning "good" or from the name of the town of Bohon, France.
Botros
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Coptic
Other Scripts: بطرس(Arabic)
Pronounced: BOOT-roos(Arabic)
Alternate transcription of Arabic
بطرس (see
Butrus).
Bran 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Irish Mythology, Old Irish [1]
Pronounced: BRAN(Irish)
Means "raven" in Irish. In Irish legend Bran mac Febail was a mariner who was involved in several adventures on his quest to find the Otherworld.
Brant
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BRANT
From an English surname that was derived from the Old Norse given name
Brandr. This is also the name for a variety of wild geese.
Branwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: BRAN-wehn(Welsh)
Means
"white raven" from Old Welsh
bran "raven" and
gwen "white, blessed". According to the Second Branch of the
Mabinogi [1] she was the daughter of
Llŷr. After she was mistreated by her husband Matholwch, the king of Ireland, she managed to get a message to her brother
Brân, the king of Britain. Brân launched a costly invasion to rescue her, but she died of grief shortly after her return.
Brendan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English, Breton
Pronounced: BREHN-dən(English) BREHN-dahn(Breton)
From
Brendanus, the Latinized form of the Old Irish name
Bréanainn, which was derived from Old Welsh
breenhin meaning
"king, prince".
Saint Brendan was a 6th-century Irish abbot who, according to legend, crossed the Atlantic and reached North America with 17 other monks.
Bruce
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: BROOS
From a Scottish surname, of Norman origin, which probably originally referred to the town of Brix in France. The surname was borne by Robert the Bruce, a Scottish hero of the 14th century who achieved independence from England and became the king of Scotland. It has been in use as a given name in the English-speaking world since the 19th century, becoming especially popular in the 1940s and 50s. Notable bearers include Chinese-American actor Bruce Lee (1940-1973), American musician Bruce Springsteen (1949-), and American actor Bruce Willis (1955-). It is also the real name of the comic book superheroes Batman (Bruce Wayne), created 1939, and the Hulk (Bruce Banner), created 1962.
Bryce
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BRIES
Burke
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BURK
From an English surname that was derived from Old English
burg meaning
"fortress".
Byron
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: BIE-rən
From a surname that was originally from a place name meaning "place of the cow sheds" in Old English. This was the surname of the romantic poet Lord Byron (1788-1824), the writer of Don Juan and many other works.
Caden
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KAY-dən
Sometimes explained as deriving from the Irish surname
Caden, which is an Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic
Mac Cadáin, itself from the given name
Cadán (of unknown meaning). In actuality, the popularity of this name in America beginning in the 1990s is due to its sound — it shares its fashionable
den suffix sound with other trendy names like
Hayden,
Aidan and
Braden.
Cadogan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh (Rare)
Cadwalader
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh (Rare)
Caelan
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAY-lən
Anglicized form of
Caolán (masculine) or a variant of
Kaylyn (feminine).
Calanthe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: kə-LAN-thee
From the name of a type of orchid, ultimately meaning "beautiful flower", derived from Greek
καλός (kalos) meaning "beautiful" and
ἄνθος (anthos) meaning "flower".
Calvin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAL-vin
Derived from the French surname
Cauvin, which was derived from
chauve meaning
"bald". The surname was borne by Jean Cauvin (1509-1564), a theologian from France who was one of the leaders of the
Protestant Reformation. His surname was Latinized as
Calvinus (based on Latin
calvus "bald") and he is known as John Calvin in English. It has been used as a given name in his honour since the 19th century.
In modern times, this name is borne by American fashion designer Calvin Klein (1942-), as well as one of the main characters from Bill Watterson's comic strip Calvin and Hobbes (published from 1985 to 1995).
Carey
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KEHR-ee
From an Irish surname, the Anglicized form of
Ó Ciardha, which is a patronymic derived from the given name
Ciardha.
Caspian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: KAS-pee-ən(English)
Used by author C. S. Lewis for a character in his Chronicles of Narnia series, first appearing in 1950. Prince Caspian first appears in the fourth book, where he is the rightful king of Narnia driven into exile by his evil uncle Miraz. Lewis probably based the name on the Caspian Sea, which was named for the city of Qazvin, which was itself named for the ancient Cas tribe.
Cathal
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Old Irish [1]
Pronounced: KA-həl(Irish)
Derived from Old Irish
cath "battle" and
fal "rule". This was the name of a 7th-century Irish
saint. It was also borne by several Irish kings. It has sometimes been Anglicized as
Charles.
Cavan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Either from the name of the Irish county, which is derived from Irish
cabhán "hollow", or else from the Irish surname
Cavan.
Cedric
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SEHD-rik
Invented by Walter Scott for a character in his novel
Ivanhoe (1819). Apparently he based it on the actual name
Cerdic, the name of the semi-legendary founder of the kingdom of Wessex in the 6th century. The meaning of
Cerdic is uncertain, but it does not appear to be Old English in origin. It could be connected to the Brythonic name
Caratācos. The name was also used by Frances Hodgson Burnett for the main character in her novel
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1886).
Chantal
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, Dutch
Pronounced: SHAHN-TAL(French) shahn-TAHL(English, Dutch) shahn-TAL(English)
From a French surname that was derived from a place name meaning
"stony". It was originally given in honour of
Saint Jeanne-Françoise de Chantal, the founder of the Visitation Order in the 17th century. It has become associated with French
chant "song".
Charlize
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Afrikaans
Pronounced: shar-LEEZ
Feminine form of
Charles using the popular Afrikaans name suffix
ize. This name was popularized by South African actress Charlize Theron (1975-), who was named after her father Charles.
Cherilyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHEHR-ə-lin
Combination of
Cheryl and the popular name suffix
lyn.
Clancy
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: KLAN-see
From an Irish surname (Anglicized from Mac Fhlannchaidh), derived from the given name Flannchadh meaning "red warrior".
Clay
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KLAY
From an English surname that originally referred to a person who lived near or worked with clay. This name can also be a short form of
Clayton.
Clayton
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KLAY-tən
From a surname that was originally derived from various English place names, all meaning "clay settlement" in Old English.
Cleo
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KLEE-o
Clovis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History, French
Pronounced: KLO-vis(English) KLAW-VEES(French)
Contemporary spelling, via the Latinized form
Clodovicus, of the Germanic name
Hludwig (see
Ludwig). Clovis was a Frankish king who united the Franks under his rule in the 5th century. The name was subsequently borne by two further Merovingian kings.
Colbert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KOL-bərt
From an English surname that was derived from a Norman form of the Old German name
Colobert.
Cole
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KOL
From an English surname, itself originally derived from either a medieval short form of
Nicholas or the byname
Cola. A famous bearer was the songwriter Cole Porter (1891-1964), while a bearer of the surname was the musician Nat King Cole (1919-1965).
This name got more popular in the early 1980s, then got a boost in 1990 when it was used by the main character in the movie Days of Thunder.
Colin 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAHL-in, KOL-in
Medieval
diminutive of
Col, a short form of
Nicholas. It is now regarded as an independent name.
Conan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Means
"little wolf" or
"little hound" from Irish
cú "wolf, hound" combined with a
diminutive suffix. This was the name of several early
saints, including a 7th-century bishop of the Isle of Man. It appears in Irish legend as a companion
Fionn mac Cumhaill. A famous bearer of it as a middle name was Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), the author of the Sherlock Holmes mystery stories. It is also the name of the hero of the
Conan the Barbarian series of books, comics and movies, debuting 1932.
Connor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English (Modern)
Pronounced: KAHN-ər(English)
Variant of
Conor, based on the usual spelling of the surname that is derived from the name. This is currently the most common way of spelling it in the English-speaking world, apart from Ireland.
Conor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: KAHN-ər(English)
Corey
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAWR-ee
From an English surname that was derived from the Old Norse given name
Kóri, of unknown meaning. This name became popular in the 1960s due to the character Corey Baker on the television series
Julia [1].
Corné
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch
Pronounced: kawr-NEH
Cornelis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch
Pronounced: kawr-NEH-lis
Courtney
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KAWRT-nee
From an aristocratic English surname that was derived either from the French place name
Courtenay (originally a derivative of the personal name
Curtenus, itself derived from Latin
curtus "short") or else from a Norman nickname meaning "short nose".
Originally more common as a name for boys in America, it became more popular for girls in the 1960s. It began rapidly increasing after 1973, possibly due to a character (played by Natalie Wood) in the television movie The Affair. It reached an apex in the United States ranked 17th in 1990, though it has quickly fallen away since then.
Crowley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Irish
Pronounced: KRAW-lee(English)
Transferred use of the surname
Crowley.
Darina 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Slovak, Czech, Bulgarian, Russian
Other Scripts: Дарина(Bulgarian, Russian)
Pronounced: DA-ree-na(Slovak) DA-ri-na(Czech)
Derived from the Slavic word
darŭ meaning
"gift". It is sometimes used as a
diminutive of names beginning with
Dar.
Darragh
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Darwin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAHR-win
From a surname that was derived from the Old English given name
Deorwine. The surname was borne by the British naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882), the man who first proposed the theory of natural selection and subsequently revolutionized biology.
Declan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English
Pronounced: DEHK-lən(English)
Anglicized form of Irish
Deaglán, Old Irish
Declán, which is of unknown meaning.
Saint Declan was a 5th-century missionary to the Déisi peoples of Ireland and the founder of the monastery at Ardmore.
In America, this name received boosts in popularity from main characters in the movies The Jackal (1997) and Leap Year (2010).
Deirdre
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Irish, Irish Mythology
Pronounced: DIR-drə(English) DIR-dree(English) DYEHR-dryə(Irish)
From the Old Irish name
Derdriu, meaning unknown, possibly derived from
der meaning
"daughter". This was the name of a tragic character in Irish legend who died of a broken heart after
Conchobar, the king of Ulster, forced her to be his bride and killed her lover
Naoise.
It has only been commonly used as a given name since the 20th century, influenced by two plays featuring the character: William Butler Yeats' Deirdre (1907) and J. M. Synge's Deirdre of the Sorrows (1910).
Derek
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DEHR-ik
From the older English name
Dederick, which was in origin a Low German form of
Theodoric. It was imported to England from the Low Countries in the 15th century.
Dermot
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Donagh
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Anglicized form of
Donnchadh (see
Duncan).
Donovan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DAHN-ə-vən
From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of
Ó Donndubháin, itself derived from the given name
Donndubán. This name is borne by the Scottish folk musician Donovan Leitch (1946-), known simply as Donovan.
Dorian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French, Romanian
Pronounced: DAWR-ee-ən(English) DAW-RYAHN(French)
The name was first used by Oscar Wilde in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), which tells the story of a man whose portrait ages while he stays young. Wilde may have taken it from the name of the ancient Greek tribe the Dorians.
Douglas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: DUG-ləs
From a Scottish surname that was from the name of a town in Lanarkshire, itself named after a tributary of the River Clyde called the Douglas Water. It means "dark river", derived from Gaelic dubh "dark" and glais "water, river" (an archaic word related to glas "grey, green"). This was a Scottish Lowland clan, the leaders of which were powerful earls in the medieval period. The Gaelic form is Dùghlas or Dùbhghlas. It has been used as a given name since the 16th century.
Drake
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DRAYK
From an English surname derived from the Old Norse byname
Draki or the Old English byname
Draca both meaning "dragon", both via Latin from Greek
δράκων (drakon) meaning "dragon, serpent". This name coincides with the unrelated English word
drake meaning "male duck". A famous bearer is the Canadian actor and rapper Drake (1986-), who was born as Aubrey Drake Graham.
Duncan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: DUNG-kən(English)
Anglicized form of the Scottish Gaelic name
Donnchadh, derived from Old Irish
donn "brown" and
cath "battle". This was the name of two kings of Scotland, including the one who was featured in Shakespeare's play
Macbeth (1606).
