hermeline's Personal Name List

From the English word meaning "highest rank". More commonly a nickname, it is occasionally used as a given name.

From the Old Norse Alvíss meaning "all wise". In Norse mythology this was the name of a dwarf who was to marry Thor's daughter Thrud. Thor was not pleased with this so he tricked Alvis by asking him questions until the sun rose, at which time the dwarf was turned into stone.

Diminutive of Arkadiusz.

Alternate transcription of Hebrew אראלה (see Erela).

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).

Diminutive of Aureliusz, Aurelian or Aureli.

From an English surname derived from Middle English baili meaning "bailiff", originally denoting one who was a bailiff.

Already an uncommon masculine name, it slowly grew in popularity for American girls beginning in 1978 after the start of the sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati, which featured a character with this name. Though it remained more common as a feminine name, it got a boost for boys in 1994 from another television character on the drama Party of Five. In the United Kingdom and Australia it has always been more popular for boys.

Roman cognomen meaning "stammerer" in Latin. This was a family name of the mother of Emperor Augustus, Atia Balba Caesonia.

Croatian short form of Barbara.

Short form of Sebastian.

Galician feminine form of Bastián, Corsican feminine form of Bastianu and Gascon feminine form of Bastian.

Short form of Beatrix or Beáta.

From an English surname that was derived from a place name meaning "Becca's homestead". The Old English byname Becca meant "pickaxe". A famous bearer of the surname is retired English soccer player David Beckham (1975-).

Variant of Belial.

Hebrew boy's name meaning "son of strengths"

Borne by a Guanche noble from Tenerife.

Short form of Benzion.

Feminine form of Besar.

Short form of Abraham. This name was borne by Bram Stoker (1847-1912), the Irish author who wrote Dracula.

Cornish form of Brioc.

Invented by author Jonathan Swift for his 1726 poem Cadenus and Vanessa. The name is an anagram for the latin word decanus, meaning Dean, because he was the dean of St. Patricks.

Modern name taken from the Latin word calix meaning "wine cup, chalice".

Variant of Kamari.

From the English word canyon, ultimately from Greek kanna "small reed", after the plants that grow in the bottom of canyons.

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.

Feminine form of Chester.

This name is used as 千浦 with 千 (sen, chi) meaning "thousand" and 浦 (ho, ura) meaning "inlet, seacoast, seashore."

One bearer of this name was Japanese-American artist Chiura Obata (小圃 千浦) (1885-1975).

This name is very rarely given to boys, if given at all.
Chiura is also used as a surname.

Diminutive of Claude.

Etymology uncertain, possibly derived from Greek δαῦλος (daulos) meaning "bushy, leafy, dense", "forest, thicket", and figuratively "intricate, inscrutable", or from the related δαλός (dalos) meaning "firebrand, torch". This was the name of a nymph in Greek mythology, the supposed namesake of an Ancient Greek settlement. She was a daughter of the local river-god Cephisus.

Possibly a variant of Devin influenced by David.

Possibly an alteration of Leroy.

Usual English, German and Dutch form of Denis.

Alternate transcription of Hindi देव (see Dev).

Combination of dio (from Dionisio and Dionisia) and the suffix -mar, present in names such as Leomar and Gladimar. It is often conflated with Dietmar or interpreted as a variant of it.

Scottish variant of Dougal.

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.

Variant of Idris 2.

Elmus Wicker, author of "Banking Panics of the Gilded Age", was one famous bearer of this name

Variant of Alvin.

Means "valley" in Hebrew.

This is the Haitian Voodoo love goddess and goddess of elemental forces. She is personified as a water snake. She is also called Ezili.

Short form of Eulalia.

Of uncertain etymology.

Used by Disney and Austrian author Felix Salten for a female roe deer in his novel 'Bambi' (1923).

Name of country music artist Ferlin Husky (1925-2011).

This name might have been derived from Latin fidus meaning "faithful."

Transferred use of the surname Foley.

Diminutive of Christoforos.

English form of the Late Latin name Franciscus meaning "Frenchman", ultimately from the Germanic tribe of the Franks, who were named for a type of spear that they used (Proto-Germanic *frankô). This name was borne by the 13th-century Saint Francis of Assisi, who was originally named Giovanni but was given the nickname Francesco by his father, an admirer of the French. Francis went on to renounce his father's wealth and devote his life to the poor, founding the Franciscan order of friars. Later in his life he apparently received the stigmata.

Due to the renown of the saint, this name became widespread in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. However, it was not regularly used in Britain until the 16th century. Famous bearers include Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552), a missionary to East Asia, the philosopher and scientist Francis Bacon (1561-1626), the explorer and admiral Francis Drake (1540-1595), and Pope Francis (1936-).

In the English-speaking world this name is occasionally used for girls, as a variant of the homophone Frances.

Combination of the names Freya and Kaylee.

Means "magic" in Icelandic, from Old Norse galdr "magic chant; magic".

Original Latin form of Galileo, meaning "Galilean, from Galilee". Galilee is a region in northern Israel, mentioned in the New Testament as the site of several of Jesus's miracles. It is derived from the Hebrew root גָּלִיל (galil) meaning "district, roll".

Variant of Garyfallia.

Latinized form of Γέσανδρος (Gesandros). This given name could possibly be derived from Greek γῆ (ge) "the earth, soil, land" combined with Greek ανδρος (andros) "of a man", but most likely it is actually of Scythian origin. After all, in Greek mythology, Gesander was a Scythian warrior who fought for Perses in the Colchian civil war(1). He slayed the Argonaut Canthus(2) and the Amazon Lyce(3) during that war. A son of Voraptus, Gesander was king of the Iazyges, a Scythian tribe(4). It should be mentioned that an other source states that the Iazyges were actually a Sarmatian tribe(5), even though that should not matter all that much in practice, since both the Sarmatians and the Scythians were ultimately an Iranian people(6) who spoke a Scythian language(7). Either way, it is not known what the original Scythian form was of the name Gesander, which makes it very difficult to find out what its meaning must have been in Scythian.

Ghosha was an ancient Vedic period Indian philosopher and seer.

Diminutive of Gilbert or Gibson.

Variant of Guillaumette. A known bearer of this name was the French noblewoman Guillemette of Neufchâtel (1260-1317).

From a Hungarian royal title, which was probably of Turkic origin. This name is also used as a Hungarian form of Julius.

Variant of Hadar.

Possibly from a diminutive of Old High German hadu meaning "battle". This was the name of a 7th-century Frankish saint.

Meaning "Destroyer".

Meaning "with pierced nose." May also mean "destroyed" or "dedicated to God" depending on your source.

Maori form of Helen.

Variant of Hilaeira.

Means "tree" in Hebrew.

Elaborated form of Isel as well as a truncated form of Marisela and Gisela. This was borne by Mexican actress Isela Vega (1939-2021).

Portuguese variant of Isolde

Means "of Italy" in Latin. In Roman legend Italus was the father of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. He supposedly gave his name to the region known as Italia or Italy (in fact the region may have gotten its name from Oscan Víteliú meaning "land of bulls").

Haitian Creole form of Isaac.

Elaboration of Janelle

From the Hebrew name יָרֶד (Yareḏ) or יֶרֶד (Yereḏ) meaning "descent". This is the name of a close descendant of Adam in the Old Testament. It