Dustin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: DUS-tin
From an English surname that was derived from the Old Norse given name
Þórsteinn (see
Torsten). The name was popularized by the actor Dustin Hoffman (1937-), who was apparently named after the earlier silent movie star Dustin Farnum (1874-1929)
[1].
Dylan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: DUL-an(Welsh) DIL-ən(English)
From the Welsh prefix
dy meaning "to, toward" and
llanw meaning "tide, flow". According to the Fourth Branch of the
Mabinogi [1], Dylan was a son of
Arianrhod and the twin brother of
Lleu Llaw Gyffes. Immediately after he was baptized he took to the sea, where he could swim as well as a fish. He was slain accidentally by his uncle
Gofannon. According to some theories the character might be rooted in an earlier and otherwise unattested Celtic god of the sea.
Famous bearers include the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) and the American musician Bob Dylan (1941-), real name Robert Zimmerman, who took his stage surname from the poet's given name. Due to those two bearers, use of the name has spread outside of Wales in the last half of the 20th century. It received a further boost in popularity in the 1990s due to a character on the television series Beverly Hills 90210.
Eben
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Ebony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: African American
Pronounced: EHB-ən-ee(English)
From the English word ebony for the black wood that comes from the ebony tree. It is ultimately from the Egyptian word hbnj. In America this name is most often used in the black community.
Edana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: History (Ecclesiastical)
Latinized form of
Étaín. This was the name of an early Irish
saint.
Edelgard
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German
From an Old German name, which was derived from the elements
adal "noble" and
gart "enclosure, yard".
Edith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch
Pronounced: EE-dith(English) EH-dit(German, Swedish)
From the Old English name
Eadgyð, derived from the elements
ead "wealth, fortune" and
guð "battle". It was popular among Anglo-Saxon royalty, being borne for example by
Saint Eadgyeth;, the daughter of King Edgar the Peaceful. It was also borne by the Anglo-Saxon wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I. The name remained common after the
Norman Conquest. It became rare after the 15th century, but was revived in the 19th century.
Edric
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: EHD-rik
From the Old English elements
ead "wealth, fortune" and
ric "ruler, king". After the
Norman Conquest this Old English name was not commonly used. It has occasionally been revived in modern times.
Egilmar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic [1]
Derived from the Old German elements
agil "edge, blade" and
mari "famous". Egilmar (or Elimar) was the name of two counts of Oldenburg in the 12th century.
Egon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: EH-gawn
From the Old German name
Egino, derived from the element
agin meaning
"edge, blade" (from Proto-Germanic *
agjō).
Saint Egino was a 12th-century abbot from Augsburg.
Einar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian, Icelandic, Swedish, Danish, Estonian
Pronounced: IE-nahr(Norwegian) AY-nar(Icelandic, Swedish)
From the Old Norse name
Einarr, derived from the elements
einn "one, alone" and
herr "army, warrior". This name shares the same roots as
einherjar, the word for the slain warriors in Valhalla.
Elbert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch
Pronounced: EHL-bərt
Elian
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Dutch (Rare)
Pronounced: EH-lee-yahn
Elis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Medieval English
Pronounced: EH-lis(Swedish)
Swedish variant of
Elias, as well as a medieval English form.
Elisabeth
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, English, Biblical, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: eh-LEE-za-beht(German) eh-LEE-sa-beht(Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian) eh-LEE-sa-behd(Danish) i-LIZ-ə-bəth(English)
German and Dutch form of
Elizabeth. It is also a variant English form, reflecting the spelling used in the Authorized Version of the
New Testament.
Elise
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, English
Pronounced: eh-LEE-zə(German) eh-LEE-seh(Norwegian, Danish, Swedish) i-LEES(English) EE-lees(English)
Elizabeth
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Biblical
Pronounced: i-LIZ-ə-bəth(English)
From
Ἐλισάβετ (Elisabet), the Greek form of the Hebrew name
אֱלִישֶׁבַע (ʾElishevaʿ) meaning
"my God is an oath", derived from the roots
אֵל (ʾel) referring to the Hebrew God and
שָׁבַע (shavaʿ) meaning "oath". The Hebrew form appears in the
Old Testament where Elisheba is the wife of
Aaron, while the Greek form appears in the
New Testament where Elizabeth is the mother of
John the Baptist.
Among Christians, this name was originally more common in Eastern Europe. It was borne in the 12th century by Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a daughter of King Andrew II who used her wealth to help the poor. In medieval England it was occasionally used in honour of the saint, though the form Isabel (from Occitan and Spanish) was more common. It has been very popular in England since the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century. In American name statistics (as recorded since 1880) it has never ranked lower than 30, making it the most consistently popular name for girls in the United States.
Besides Elizabeth I, this name has been borne (in various spellings) by many other European royals, including a ruling empress of Russia in the 18th century. Famous modern bearers include the British queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) and actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011).
Ella 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHL-ə
Norman name, originally a short form of Germanic names containing the element
alles meaning
"other" (Proto-Germanic *
aljaz). It was introduced to England by the
Normans and used until the 14th century, and it was later revived in the 19th century. A famous bearer was the American singer Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996).
Elliott
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHL-ee-ət
From an English surname that was derived from a
diminutive of the medieval name
Elias.
Ellis
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English, Welsh
Pronounced: EHL-is(English)
From an English surname that was derived from the given name
Elis, a medieval vernacular form of
Elias. This name has also functioned as an Anglicized form of Welsh
Elisedd.
Elmar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Elric
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Medieval English
Pronounced: EHL-rik(English)
Elswyth
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Variant of
Elswith. It was borne by American romance novelist Elswyth Thane (1900-1984), original name Helen Ricker.
Emese
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hungarian
Pronounced: EH-meh-sheh
Possibly derived from Finno-Ugric eme meaning "mother". In Hungarian legend this was the name of the grandmother of Árpád, founder of the Hungarian state.
Emory
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHM-ə-ree
Enid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: EH-nid(Welsh) EE-nid(English)
Probably derived from Welsh
enaid meaning
"soul, spirit, life". In Arthurian tales she first appears in the 12th-century French poem
Erec and Enide by Chrétien de Troyes, where she is the wife of Erec. In later adaptations she is typically the wife of
Geraint. The name became more commonly used after the publication of Alfred Tennyson's Arthurian poem
Enid in 1859, and it was fairly popular in Britain in the first half of the 20th century.
Ennis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
From an Irish surname that was derived from inis meaning "island".
Erazem
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Slovene
Erhan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Turkish
Pronounced: ehr-HAN
From Turkish er meaning "man, hero, brave" and han, which is from the title khan meaning "leader".
Erhard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Germanic
Pronounced: EW-hart(German)
Derived from the Old German element
era "honour, respect" combined with
hart "hard, firm, brave, hardy"
[1][2].
Saint Erhard was a 7th-century bishop of Regensburg in Bavaria.
Erin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Irish
Pronounced: EHR-in(English)
Anglicized form of
Éireann. It was initially used by people of Irish heritage in America, Canada and Australia. It was rare until the mid-1950s.
Erland
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: A-land(Swedish)
From the Old Norse byname Erlendr, which was derived from ørlendr meaning "foreigner".
Erwin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch, Polish, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: EHR-veen(German, Polish) EHR-vin(Dutch)
Derived from the Old German name
Hariwini, composed of the elements
heri "army" and
wini "friend". It may have merged somewhat with the name
Eberwin. A notable bearer was Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961), an Austrian physicist who made contributions to quantum theory.
Eskil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
Esko
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Finnish
Esmée
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British), Dutch
Pronounced: EHZ-may(British English) EHZ-mee(British English) ehs-MEH(Dutch)
Esmond
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: EHZ-mənd
Derived from the Old English elements
est "grace" and
mund "protection". This Old English name was rarely used after the
Norman Conquest. It was occasionally revived in the 19th century.
Espen
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian
Pronounced: EHS-pən
Ethelwyn
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Derived from the Old English masculine name
Æðelwine. When many Old English names were revived in the 19th century, it saw use as a feminine name, probably due to its similarity to the popular name
Ethel. A famous bearer was Canadian poet Ethelwyn Wetherald (1857-1940).
Evadne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Εὐάδνη(Ancient Greek)
From Greek
Εὐάδνη (Euadne), from
εὖ (eu) meaning "good" possibly combined with Cretan Greek
ἀδνός (adnos) meaning "holy". This name was borne by several characters in Greek legend, including the wife of Capaneus. After Capaneus was killed by a lightning bolt sent from
Zeus she committed suicide by throwing herself onto his burning body.
Evan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: EHV-ən(English)
Anglicized form of
Ifan, a Welsh form of
John.
Everett
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: EHV-ə-rit, EHV-rit
From an English surname that was derived from the given name
Everard.
Everild
Gender: Feminine
Usage: History (Ecclesiastical)
Latinized form of
Eoforhild. This was the name of a 7th-century English
saint.
Evert
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch, Swedish
Pronounced: EH-vərt(Dutch)
Ewan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Pronounced: YOO-ən(English)
Fay
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: FAY
In part from the English word
fay meaning
"fairy", derived from Middle English
faie meaning "magical, enchanted", ultimately (via Old French) from Latin
fata meaning "the Fates". It appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's chronicles in the name of
Morgan le Fay. In some cases it may be used as a short form of
Faith. It has been used as a feminine given name since the 19th century.
As a rarer (but older) masculine name it is probably derived from a surname: see Fay 1 or Fay 2.
Fen 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Frisian
Originally a Frisian short form of
Ferdinand (and other names starting with the Old German element
fridu "peace" and a second element beginning with
n [1]).
Findlay
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Finlay
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: FIN-lee(English)
Anglicized form of
Fionnlagh. This spelling is more common in Scotland, though in England and Wales the variant
Finley has been more popular since 2007.
Finn 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish Mythology, Old Irish [1], Irish, English, Dutch, German
Pronounced: FIN(English, Dutch, German)
Old Irish form of
Fionn, as well as the usual Anglicized spelling (with the Irish hero's name Anglicized as Finn McCool). As a surname it is borne by Huckleberry Finn, a character in Mark Twain's novels.
Finnegan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: FIN-ə-gən
From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of
Ó Fionnagáin, itself derived from the given name
Fionnagán, a
diminutive of
Fionn. This is the surname of a relatively minor character in James Joyce's novel
Finnegans Wake (1939), the title of which was based on a 19th-century Irish ballad called
Finnegan's Wake.
Fiona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: fee-O-nə(English)
Feminine form of
Fionn. This name was (first?) used by the Scottish poet James Macpherson in his poem
Fingal (1761), in which it is spelled as
Fióna.
Flick
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: FLIK
Fluellen
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Theatre
Pronounced: floo-EL-in
Anglicized form of
Llywelyn used by Shakespeare for a Welsh captain in his history play 'Henry V' (1599).
Frej
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Danish, Swedish
Pronounced: FRIE(Danish) FRAY(Swedish)
Danish and Swedish form of
Freyr.
Freya
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norse Mythology, English (Modern), German
Pronounced: FRAY-ə(English) FRAY-a(German)
From Old Norse
Freyja meaning
"lady". This is the name of a goddess associated with love, beauty, war and death in Norse
mythology. She claims half of the heroes who are slain in battle and brings them to her realm of Fólkvangr. Along with her brother
Freyr and father
Njord, she is one of the Vanir (as opposed to the Æsir). Some scholars connect her with the goddess
Frigg.
This is not the usual spelling in any of the Scandinavian languages (in Sweden and Denmark it is Freja and in Norway it is Frøja) but it is the common spelling of the goddess's name in English. In the 2000s it became popular in Britain.
Fridolin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Medieval German, German, Dutch (Rare), Flemish (Rare), French (Archaic), Romansh
Diminutive of
Frid or
Frido, which are both a short form of masculine names that contain the Germanic element
frid or
fridu meaning "peace", such as
Friedrich and
Gottfried. Also compare
Friedl and names that contain the High German diminutive suffix
-lin, such as
Landolin and
Wendelin.
The best known bearer of this name is probably the 6th-century missionary and saint Fridolin of Säckingen (died around 538 AD). However, it is important to note that the saint is believed to have been born in Ireland, which means that in his case, his name is either a germanification of his original Irish name, or a legitimate Germanic name (with the etymology that was just described above) that was bestowed upon him by the Alamanns, the local Germanic tribe that he worked amongst in Säckingen.
Other bearers of the name include the German painter Fridolin Leiber (1853-1912), the Swiss politician Fridolin Anderwert (1828-1880) and the German palaeontologist and geologist Fridolin von Sandberger (1826-1898).
Gavin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Scottish
Pronounced: GAV-in(English)
Medieval form of
Gawain. Though it died out in England, it was reintroduced from Scotland in the 20th century.
Gawain
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: gə-WAYN(English) GAH-win(English)
Meaning uncertain, from the Latin form
Gualguainus used in the 12th-century chronicles of Geoffrey of Monmouth (appearing also as
Walganus,
Gwalguanus and other spellings in different copies of the text), where he is one of the knights who serve his uncle King
Arthur. He can be identified with the earlier Welsh hero Gwalchmai, and it is possible that the name derives from
Gwalchmai or a misreading of it.
Gawain was a popular hero in medieval tales such as those by Chrétien de Troyes, where his name appears in the French form Gauvain or Gauvains. He is the main character of the 14th-century anonymous poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, in which he accepts a potentially fatal challenge from the mysterious Green Knight.
Geoffrey
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, French
Pronounced: JEHF-ree(English) ZHAW-FREH(French)
From a Norman French form of a Frankish name. The second element is Old German
fridu "peace", while the first element could be *
gautaz "Geat" (a North Germanic tribe),
gawi "territory" or
walah "foreigner". It is possible that two or more names merged into a single form. In the later Middle Ages
Geoffrey was further confused with the distinct name
Godfrey.
The Normans introduced this name to England where it became common among the nobility. Famous medieval literary bearers include the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth and the 14th-century poet Geoffrey Chaucer, writer of The Canterbury Tales. By the end of the Middle Ages it had become uncommon, but it was revived in the 20th century, often in the spelling Jeffrey.
Gladwyn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: GLAD-win
Glenn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GLEHN
From a Scottish surname that was derived from Gaelic
gleann "valley". It was borne by the American actor Glenn Ford (1916-2006), whose birth name was Gwyllyn. A famous bearer of the surname was American astronaut John Glenn (1921-2016). The name peaked in popularity in 1962 when he became the first American to orbit the earth.
Though this name is borne by the American actress Glenn Close (1947-), it has never caught on as a feminine name.
Glenys
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Probably an elaboration of the Welsh word glân "pure, clean, holy" or glyn "valley". This name was created in the late 19th century.
Godwin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic, Danish (Archaic), Dutch (Rare), English (Rare), German (Archaic)
Pronounced: GOHD-whinn(English)
Ancient Germanic cognate of
Godwine. In English-speaking countries, the use of Godwin as a given name is these days often inspired by the English patronymic surname
Godwin, which was derived from the aforementioned Anglo-Saxon personal name
Godwine.
A known bearer of this given name was the Austrian-Hungarian (but of Polish descent) flying ace Godwin von Brumowski (1889-1936).
Gomer
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Biblical, Biblical Hebrew [1]
Other Scripts: גֹּמֶר(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: GO-mər(English)
Means
"complete" in Hebrew. In the
Old Testament this is the name of both a grandson of
Noah and the unfaithful wife of the prophet
Hosea.
Goswin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch (Archaic)
Pronounced: GHAWS-vin
From the Germanic name
Gautwin, derived from the elements *
gautaz "Geat" (a North Germanic tribe) and
wini "friend".
Griffith
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: GRIF-ith(English)
Gudrun
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norse Mythology, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German
Pronounced: GOO-droon(German)
From the Old Norse name
Guðrún meaning
"god's secret lore", derived from the elements
guð "god" and
rún "secret lore, rune". In Norse legend Gudrun was the wife of
Sigurd. After his death she married
Atli, but when he murdered her brothers, she killed her sons by him, fed him their hearts, and then slew him. Her story appears in Norse literature such as the
Eddas and the
Völsungasaga. She is called
Kriemhild in German versions of the tale. This is also an unrelated character in the medieval German epic
Kudrun.
Gumarich
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic [1]
Derived from the Old German elements
gomo meaning "man" and
rih meaning "ruler, king".
Gwenda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: GWEHN-də(English)
Derived from the Welsh elements
gwen meaning "white, blessed" and
da meaning "good". This name was created in the 19th century.
Gwendolyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: GWEHN-də-lin
Variant of
Gwendolen. This is the usual spelling in the United States.
Gwydion
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology
Probably means
"born of trees" from Old Welsh
guid "trees" and the suffix
gen "born of". In the Fourth Branch of the
Mabinogi [1], Gwydion is the nephew of King
Math of Gwynedd, and like him a powerful magician. In an elaborate plot to give his brother a chance to rape his uncle's footbearer, he arranged a war between Gwynedd and the neighbouring kingdom of Dyfed. Gwydion himself killed King
Pryderi of Dyfed at the end of the war. In punishment for the rape, Math transformed Gwydion and his brother into different animals over the course of three years. Gwydion was the uncle of
Lleu Llaw Gyffes, whom he fostered. Math and Gwydion fashioned Lleu a wife,
Blodeuwedd, out of flowers and they later aided him after her betrayal. Gwydion also appears in older Welsh poetry such as the
Book of Taliesin.
Gwyneth
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: GWIN-eth(Welsh) GWIN-ith(English)
Probably a variant of
Gwynedd. It has been common in Wales since the 19th century, perhaps after the Welsh novelist Gwyneth Vaughan (1852-1910), whose real name was Ann Harriet Hughes. A modern famous bearer is the American actress Gwyneth Paltrow (1972-).
Gyda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Danish, Norwegian
Danish and Norwegian form of
Gyða (see
Gytha).
Hagen
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Germanic Mythology
Pronounced: HA-gən(German)
Derived from the Old German element
hag meaning
"enclosure" (Proto-Germanic *
hagô). In the medieval German saga the
Nibelungenlied he is the cunning half-brother of
Gunther. He killed the hero
Siegfried by luring him onto a hunting expedition and then stabbing him with a javelin in his one vulnerable spot.
Hamish
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Pronounced: HAY-mish(English)
Anglicized form of
a Sheumais, the vocative case of
Seumas.
Hamza
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Turkish, Bosnian
Other Scripts: حمزة(Arabic)
Pronounced: HAM-za(Arabic)
Means
"lion" in Arabic, a derivative of
حمز (ḥamuza) meaning "strong, sturdy". This was the name of an uncle of the Prophet
Muhammad who was killed in battle.
Harper
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAHR-pər
From an English surname that originally belonged to a person who played or made harps (Old English hearpe). A notable bearer was the American author Harper Lee (1926-2016), who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird. It rapidly gained popularity in the 2000s and 2010s, entering the American top ten for girls in 2015.
Harvey
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAHR-vee
From the Breton given name
Haerviu, which meant
"battle worthy", from
haer "battle" and
viu "worthy". This was the name of a 6th-century Breton hermit who is the patron
saint of the blind. Settlers from Brittany introduced it to England after the
Norman Conquest. During the later Middle Ages it became rare, but it was revived in the 19th century.
Hazel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAY-zəl
From the English word hazel for the tree or the light brown colour, derived ultimately from Old English hæsel. It was coined as a given name in the 19th century and quickly became popular, reaching the 18th place for girls in the United States by 1897. It fell out of fashion in the second half of the 20th century, but has since recovered.
Helga
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, German, Dutch, Finnish, Hungarian, Czech, Portuguese, Old Norse [1]
Pronounced: HEHL-ga(German) HEHL-gha(Dutch) HEHL-gaw(Hungarian) EHL-gu(European Portuguese) EW-gu(Brazilian Portuguese)
Helge
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, German, Finnish
Pronounced: HEHL-gə(German)
From the Old Norse name Helgi, derived from heilagr meaning "holy, blessed".
Helka
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: HEHL-kah
Finnish variant of
Helga.
Hendrik
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch, German, Estonian
Pronounced: HEHN-drik(Dutch, German)
Hendry
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scots
Hengist
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Anglo-Saxon Mythology
Means
"stallion" in Old English or Old Saxon. According to medieval histories (recorded by Bede in the 8th century), Hengist and his brother
Horsa were the leaders of the first Saxon settlers in Britain. Hengist established a kingdom in Kent in the 5th century.
Henriette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: AHN-RYEHT(French) hehn-ree-EH-tə(German, Dutch) hehn-ree-EH-də(Danish) hehn-ree-EHT-teh(Norwegian)
Henryk
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: KHEHN-rik
Polish form of
Heinrich (see
Henry).
Herman
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Slovene, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: HUR-mən(English) HEHR-mahn(Dutch)
Means
"army man", derived from the Old German elements
heri "army" and
man "person, man". It was introduced to England by the
Normans, died out, and was revived in the English-speaking world in the 19th century. It was borne by an 18th-century Russian missionary to Alaska who is venerated as a
saint in the Orthodox Church, though in his case the name is an alternate transcription of
German. Another famous bearer was the American writer Herman Melville (1819-1891), the author of
Moby-Dick.
Hershel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: American, Yiddish
Other Scripts: הירשל(Yiddish) הירשׁל(Hebrew)
Yiddish
diminutive of
Hirsh. As a non-Jewish American name (somewhat common around the end of the 19th century), it was likely inspired by the German surname
Herschel, borne for instance by the British-German astronomer William Herschel (1738-1822).
Hester
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch, Biblical Latin
Pronounced: HEHS-tər(English, Dutch)
Latin form of
Esther. Like
Esther, it has been used in England since the
Protestant Reformation. Nathaniel Hawthorne used it for the heroine of his novel
The Scarlet Letter (1850), Hester Prynne, a
Puritan woman forced to wear a red letter
A on her chest after giving birth to a child out of wedlock.
Hildegard
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: HIL-də-gart(German)
Derived from the Old German elements
hilt "battle" and
gart "enclosure, yard". This was the name of the second wife of
Charlemagne (8th century). Also,
Saint Hildegard was a 12th-century mystic from Bingen in Germany who was famous for her writings and poetry and also for her prophetic visions.
Hollis
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HAHL-is
From an English surname that was derived from Middle English holis "holly trees". It was originally given to a person who lived near a group of those trees.
Howell
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Anglicized form of
Hywel.
Humphrey
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: HUM-free
From the Old German elements
hun "bear cub" and
fridu "peace". The
Normans introduced this name to England, where it replaced the Old English
cognate Hunfrith, and it was regularly used through the Middle Ages. A famous bearer was the American actor Humphrey Bogart (1899-1957), who starred in
The Maltese Falcon and
Casablanca.
Idony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Medieval English vernacular form of
Idonea.
Idris 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Means
"ardent lord" from Old Welsh
iudd "lord" combined with
ris "ardent, enthusiastic". This name was borne by Idris the Giant, a 7th-century king of Meirionnydd.
Indigo
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: IN-di-go
From the English word
indigo for the purplish-blue dye or the colour. It is ultimately derived from Greek
Ἰνδικόν (Indikon) meaning "Indic, from India".
Indrek
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Estonian
Estonian form of
Heinrich (see
Henry).
Inge
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, German, Dutch, Estonian
Pronounced: ING-eh(Danish, Norwegian, Swedish) ING-ə(German, Dutch)
Short form of Scandinavian and German names beginning with the element
ing, which refers to the Germanic god
Ing. In Sweden and Norway this is primarily a masculine name, elsewhere it is usually feminine.
Innes
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Irmingard
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare)
Pronounced: IR-min-gart
Iskandar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic, Indonesian, Malay
Other Scripts: إسكندر(Arabic)
Pronounced: ees-KAN-dar(Arabic)
Arabic, Indonesian and Malay form of
Alexander.
Iskra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Croatian
Other Scripts: Искра(Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: EES-kru(Bulgarian) EES-kra(Macedonian, Croatian)
Means "spark" in South Slavic.
Ivor
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Scottish, Welsh, English (British)
Pronounced: IE-və(British English) IE-vər(American English)
From the Old Norse name
Ívarr, which was probably derived from the elements
ýr "yew tree, bow" and
herr "army, warrior". During the Middle Ages it was brought to Britain by Scandinavian settlers and invaders, and it was adopted in Ireland (Irish
Íomhar), Scotland (Scottish Gaelic
Iomhar) and Wales (Welsh
Ifor).
Izka
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish
Jake
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: JAYK
Medieval variant of
Jack. It is also sometimes used as a short form of
Jacob.
Jeanne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: ZHAN(French) JEEN(English)
Modern French form of
Jehanne, an Old French feminine form of
Iohannes (see
John). This has been the most reliably popular French name for girls since the 13th century. Joan of Arc is known as Jeanne d'Arc in France.
Jules 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: ZHUYL
French form of
Julius. A notable bearer of this name was the French novelist Jules Verne (1828-1905), author of
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and other works of science fiction.
Kai 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Frisian, German, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, English
Pronounced: KIE(German, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, English)
Meaning uncertain, possibly a Frisian
diminutive of
Gerhard,
Nicolaas,
Cornelis or
Gaius [1]. It is borne by a boy captured by the Snow Queen in an 1844 fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Spreading from Germany and Scandinavia, this name became popular in the English-speaking world and other places in Western Europe around the end of the 20th century.
Kaleb
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KAY-ləb
English variant of
Caleb.
Karsten
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Low German, Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: KAR-stən(Low German) KAS-dən(Danish)
Kaupo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Estonian, Medieval Baltic
Medieval Estonian short form of
Jakob, now used as a given name in its own right.
Keefe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: KEEF
From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of
Ó Caoimh, derived from the given name or byname
Caomh.
Keenan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: KEE-nən(English)
Keith
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Scottish
Pronounced: KEETH(English)
From a Scottish surname that was originally derived from the name of a place in East Lothian, itself possibly derived from the Celtic root *kayto- meaning "wood". This was the surname of a long line of Scottish nobles. It has been used as a given name since the 19th century, becoming fairly common throughout the English-speaking world in the 20th century.
Kelly
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Irish, English
Pronounced: KEHL-ee(English)
Anglicized form of the Irish given name
Ceallach or the surname derived from it
Ó Ceallaigh. As a surname, it has been borne by actor and dancer Gene Kelly (1912-1996) and actress and princess Grace Kelly (1929-1982).
As a given name it was mostly masculine before 1940, but it rose in popularity as a name for girls during the 40s and 50s, probably due both to Grace Kelly (who married Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956) and a female character on the 1957 television series Bachelor Father [1]. By the end of the 1970s it was on the decline.
Kelsey
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KEHL-see
From an English surname that is derived from town names in Lincolnshire. It may mean "Cenel's island", from the Old English name Cenel "fierce" in combination with eg "island".
Kendrick
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KEHN-drik
From a surname that has several different origins. It could be from the Old English given names
Cyneric "royal power" or
Cenric "bold power", or from the Welsh name
Cynwrig "chief hero". It can also be an Anglicized form of the Gaelic surname
Mac Eanraig meaning "son of
Henry".
As an American given name, it got a boost in popularity in 2012 after the rapper Kendrick Lamar (1987-) released his debut album.
Kennedy
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English, Irish
Pronounced: KEHN-ə-dee(English)
From an Irish surname, an Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic
Ó Cinnéidigh, itself derived from the given name
Cennétig. The name has sometimes been given in honour of assassinated American president John F. Kennedy (1917-1963). It was popularized as a name for girls by Lisa Kennedy Montgomery (1972-), known simply as Kennedy, the host of the television program
Alternative Nation on MTV from 1992 to 1997.
Kenneth
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: KEHN-əth(English)
Anglicized form of both
Coinneach and
Cináed. This name was borne by the Scottish king Kenneth (Cináed) mac Alpin, who united the Scots and Picts in the 9th century. It was popularized outside of Scotland by Walter Scott, who used it for the hero in his 1825 novel
The Talisman [1]. A famous bearer was the British novelist Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932), who wrote
The Wind in the Willows.
Kenzie
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KEHN-zee
Kezia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: קְצִיעָה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: kə-ZIE-ə(English)
Kian 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Kiaran
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: KEER-ən, KEER-awn
Kieran
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, English
Pronounced: KEER-ən(English) KEER-awn(English)
Killian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, French
Anglicized form of
Cillian, also used in France.
Kingsley
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KINGZ-lee
From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning "king's wood" in Old English. This name may have received a minor boost in popularity after the release of the 2007 movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, featuring the character Kingsley Shacklebolt.
Kinsey
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: KIN-zee
From an English surname that was derived from the given name
Cynesige. This name is borne by Kinsey Millhone, the heroine in a series of mystery novels by author Sue Grafton, beginning in 1982.
Kirk
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KURK
From an English and Scottish surname meaning
"church" from Old Norse
kirkja, ultimately from Greek
κυριακόν (kyriakon). A famous bearer was American actor Kirk Douglas (1916-2020), whose birth name was Issur Danielovitch.
Klemens
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Polish
Pronounced: KLEH-mehns
German and Polish form of
Clemens (see
Clement). Prince Klemens Metternich (1773-1859) was an Austrian chancellor who guided the Austrian Empire to victory in the Napoleonic Wars.
Koen
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch
Pronounced: KOON
Kondrat
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish (Archaic)
Pronounced: KAWN-drat
Archaic Polish form of
Conrad.
Konrad
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Polish, Slovene
Pronounced: KAWN-rat(German, Polish)
German, Scandinavian, Polish and Slovene form of
Conrad.
Kord
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German (Rare)
Pronounced: KAWRT
German contracted form of
Conrad.
Korneliy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Корнелий(Bulgarian, Russian) Корнелій(Ukrainian)
Pronounced: kur-NEH-lyee(Russian) kawr-NEH-lyee(Ukrainian)
Bulgarian, Russian and Ukrainian form of
Cornelius.
Korney
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Корней(Russian)
Contracted form of
Korneliy. Also compare
Corné, which this name could be considered to be a cognate of.
A well-known bearer of this name was the Russian children's poet Korney Chukovsky (1882-1969).
Kresten
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Danish
Krister
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish
Kurt
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: KUWRT(German) KURT(English)
German contracted form of
Conrad. A famous bearer was the American musician Kurt Cobain (1967-1994).
Kurtis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: KUR-tis
Lachlan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: LAKH-lən(Scottish) LAWK-lən(British English) LAK-lən(American English)
Anglicized form of
Lachlann, the Scottish Gaelic form of
Lochlainn. In the English-speaking world, this name was especially popular in Australia towards the end of the 20th century.
Lachlann
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: LAKH-lən
Lamar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, African American
Pronounced: lə-MAHR(English)
From a French and English surname, originally from a place name in Normandy, which was derived from Old French
la mare meaning
"the pool". In the second half of the 20th century this name has been well-used in the African-American community, probably because of its popular phonetic components
la and
mar.
Lance
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LANS
From the Germanic name
Lanzo, originally a short form of names that began with the Old Frankish or Old Saxon element
land, Old High German
lant meaning
"land" (Proto-Germanic *
landą). During the Middle Ages it became associated with Old French
lance meaning "spear, lance". A famous bearer is American cyclist Lance Armstrong (1971-).
Larissa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German, Portuguese (Brazilian), Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Λάρισα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: lə-RIS-ə(English) la-RI-sa(German)
Variant of
Larisa. It has been commonly used as an English given name only since the 20th century, as a borrowing from Russian. In 1991 this name was given to one of the moons of Neptune, in honour of the mythological character.
Lars
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Dutch, German
Pronounced: LAHSH(Swedish, Norwegian) LAHS(Danish) LAHRS(Finnish, Dutch) LARS(German)
Leif
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: LAYF
From the Old Norse name Leifr meaning "descendant, heir". Leif Eriksson was a Norse explorer who reached North America in the early 11th century. He was the son of Erik the Red.
Leland
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
From a surname, originally from an English place name, which meant "fallow land" in Old English. A famous bearer was the politician, businessman and Stanford University founder Leland Stanford (1824-1893).
Leolin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh
Anglicized form of
Llywelyn influenced by Latin
leo "lion".
Leoline
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Medieval English, English (Rare)
Medieval Anglicization of
Llywelyn which has been documented from the 13th century onwards. (Cf.
Leolin.) It was borne by Welsh politician Sir Leoline Jenkins (1625-1685). In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem 'Christabel' (1797-1801) this name belongs to Christabel's father, Sir Leoline, Baron of Langdale Hall.
Due to similar-looking names like Leontine and Caroline, it has also been used as a feminine name from at least the mid-1800s onwards.
Leontina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Late Roman, Portuguese, Romanian
Leontine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare), Estonian (Rare)
Leroy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LEE-roi
From the French nickname
le roi meaning
"the king". It has been common as an English given name since the 19th century. Since 1920 in the United States it has been mainly used by African Americans
[1].
Leslie
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LEHZ-lee, LEHS-lee
From a Scottish surname that was derived from a place in Aberdeenshire, probably from Gaelic leas celyn meaning "garden of holly". It has been used as a given name since the 19th century. In America it was more common as a feminine name after the 1940s.
Lestan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French (Rare, Archaic), Louisiana Creole (Rare)
Pronounced: LE-STAN(French)
Shortened form of a Norman personal name, either
Leodstan or
Leofstan. The involved name elements are
LEOD "people",
LEOF "love", and
STAN "stone".
Lester
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LEHS-tər
From an English surname that was derived from the name of the city of Leicester, originally denoting a person who was from that place. The city's name is derived from the river name Ligore combined with Latin castra "camp".
Leviathan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: לִוְיָתָן(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: lə-VIE-ə-thən(English)
From Hebrew
לִוְיָתָן (Liwyaṯan), derived from
לִוְיָה (liwya) meaning
"garland, wreath" [1]. This is the name of an enormous sea monster mentioned in the
Old Testament.
Levin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Liesel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German
Pronounced: LEE-zəl
Lilith
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Semitic Mythology, Judeo-Christian-Islamic Legend
Other Scripts: לילית(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: LIL-ith(English)
Derived from Akkadian
lilitu meaning
"of the night". This was the name of a demon in ancient Assyrian myths. In Jewish tradition she was
Adam's first wife, sent out of Eden and replaced by
Eve because she would not submit to him. The offspring of Adam (or
Samael) and Lilith were the evil spirits of the world.
Lincoln
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LING-kən
From an English surname that was originally from the name of an English city, called Lindum Colonia by the Romans, derived from Brythonic lindo "lake, pool" and Latin colonia "colony". This name is usually given in honour of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), president of the United States during the American Civil War.
Linus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized), Ancient Greek (Latinized), Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, German
Other Scripts: Λίνος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: LIE-nəs(English) LEE-nuys(Swedish) LEE-nuws(German)
From the Greek name
Λίνος (Linos) meaning
"flax". In Greek legend he was the son of the god
Apollo, who accidentally killed him in a contest. Another son of Apollo by this name was the music teacher of
Herakles. The name was also borne by the second pope, serving after
Saint Peter in the 1st century. In modern times this was the name of a character in Charles Schulz's comic strip
Peanuts.
Liv 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish
Pronounced: LEEV
Derived from the Old Norse name Hlíf meaning "protection". Its use has been influenced by the modern Scandinavian word liv meaning "life".
Lorelei
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: LAWR-ə-lie(English)
From German
Loreley, the name of a rock headland on the Rhine River. It is of uncertain meaning, though the second element is probably old German
ley meaning "rock" (of Celtic origin). German romantic poets and songwriters, beginning with Clemens Brentano in 1801, tell that a maiden named the Lorelei lives on the rock and lures boaters to their death with her song.
In the English-speaking world this name has been occasionally given since the early 20th century. It started rising in America after the variant Lorelai was used for the main character (and her daughter, nicknamed Rory) on the television series Gilmore Girls (2000-2007).
Lorne
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LAWRN
From the title Marquis of Lorne, which was based on the Scottish place name Lorne, itself possibly derived from the name of the legendary king of Dál Riata, Loarn mac Eirc. This was the title of the first Governor General of Canada, where it has since been most frequently used as a given name. A famous bearer was the Canadian actor Lorne Greene (1915-1987).
Lowell
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LO-əl
From an English surname that was derived from a Norman French nickname, from
lou "wolf" and a
diminutive suffix. The surname was borne by American poet and satirist James Russell Lowell (1819-1891).
Lucrece
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare), Literature
English form of
Lucretia, used by William Shakespeare in the poem
The Rape of Lucrece (1594), about the legendary Roman maiden Lucretia.
Ludmila
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Czech, Latvian, Russian
Other Scripts: Людмила(Russian)
Pronounced: LOOD-mi-la(Czech) lyuwd-MYEE-lə(Russian)
Means
"favour of the people" from the Slavic elements
ľudŭ "people" and
milŭ "gracious, dear".
Saint Ludmila was a 10th-century duchess of Bohemia, the grandmother of Saint Václav. She was murdered on the orders of her daughter-in-law Drahomíra.
As a Russian name, this is an alternate transcription of Людмила (usually rendered Lyudmila).
Lusine
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Armenian
Other Scripts: Լուսինե(Armenian)
Pronounced: loo-see-NEH
From Armenian
լուսին (lusin) meaning
"moon".
Luther
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LOO-thər
From a German surname, itself derived from the Old German given name
Leuthar. The surname was borne by Martin Luther (1483-1546), a monk and theologian who started the
Protestant Reformation by nailing his famous 95 theses to a church door. It has since been used as a given name in his honour, especially among Protestants. A notable bearer from the modern era was the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968).
Lyle
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIEL
From an English surname that was derived from Norman French l'isle meaning "island".
Lyndon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: LIN-dən
From an English surname that was derived from a place name meaning "linden tree hill" in Old English. A famous bearer was American president Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973).
Lynette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: li-NEHT(English)
Form of
Lynet used by Alfred Tennyson in his 1872 poem
Gareth and Lynette [1]. According to Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette were eventually married. In modern times it is also regarded as a
diminutive of
Lynn.
Mack 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Medieval English
Medieval short form of
Magnus, brought to Britain by Scandinavian settlers.
Magnus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Late Roman
Pronounced: MANG-nuys(Swedish) MAHNG-noos(Norwegian) MOW-noos(Danish) MAG-nəs(English)
Late Latin name meaning
"great". It was borne by a 7th-century
saint who was a missionary in Germany. It became popular in Scandinavia after the time of the 11th-century Norwegian king Magnus I, who was said to have been named after
Charlemagne, or Carolus Magnus in Latin (however there was also a Norse name
Magni). The name was borne by six subsequent kings of Norway as well as three kings of Sweden. It was imported to Scotland and Ireland during the Middle Ages.
Maisy
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (British)
Pronounced: MAY-zee
Malcolm
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: MAL-kəm(English)
Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic
Máel Coluim, which means
"disciple of Saint Columba". This was the name of four kings of Scotland starting in the 10th century, including Malcolm III, who became king after killing
Macbeth, the usurper who had defeated his father
Duncan. The character Malcolm in Shakespeare's tragedy
Macbeth (1606) is loosely based on him. Another famous bearer was Malcolm X (1925-1965), an American civil rights leader.
Malina 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish
Malina 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian, Serbian, Polish
Other Scripts: Малина(Bulgarian, Serbian)
Pronounced: ma-LEE-na(Polish)
Means "raspberry" in several Slavic languages.
Malte
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Danish, Swedish, German
Pronounced: MAL-tə(German)
Danish short form of the Old German name
Helmold. This name was used by the Austrian author Rainer Maria Rilke for the title character in his novel
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (1910).
Margot
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: MAR-GO
Marilyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAR-ə-lin, MAR-lin
Combination of
Mary and the common name suffix
lyn. It was very rare before the start of the 20th century. It was popularized in part by the American stage star Marilyn Miller (1898-1936), who was born Mary Ellen Reynolds and took her
stage name from a combination of her birth name and her mother's middle name
Lynn. It became popular in the United States during the 1920s, reaching a high point ranked 13th in 1936. Famous bearers include American actress Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962; real name Norma Jeane Mortenson) and American opera singer Marilyn Horne (1934-).
Marion 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: MA-RYAWN(French) MEHR-ee-ən(English) MAR-ee-ən(English)
Marion 2
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MEHR-ee-ən, MAR-ee-ən
From a French surname that was derived from
Marion 1. This was the real name of American actor John Wayne (1907-1979), who was born Marion Robert Morrison.
Marnie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAHR-nee
Possibly a
diminutive of
Marina. This name was brought to public attention by Alfred Hitchcock's movie
Marnie (1964), itself based on a 1961 novel by Winston Graham.
Mavis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAY-vis
From the name of the type of bird, also called the song thrush, derived from Old French mauvis, of uncertain origin. It was first used as a given name by the British author Marie Corelli, who used it for a character in her novel The Sorrows of Satan (1895).
Maxwell
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAKS-wehl
From a Scottish surname meaning
"Mack's stream", from the name
Mack, a short form of the Scandinavian name
Magnus, combined with Old English
wille "well, stream". A famous bearer of the surname was James Maxwell (1831-1879), a Scottish physicist who studied gases and electromagnetism.
As a given name it has increased in popularity starting from the 1980s, likely because it is viewed as a full form of Max [1].
Maynard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MAY-nərd
From an English surname that was derived from the Old German given name
Meginhard.
Megan
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: MEHG-ən(English)
Welsh
diminutive of
Margaret. In the English-speaking world outside of Wales it has only been regularly used since the middle of the 20th century.
Melek 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Turkish
Pronounced: meh-LEHK
Means "angel" in Turkish, ultimately of Arabic origin.
Melker
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish
Meredith
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: MEHR-ə-dith(English)
From the Welsh name
Maredudd or
Meredydd, from Old Welsh forms such as
Margetud, possibly from
mawredd "greatness, magnificence" combined with
iudd "lord". The Welsh forms of this name were well used through the Middle Ages. Since the mid-1920s it has been used more often for girls than for boys in English-speaking countries, though it is still a masculine name in Wales. A famous bearer of this name as surname was the English novelist and poet George Meredith (1828-1909).
Mildred
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MIL-drid
From the Old English name
Mildþryð meaning
"gentle strength", derived from the elements
milde "gentle" and
þryþ "strength".
Saint Mildred was a 7th-century abbess, the daughter of the Kentish princess Saint Ermenburga. After the
Norman Conquest this name became rare, but it was revived in the 19th century.
Miles
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MIELZ
From the Germanic name
Milo, introduced by the
Normans to England in the form
Miles. The meaning is not known for certain. It is possibly connected to the Slavic name element
milŭ meaning
"gracious, dear". From an early date it was associated with Latin
miles meaning
"soldier".
A notable bearer was the American musician Miles Davis (1926-1991). In Scotland this name was historically used to Anglicize Maoilios.
Mina 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Dutch
Pronounced: MEE-nə(English) MEE-na(Dutch)
Short form of
Wilhelmina and other names ending in
mina. This was the name of a character in the novel
Dracula (1897) by Bram Stoker.
Montgomery
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: mənt-GUM-ə-ree, mənt-GUM-ree
From an English surname meaning
"Gumarich's mountain" in Norman French. A notable bearer of this surname was Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976), a British army commander during World War II.
Morgan 1
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English, French
Pronounced: MAWR-gən(English) MAWR-GAN(French)
From the Old Welsh masculine name
Morcant, which was possibly derived from Welsh
mor "sea" and
cant "circle". Since the 1980s in America
Morgan has been more common for girls than boys, perhaps due to stories of
Morgan le Fay or the fame of actress Morgan Fairchild (1950-).
Morgan 2
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: MAWR-gən(English)
Modern form of
Morgen, which was used by Geoffrey of Monmouth
[1] in the 12th century for the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay, who was unnamed in earlier stories. Geoffrey probably did not derive it from the Welsh masculine name
Morgan, which would have been spelled
Morcant in his time. It is likely from Old Welsh
mor "sea" and the suffix
gen "born of"
[2].
Morten
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: MO-dehn(Danish) MAWR-tən(Norwegian)
Danish and Norwegian form of
Martin.
Murdo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Murdoch
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Pronounced: MUR-dahk(English)
Murphy
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MUR-fee
From a common Irish surname, the Anglicized form of Irish Gaelic
Ó Murchadha, itself derived from the given name
Murchadh. As a given name, it has been borne by female characters on the American television series
Murphy Brown (1988-1998) and the movie
Interstellar (2014).
Murray
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: MUR-ee
From a surname, which is either Scottish or Irish in origin (see
Murray 1 and
Murray 2).
Murrough
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Murtagh
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Myron
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Ukrainian, Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Мирон(Ukrainian) Μύρων(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: MIE-rən(English) MUY-RAWN(Classical Greek)
Derived from Greek
μύρον (myron) meaning
"sweet oil, perfume". Myron was the name of a 5th-century BC Greek sculptor.
Saints bearing this name include a 3rd-century bishop of Crete and a 4th-century martyr from Cyzicus who was killed by a mob. These saints are more widely revered in the Eastern Church, and the name has generally been more common among Eastern Christians. As an English name, it has been used since the 19th century.
Nanna 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Norse Mythology
Pronounced: NAN-nah(Danish) NAHN-nah(Swedish, Norwegian, Icelandic)
Possibly derived from Old Norse
nanþ meaning
"daring, brave". In Norse
mythology she was a goddess who died of grief when her husband
Balder was killed.
Naphtali
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: נַףְתָלִי(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: NAF-tə-lie(English)
Means
"my struggle, my strife" in Hebrew, a derivative of
פָּתַל (paṯal) meaning "to twist, to struggle, to wrestle". In the
Old Testament he is a son of
Jacob by
Rachel's servant
Bilhah, and the ancestor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Neil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish, Scottish, English
Pronounced: NEEL(English)
From the Irish name
Niall, which is of disputed origin, possibly connected to the old Celtic root *
nītu- "fury, passion" or the (possibly related) Old Irish word
nia "hero" [1][2]. A derivation from Old Irish
nél "cloud" has also been suggested. This was the name of a few early Irish kings, notably Niall of the Nine Hostages, a semi-legendary high king of the 4th or 5th century.
In the early Middle Ages the name was adopted by Norse raiders and settlers in Ireland in the form Njáll. The Norse transmitted it to England and Scotland, as well as bringing it back to Scandinavia. It was also in use among the Normans, who were of Scandinavian origin. A famous bearer of this name was American astronaut Neil Armstrong (1930-2012), the first person to walk on the moon.
Nevan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: NEHV-ən(English)
Neve
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Anglicized form of
Niamh.
Niels 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Danish
Pronounced: NEHLS
Danish form of
Nicholas. A famous bearer was Niels Bohr (1885-1962), a Danish physicist who investigated the structure of atoms.
Norman
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: NAWR-mən(English)
From an old Germanic byname meaning
"northman", referring to a Scandinavians. The
Normans were Vikings who settled on the coast of France, in the region that became known as Normandy. In England the name
Norman or
Normant was used before the Norman Conquest, first as a nickname for Scandinavian settlers and later as a given name. After the Conquest it became more common, but died out around the 14th century. It was revived in the 19th century, perhaps in part due to a character by this name in C. M. Yonge's 1856 novel
The Daisy Chain [2]. Famous bearers include the American painter Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) and the American author Norman Mailer (1923-2007).
Nova
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Swedish (Modern), Dutch (Modern)
Pronounced: NO-və(English) NO-va(Swedish, Dutch)
Derived from Latin novus meaning "new". It was first used as a name in the 19th century.
Oberon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: O-bər-ahn(English)
Variant of
Auberon. Oberon and
Titania are the king and queen of the fairies in Shakespeare's comedy
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1595). A moon of Uranus bears this name in his honour.
Oleg
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Georgian
Other Scripts: Олег(Russian) ოლეგ(Georgian)
Pronounced: u-LYEHK(Russian)
Russian form of the Old Norse name
Helgi (see
Helge). The Varangians brought this name from Scandinavia to Eastern Europe: it was borne by a 9th-century Varangian ruler who conquered Kyiv and made it the capital of the state of Kievan Rus.
Oona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Finnish
Pronounced: OO-nə(English) O-nah(Finnish)
Anglicized form of
Úna, as well as a Finnish form.
Orla 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: AWR-lə(English)
Orson
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AWR-sən
From a Norman nickname derived from a
diminutive of Norman French
ors "bear", ultimately from Latin
ursus. American actor and director Orson Welles (1915-1985) was a famous bearer of this name.
Osborn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AHZ-bawrn
Derived from the Old English elements
os "god" and
beorn "warrior, man". During the Anglo-Saxon period there was also a Norse
cognate Ásbjǫrn used in England, and after the
Norman Conquest the Norman cognate
Osbern was introduced. It was occasionally revived in the 19th century, in part from a surname that was derived from the given name.
Osmond
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AHZ-mənd
From the Old English elements
os "god" and
mund "protection". During the Anglo-Saxon period a Norse
cognate Ásmundr was also used in England, and another version was imported by the
Normans.
Saint Osmund was an 11th-century Norman nobleman who became an English bishop. Though it eventually became rare, it was revived in the 19th century, in part from a surname that was derived from the given name.
Ostap
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Остап(Ukrainian)
Oswin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: AHZ-win
From the Old English elements
os "god" and
wine "friend".
Saint Oswin was a 7th-century king of Northumbria. After the
Norman Conquest this name was used less, and it died out after the 14th century. It was briefly revived in the 19th century.
Owen 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: O-in(English)
Anglicized form of
Owain.
Paige
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: PAYJ
From an English surname meaning
"servant, page" in Middle English. It is ultimately derived (via Old French and Italian) from Greek
παιδίον (paidion) meaning "little boy".
As a given name for girls, it received some public attention from a character in the 1958 novel Parrish and the 1961 movie adaptation [1]. It experienced a larger surge in popularity in the 1980s, probably due to the character Paige Matheson from the American soap opera Knots Landing.
Paisley
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: PAYZ-lee
From a Scots surname, originally from the name of a town near Glasgow, maybe ultimately derived from Latin basilica "church". This is also a word (derived from the name of that same town) for a type of pattern commonly found on fabrics.
Parnel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Contracted form of
Petronel. In the later Middle Ages it became a slang term for a promiscuous woman, and the name subsequently fell out of use.
Pernel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Pernilla
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish
Pronounced: peh-NIL-la
Pernille
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Danish, Norwegian
Pronounced: peh-NEEL-lə(Danish) peh-NEEL-leh(Norwegian)
Peronel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Petronel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Petronella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, Swedish, Hungarian
Pronounced: peh-tro-NEH-la(Dutch) PEH-tro-nehl-law(Hungarian)
Phoebe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Greek Mythology (Latinized), Biblical, Biblical Latin
Other Scripts: Φοίβη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: FEE-bee(English)
Latinized form of the Greek name
Φοίβη (Phoibe), which meant
"bright, pure" from Greek
φοῖβος (phoibos). In Greek
mythology Phoibe was a Titan associated with the moon. This was also an epithet of her granddaughter, the moon goddess
Artemis. The name appears in
Paul's epistle to the Romans in the
New Testament, where it belongs to a female minister in the church at Cenchreae.
In England, it began to be used as a given name after the Protestant Reformation. It was moderately common in the 19th century. It began to rise in popularity again in the late 1980s, probably helped along by characters on the American television shows Friends (1994-2004) and Charmed (1998-2006). It is currently much more common in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand than the United States.
A moon of Saturn bears this name, in honour of the Titan.
Piers
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (British), Medieval French
Pronounced: PEEZ(British English) PIRZ(American English)
Medieval form of
Peter. This is the name of the main character in the 14th-century poem
Piers Plowman [1] by William Langland.
Piotr
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish, Belarusian
Other Scripts: Пётр(Belarusian)
Pronounced: PYAWTR(Polish)
Polish and Belarusian form of
Peter.
Piper
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: PIE-pər
From an English surname that was originally given to a person who played on a pipe (a flute). It was popularized as a given name by a character from the television series
Charmed, which debuted in 1998
[1].
Rasmus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Estonian
Pronounced: RAHS-moos(Danish, Norwegian, Finnish) RAS-smuys(Swedish)
Scandinavian, Finnish and Estonian form of
Erasmus.
Raven
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAY-vən
From the name of the bird, ultimately from Old English
hræfn. The raven is revered by several Native American groups of the west coast. It is also associated with the Norse god
Odin.
Reese
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English
Anglicized form of
Rhys. It is also used as a feminine name, popularized by the American actress Reese Witherspoon (1976-).
Regan
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Literature, English
Pronounced: REE-gən(English)
Meaning unknown. In the chronicles of Geoffrey of Monmouth it is the name of a treacherous daughter of King
Leir. Shakespeare adapted the story for his tragedy
King Lear (1606). In the modern era it has appeared in the horror movie
The Exorcist (1973) belonging to a girl possessed by the devil. This name can also be used as a variant of
Reagan.
Remy
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
English form of
Rémy, occasionally used as a feminine name.
Renard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French (Rare)
Pronounced: RU-NAR
French form of
Reynard. Because of the medieval character Reynard the Fox,
renard became a French word meaning "fox".
Rhea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, Roman Mythology
Other Scripts: Ῥέα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: REH-A(Classical Greek) REE-ə(English) REH-a(Latin)
Rhiannon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: ri-AN-awn(Welsh) ree-AN-ən(English)
Probably derived from an unattested Celtic name *
Rīgantonā meaning
"great queen" (Celtic *
rīganī "queen" and the divine or augmentative suffix
-on). It is speculated that Rigantona was an old Celtic goddess, perhaps associated with fertility and horses like the Gaulish
Epona. As
Rhiannon, she appears in Welsh legend in the
Mabinogi [1] as a beautiful magical woman who rides a white horse. She was betrothed against her will to
Gwawl, but cunningly broke off that engagement and married
Pwyll instead. Their son was
Pryderi.
As an English name, it became popular due to the Fleetwood Mac song Rhiannon (1976), especially in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Rhonda
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAHN-də
Probably a blend of the sounds of
Rhoda and
Linda, but maybe also influenced by the name of the Rhondda Valley in South Wales and/or the noted British feminist Margaret Mackworth, Viscountess Rhondda (1883-1956)
[1]. This name has only been used since the beginning of the 20th century, at first rarely. It started becoming popular in the mid-1940s at the same time as the American actress Rhonda Fleming (1923-2020), born Marilyn Louis. It peaked in the United States in 1965 and thereafter declined.
Rhys
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: REES
From Old Welsh
Ris, probably meaning
"ardour, enthusiasm". Several Welsh rulers have borne this name, including the 12th-century Rhys ap Gruffydd who fought against the invading
Normans.
Riley
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RIE-lee
From a surname that comes from two distinct sources. As an Irish surname it is a variant of
Reilly. As an English surname it is derived from a place name meaning
"rye clearing" in Old English.
Before 1980, this was an uncommon masculine name in America. During the 1980s and 90s this name steadily increased in popularity for both boys and girls, and from 2003 onwards it has been more common for girls in the United States. Elsewhere in the English-speaking world, such as the United Kingdom and Australia, it has remained largely masculine.
Roald
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian
Pronounced: ROO-ahld
Modern form of the Old Norse name
Hróðvaldr or
Hróaldr, composed of the elements
hróðr "praise, fame" and
valdr "ruler". This name was borne by the Norwegian polar explorer Roald Amundsen (1872-1928) and the British children's author Roald Dahl (1916-1990), who was born to Norwegian parents.
Roan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Frisian
Originally a short form of names beginning with the Old German element
hraban meaning
"raven".
Robyn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAHB-in(American English) RAWB-in(British English)
Feminine variant of
Robin.
Rochelle
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: raw-SHEHL
From the name of the French city
La Rochelle, meaning
"little rock". It first became commonly used as a given name in America in the 1930s, probably due to the fame of actress Rochelle Hudson (1914-1972) and because of the similarity to the name
Rachel.
Rodney
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: RAHD-nee(American English) RAWD-nee(British English)
From an English surname, originally derived from a place name, which meant "Hroda's island" in Old English (where Hroda is an Old English given name meaning "fame"). It was first used as a given name in honour of the British admiral Lord Rodney (1719-1792).
Roel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch
Pronounced: ROOL
Romilly
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (British, Rare)
From an English surname that was derived from the name of various Norman towns, themselves from the given name
Romilius.
Rory
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Irish, Scottish, English
Pronounced: RAWR-ee(English)
Anglicized form of
Ruaidhrí. Typically a masculine name, it gained some popularity for girls in the United States after it was used on the television series
Gilmore Girls (2000-2007), in this case as a nickname for
Lorelai. Despite this, the name has grown more common for boys in America, especially after 2011, perhaps due to Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy (1989-).
Ross
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: RAWS(English)
From a Scottish and English surname that originally indicated a person from a place called Ross (such as the region of Ross in northern Scotland), derived from Gaelic ros meaning "promontory, headland". A famous bearer of the surname was James Clark Ross (1800-1862), an Antarctic explorer.
Rostam
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Persian, Persian Mythology
Other Scripts: رستم(Persian)
Pronounced: ros-TAM(Persian)
Meaning unknown, possibly from Iranian roots *rautas "river" and *taxma "strong". Rostam was a warrior hero in Persian legend. The 10th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi recorded his tale in the Shahnameh.
Rowan
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Irish, English (Modern)
Pronounced: RO-ən(English)
Anglicized form of the Irish name
Ruadhán. As an English name, it can also be derived from the surname Rowan, itself derived from the Irish given name. It could also be given in reference to the rowan tree, a word of Old Norse origin (coincidentally sharing the same Indo-European root meaning "red" with the Irish name).
Roy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish, English, Dutch
Pronounced: ROI(English, Dutch)
Anglicized form of
Ruadh. A notable bearer was the Scottish outlaw and folk hero Rob Roy (1671-1734). It is often associated with French
roi "king".
Royce
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ROIS
From an English surname that was derived from the medieval given name
Royse, a variant of
Rose.
Rune
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish, Swedish
Pronounced: ROO-nə(Norwegian) ROO-neh(Danish, Swedish)
Derived from Old Norse
rún meaning
"secret lore, rune".
Ruslan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Tatar, Bashkir, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Turkmen, Azerbaijani, Ossetian, Chechen, Ingush, Avar, Circassian, Indonesian, Malay
Other Scripts: Руслан(Russian, Tatar, Bashkir, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Ossetian, Chechen, Ingush, Avar) Руслъан(Western Circassian, Eastern Circassian)
Pronounced: ruws-LAN(Russian)
Form of
Yeruslan used by Aleksandr Pushkin in his poem
Ruslan and Ludmila (1820), which was loosely based on Russian and Tatar folktales of Yeruslan Lazarevich.
Ryder
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: RIE-dər
From an English occupational surname derived from Old English
ridere meaning
"mounted warrior" or
"messenger". It has grown in popularity in the 2000s because it starts with the same sound found in other popular names like
Ryan and
Riley.
Sadie
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SAY-dee
Saga
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norse Mythology, Swedish, Icelandic
Pronounced: SAH-gah(Swedish) SA-gha(Icelandic)
From Old Norse
Sága, possibly meaning
"seeing one", derived from
sjá "to see". This is the name of a Norse goddess, possibly connected to
Frigg. As a Swedish and Icelandic name, it is also derived from the unrelated word
saga "story, fairy tale, saga".
Sage
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SAYJ
From the English word sage, which denotes either a type of spice or else a wise person.
Sanna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Finnish
Pronounced: SAHN-nah(Finnish)
Short form of
Susanna. It can also be derived from Swedish
sann meaning "true".
Saoirse
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SEER-shə
Means "freedom" in Irish Gaelic. It was first used as a given name in the 20th century.
Sasha
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Russian, Ukrainian, English, French
Other Scripts: Саша(Russian, Ukrainian)
Pronounced: SA-shə(Russian) SASH-ə(English) SAH-shə(English) SA-SHA(French)
Saskia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, German
Pronounced: SAHS-kee-a(Dutch) ZAS-kya(German)
From the Old German element
sahso meaning
"a Saxon". The Saxons were a Germanic tribe, their name ultimately deriving from the Germanic word *
sahsą meaning "knife". Saskia van Uylenburgh (1612-1642) was the wife of the Dutch painter Rembrandt.
Saxon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: SAK-sən
From an English surname that was derived from the name of the Germanic tribe the Saxons, ultimately deriving from the Germanic word *
sahsą meaning "knife". This name can also be given in direct reference to the tribe.
Scott
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Scottish
Pronounced: SKAHT(American English) SKAWT(British English)
From an English and Scottish surname that referred to a person from Scotland or a person who spoke Scottish Gaelic. It is derived from Latin Scoti meaning "Gael, Gaelic speaker", with the ultimate origin uncertain.
Selina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, German
Pronounced: sə-LEEN-ə(English)
Variant of
Celina or
Selena. As an English name, it first came into use in the 17th century.
Serapio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Spanish, Galician
Shamus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SHAY-məs(English)
Shannon
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHAN-ən
From the name of the River Shannon, the longest river in Ireland, called
an tSionainn in Irish. It is associated with the legendary figure
Sionann and is sometimes said to be named for her. However it is more likely she was named after the river, which may be related to Old Irish
sen "old, ancient"
[1]. As a given name, it first became common in America after the 1940s.
Sharon
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English, Hebrew
Other Scripts: שׁרון(Hebrew)
Pronounced: SHAR-ən(English) SHEHR-ən(English)
From an
Old Testament place name, in Hebrew
שָׁרוֹן (Sharon) meaning
"plain", referring to a fertile plain on the central west coast of Israel. This is also the name of a flowering plant in the Bible, the rose of Sharon, a term now used to refer to several different species of flowers.
It has been in use as a feminine given name in the English-speaking world since the 1920s, possibly inspired by the heroine in the serial novel The Skyrocket (1925) by Adela Rogers St. Johns [1]. As a Hebrew name it is unisex.
Shaun
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHAWN
Anglicized form of
Seán. This is the more common spelling in the United Kingdom and Australia, while
Shawn is preferred in the United States and Canada (though it got a boost in America after the singer Shaun Cassidy released his debut album in 1976).
Shavonne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern), African American (Modern)
Pronounced: shə-VAHN(English)
Anglicized form of
Siobhán. In some cases it might be considered a combination of the phonetic element
sha and
Yvonne.
Shay 1
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: SHAY(English)
Anglicized form of
Séaghdha, sometimes used as a feminine name.
Shayna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Yiddish
Other Scripts: שיינאַ(Yiddish)
From Yiddish
שיין (shein) meaning
"beautiful".
Shayne
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: SHAYN
Sheena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish, English
Pronounced: SHEE-nə(English)
Anglicized form of
Sìne. This name was popularized outside of Scotland in the 1980s by the singer Sheena Easton (1959-).
Sherlock
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: SHUR-lahk(English)
Used by Scottish author Arthur Conan Doyle for his character Sherlock Holmes, who was a detective in Doyle's mystery stories beginning in 1887. The character's name was from an English surname meaning "shear lock", originally referring to a person with closely cut hair.
Shiloh
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Biblical
Other Scripts: שִׁלוֹ, שִׁילֹה(Ancient Hebrew)
Pronounced: SHIE-lo(English)
From an
Old Testament place name possibly meaning
"tranquil" in Hebrew. It is also used prophetically in the Old Testament to refer to a person, often understood to be the Messiah (see
Genesis 49:10). This may in fact be a mistranslation.
This name was brought to public attention after actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt gave it to their daughter in 2006.
Sholto
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Probably an Anglicized form of Gaelic
sìoltaich meaning
"sower, propagator". It has occasionally been used in the Douglas family since the 17th century, after David Hume of Godscroft claimed it was the name of the 7th-century founder of the clan
[1].
Shona
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scottish
Anglicized form of
Seonag or
Seònaid. Though unconnected, this is also the name of an ethnic group who live in the south of Africa, mainly Zimbabwe.
Sidony
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Archaic)
Feminine form of
Sidonius. This name was in use in the Middle Ages, when it became associated with the word
sindon (of Greek origin) meaning "linen", a reference to the Shroud of Turin.
Siegmar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Derived from the Old German elements
sigu "victory" and
mari "famous".
Sienna
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: see-EHN-ə
From the English word meaning "orange-red". It is ultimately from the name of the city of Siena in Italy, because of the colour of the clay there.
Signe
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Estonian, Latvian
Pronounced: SEE-neh(Danish) SEENG-neh(Norwegian) SING-neh(Swedish)
Modern Scandinavian form of
Signý.
Sigrid
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, German, Estonian, Finnish (Archaic)
Pronounced: SEE-grid(Swedish) SEEG-reed(Finnish)
From the Old Norse name
Sigríðr, which was derived from the elements
sigr "victory" and
fríðr "beautiful, beloved".
Skyler
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: SKIE-lər
Variant of
Schuyler, based on the pronunciation of the surname but respelled as if it was a blend of the English word
sky with names such as
Tyler. It was rare before 1980, and first gained popularity as a name for boys. It is now more common for girls, though it is more evenly unisex than the mostly feminine variant
Skylar.
Snædís
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Icelandic
Means
"snow goddess", derived from the Old Norse elements
snær "snow" and
dís "goddess".
Somerled
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Old Norse (Anglicized)
Anglicized form of the Old Norse name Sumarliði meaning "summer traveller". This was the name of a 12th-century Norse-Gaelic king of Mann and the Scottish Isles.
Sönke
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Low German, East Frisian, North Frisian
Pronounced: ZUU-nkə(Low German, East Frisian) ZUUN-kə(North Frisian)
Low German and North Frisian diminutive of
Sören.
Tammena explain the name as a derivation from the Low German word sönke meaning "little boy, sonny".
Known bearers of this name include the German equestrian and Olympic medalist Sönke Sönksen (b. 1938) and the German film director and producer Sönke Wortmann (b. 1959).
The letter ö is short in North Frisian pronunciation, but long in East Frisian and Low German of Lower Saxony.
Sorcha
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Irish, Scottish Gaelic [1]
Pronounced: SAWR-ə-khə(Irish) SUR-kə(English) SAWR-aw-khə(Scottish Gaelic)
Means
"radiant, bright" in Irish. It has been in use since late medieval times
[2]. It is sometimes Anglicized as
Sarah (in Ireland) and
Clara (in Scotland).
Soren
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Modern)
Sorley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Pronounced: SAWR-lee(English)
Stephan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Dutch
Pronounced: SHTEH-fan(German) STEH-fahn(Dutch)
Sterling
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: STUR-ling
From a Scots surname that was derived from city of Stirling, which is itself of unknown meaning. The name can also be given in reference to the English word sterling meaning "excellent". In this case, the word derives from sterling silver, which was so named because of the emblem that some Norman coins bore, from Old English meaning "little star".
Stewart
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Scottish
Pronounced: STOO-ərt(English) STYOO-ərt(English)
From a surname that was a variant
Stuart.
Stian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian
Stuart
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Scottish
Pronounced: STOO-ərt(English) STYOO-ərt(English)
From a Scottish occupational surname originally belonging to a person who was a steward. It is ultimately derived from Old English stig "house" and weard "guard". As a given name, it arose in 19th-century Scotland in honour of the Stuart royal family, which produced several kings and queens of Scotland and Britain between the 14th and 18th centuries.
Sunil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Nepali
Other Scripts: सुनील(Hindi, Marathi) সুনীল(Bengali, Assamese) સુનીલ(Gujarati) ਸੁਨੀਲ(Gurmukhi) సునీల్(Telugu) சுனில்(Tamil) ಸುನಿಲ್(Kannada) സുനിൽ(Malayalam) सुनिल, सुनील(Nepali)
From Sanskrit
सु (su) meaning "good, very" combined with
नील (nīla) meaning "dark blue".
Sunniva
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian
Scandinavian form of the Old English name
Sunngifu, which meant
"sun gift" from the Old English elements
sunne "sun" and
giefu "gift". This was the name of a legendary English
saint who was shipwrecked in Norway and killed by the inhabitants.
Svana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Icelandic
Svante
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Swedish
Pronounced: SVAHN-teh
Sverre
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian
From the Old Norse name Sverrir meaning "wild, swinging, spinning".
Svetlana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Russian, Slovak, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Armenian, Georgian
Other Scripts: Светлана(Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Macedonian) Սվետլանա(Armenian) სვეტლანა(Georgian)
Pronounced: svyit-LA-nə(Russian) svyeht-lu-NU(Lithuanian)
Derived from Russian
свет (svet) meaning
"light, world". It was popularized by the poem
Svetlana (1813) by the poet Vasily Zhukovsky. It is sometimes used as a translation of
Photine.
Swanhild
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare)
Derived from the Old German elements
swan "swan" and
hilt "battle". Swanhild (or Swanachild) was the second wife of the Frankish ruler Charles Martel in the 8th century.
Sweyn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History
Medieval English form of
Sveinn. Sweyn Forkbeard 17 April 963 – 3 February 1014) was king of Denmark from 986 to 1014. In 1013, shortly before his death, he became the first Danish king of England after a long effort.
Sylas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Modern), Biblical Polish
Pronounced: SIE-ləs(English)
Sylvan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Either a variant of
Silvanus or directly from the Latin word
silva meaning
"wood, forest".
Synne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian
Tage
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Danish, Swedish
From the medieval Danish byname Taki, derived from Old Norse taka meaning "to take, to capture".
Taliesin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: tal-YEH-sin(Welsh) tal-ee-EHS-in(English)
Means
"shining brow", derived from Welsh
tal "brow, head" and
iesin "shining, radiant". This was the name of a semi-legendary 6th-century Welsh poet and bard, supposedly the author of the collection of poems the
Book of Taliesin. He appears briefly in the Welsh legend
Culhwch and Olwen and the Second Branch of the
Mabinogi. He is the central character in the
Tale of Taliesin, a medieval legend recorded in the 16th century, which tells how
Ceridwen's servant Gwion Bach was reborn to her as Taliesin; how he becomes the bard for Elffin; and how Taliesin defends Elffin from the machinations of the king
Maelgwn Gwynedd.
Taskill
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish (Rare)
Tavish
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Anglicized form of
a Thàmhais, vocative case of
Tàmhas. Alternatively it could be taken from the Scottish surname
McTavish, Anglicized form of
Mac Tàmhais, meaning "son of
Tàmhas".
Teague
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Irish
Pronounced: TAYG(English) TEEG(English)
Anglicized form of
Tadhg. This name is also used as a slang term for an Irish Catholic.
Theo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, German, Dutch
Pronounced: THEE-o(English) TEH-o(German) TEH-yo(Dutch)
Theopistus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Late Greek (Latinized), History (Ecclesiastical)
Latinized form of
Theopistos. This was the name of two saints, one of which was a son of saint Eustace (died in 118 AD).
Thilo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: TEE-lo
Variant of
Till.
Saint Thillo was a 7th-century man of Saxony who was kidnapped and brought to Flanders by raiders. After his release he became a priest and did missionary work in France.
Thora
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish
Thorley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: THAWR-lee
From a surname that was derived from a place name meaning "thorn clearing" in Old English.
Thyra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, Danish
Tinatin
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Georgian, Literature
Other Scripts: თინათინ(Georgian)
Pronounced: TEE-NA-TEEN(Georgian)
Possibly related to Georgian
სინათლე (sinatle) meaning
"light". The name was devised by the Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli for his 12th-century epic poem
The Knight in the Panther's Skin, in which Tinatin is the ruler of Arabia and the lover of
Avtandil.
Todd
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: TAHD(American English) TAWD(British English)
From an English surname meaning "fox", derived from Middle English todde. As a given name it was rare before 1930. It peaked in popularity in most parts of the English-speaking world in the 1960s or 70s, but it has since declined.
Tomer
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: תּוֹמֶר(Hebrew)
Means "palm tree" in Hebrew.
Tore 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish
Modern Scandinavian form of
Þórir.
Torkel
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian, Swedish
From the Old Norse name
Þórketill meaning
"Thor's cauldron" from the name of the Norse god
Þórr (see
Thor) combined with
ketill "cauldron".
Torleif
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian
From the Old Norse name
Þórleifr, derived from the name of the Norse god
Þórr (see
Thor) combined with
leif "inheritance, legacy".
Torquil
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Scottish
Torunn
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian
Norwegian form of the Old Norse name
Þórunn, from the name of the Norse god
Þórr (see
Thor) combined with
unnr "wave" or
unna "to love".
Tybalt
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: TIB-əlt(English)
The name of a cousin of
Juliet killed by
Romeo in William Shakespeare's drama
Romeo and Juliet (1596). The character earlier appears as Tebaldo, an Italian form of
Theobald, in Luigi Da Porto's novella
Giulietta e Romeo (1524), one of Shakespeare's sources. Shakespeare was also inspired by the character of Tybalt the Cat (from
Thibault the French form of
Theobald) in medieval fables of Reynard the Fox (evidenced by
Mercutio calling Tybalt the "prince of cats").
Tyra
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Swedish, English, African American
Pronounced: TUY-rah(Swedish) TIE-rə(English)
From the Old Norse name
Þýri, a variant of the Norse names
Þórví or
Þórveig. Use of the name in the English-speaking world (especially among African Americans) may be in part from the Swedish name, though it is probably also viewed as a feminine form of
Tyrone or
Tyree. A famous bearer is the American model and actress Tyra Banks (1973-).
Tyrone
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, African American
Pronounced: tie-RON(English)
From the name of a county in Northern Ireland, which is derived from Irish Gaelic
Tir Eoghain meaning "land of
Eoghan". This name was popularized by American actor Tyrone Power (1914-1958), who was named after his great-grandfather, an Irish actor.
Vainoras
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Lithuanian
The meaning of the first element of this name is uncertain, as there are several possibilities for its etymology. First, it is important to know that the element is either
vai- or
vain-. In the case of the former, that means that the element is either derived from the old Lithuanian verb
vajoti meaning "to chase, to pursue" or from the old Lithuanian noun
vajys meaning "messenger, courier". But if the element is actually
vain-, then it is derived from either the old Lithuanian noun
vaina meaning "cause, reason" as well as "fault" or from the old Lithuanian noun
vainas meaning "warrior, soldier, fighter".
With that said, the second element of this name is derived from the Lithuanian noun noras meaning "wish, desire", which is ultimately derived from the Lithuanian verb norėti meaning "to wish, to want, to desire".
Valdemar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Danish, Swedish, Finnish
Pronounced: VAHL-deh-mahr(Finnish)
Scandinavian form of
Waldemar, also used as a translation of the Slavic
cognate Vladimir. This was the name of four kings of Denmark and a king of Sweden. It was introduced to Scandinavia by the 12th-century Danish king Valdemar I who was named after his mother's grandfather: Vladimir II, a grand prince of Kievan Rus.
Varg
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian (Rare), Swedish (Rare)
Pronounced: VAHRG(Norwegian) VARY(Swedish)
Means "wolf" in Old Norse.
Varpu
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish
Pronounced: VAHR-poo
From the Finnish name for a type of berry bush.
Vaughan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: VAWN(English)
From a Welsh surname that was derived from bychan (mutated to fychan) meaning "little".
Vegard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Norwegian
From the Old Norse name
Végarðr, derived from the elements
vé "holy" and
garðr "enclosure, yard".
Vlad
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian
Other Scripts: Влад(Russian, Ukrainian)
Old short form of
Vladislav and other names beginning with the Slavic element
volděti (Church Slavic
vladati) meaning
"to rule, to control". This name was borne by several princes of Wallachia (in Romania) including the 15th-century Vlad III Dracula, who was Bram Stoker's inspiration for the name of his vampire Count
Dracula.
Vladimer
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Georgian
Other Scripts: ვლადიმერ(Georgian)
Vladimir
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian, Serbian, Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Slovene, Albanian
Other Scripts: Владимир(Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: vlu-DYEE-myir(Russian) VLA-dee-meer(Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian)
From the Old Slavic name *
Voldiměrŭ, derived from the elements
volděti meaning "to rule" and
měrŭ meaning "great, famous". The second element has also been associated with
mirŭ meaning "peace, world".
This was the name of a 9th-century ruler of Bulgaria. It was also borne by an 11th-century grand prince of Kyiv, Vladimir the Great, who is venerated as a saint because of his efforts to Christianize his realm. Other notable bearers include the revolutionary and first leader of the Soviet state Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), the Russian author Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), and the Russian president and prime minister Vladimir Putin (1952-).
Vlatko
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian
Other Scripts: Влатко(Serbian, Macedonian)
Originally a
diminutive of names beginning with the Slavic element
volděti (South Slavic
vladati) meaning
"to rule, to control".
Volker
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: FAWL-ku
Derived from the Old German element
folk "people" combined with
heri "army".
Waldek
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: VAL-dehk
Waldemar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Polish, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: VAL-də-mar(German) val-DEH-mar(Polish)
From the Old German elements
walt "power, authority" and
mari "famous", also used as a translation of the Slavic
cognate Vladimir.
Wayland
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English, Anglo-Saxon Mythology
Pronounced: WAY-lənd(English)
From Old English Weland, probably derived from the Germanic root *wīlą meaning "craft, cunning". In Germanic legend Weland (called Vǫlundr in Old Norse) was a master smith and craftsman. He was captured and hamstrung by King Niðhad, but took revenge by killing the king's sons.
Waylon
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WAY-lən
Variant of
Wayland. This name was popularized by country music singer Waylon Jennings (1937-2002), who was originally named Wayland
[1].
Wesley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WEHS-lee, WEHZ-lee
From an English surname that was derived from a place name, itself meaning
"west meadow" from Old English
west "west" and
leah "woodland, clearing". It has been sometimes given in honour of John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism.
Westley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WEST-lee
From a surname that was a variant of
Wesley.
Wieland
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Germanic Mythology [1]
Pronounced: VEE-lant(German)
Wiley
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIE-lee
From a surname that was derived from various English place names: towns named
Willey or the River
Wylye.
Wilhelm
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Polish, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: VIL-helm(German) VEEL-khelm(Polish)
German
cognate of
William. This was the name of two German emperors. It was also the middle name of several philosophers from Germany: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900), and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), who was also a notable mathematician. Another famous bearer was the physicist Wilhelm Röntgen (1845-1923).
Willa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIL-ə
Willard
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIL-ərd
From an English surname that was derived from the Old German given name
Willihard (or the Old English
cognate Wilheard).
Winston
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIN-stən
From an English surname that was derived from the Old English given name
Wynnstan. A famous bearer was Winston Churchill (1874-1965), the British prime minister during World War II. This name was also borne by the fictional Winston Smith, the protagonist in George Orwell's 1949 novel
1984.
Wolfe
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: WUWLF
Variant of
Wolf, influenced by the spelling of the surname (which is also derived from the animal).
Wolfgang
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German, Germanic [1]
Pronounced: VAWLF-gang(German) WUWLF-gang(English)
Derived from the Old German elements
wolf meaning "wolf" and
gang meaning "path, way".
Saint Wolfgang was a 10th-century bishop of Regensburg. Two other famous bearers of this name were Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and German novelist and poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832).
Wolfram
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German
Pronounced: VAWL-fram
Derived from the Old German element
wolf meaning "wolf" combined with
hram meaning "raven".
Saint Wolfram (or Wulfram) was a 7th-century archbishop of Sens. This name was also borne by the 13th-century German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach, the author of
Parzival.
Wren
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Modern)
Pronounced: REHN
From the English word for the small songbird. It is ultimately derived from Old English wrenna.
Wulfrun
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Anglo-Saxon [1][2]
Derived from the Old English elements
wulf "wolf" and
run "secret lore, rune". This was the name of a 10th-century English noblewoman who founded the city of Wolverhampton.
Wyatt
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: WIE-ət
From an English surname that was derived from the medieval given name
Wyard or
Wyot, from the Old English name
Wigheard. Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) was an American lawman and gunfighter involved in the famous shootout at the OK Corral.
Wystan
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
From the Old English name
Wigstan, composed of the elements
wig "battle" and
stan "stone". This was the name of a 9th-century Anglo-Saxon
saint. It became rare after the
Norman Conquest, and in modern times it is chiefly known as the first name of the British poet W. H. Auden (1907-1973).
Xander
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Dutch, English (Modern)
Pronounced: SAHN-dər(Dutch) KSAHN-dər(Dutch) ZAN-dər(English)
Short form of
Alexander. It was popularized in the English-speaking world by a character on the television series
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003).
Yakub
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: يعقوب(Arabic)
Pronounced: ya‘-KOOB
Alternate transcription of Arabic
يعقوب (see
Yaqub).
Yarik
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian
Other Scripts: Ярик(Russian)
Yorick
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Literature, English, Dutch
Pronounced: YAWR-ik(English) YO-rik(Dutch)
Possibly an altered form of
Jörg. Shakespeare used this name for a deceased court jester in his play
Hamlet (1600).
Yves
Gender: Masculine
Usage: French
Pronounced: EEV
Medieval French form of
Ivo 1. This was the name of two French
saints: an 11th-century bishop of Chartres and a 13th-century parish priest and lawyer, also known as Ivo of Kermartin, the patron saint of Brittany.
Yvonne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish
Pronounced: EE-VAWN(French) i-VAHN(English) ee-VAWN(German) ee-VAW-nə(Dutch)
French feminine form of
Yvon. It has been regularly used in the English-speaking world since the late 19th century.
Zephyr
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Anglicized)
Other Scripts: Ζέφυρος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ZEHF-ər(English)
From the Greek
Ζέφυρος (Zephyros) meaning
"west wind". Zephyros was the Greek god of the west wind.
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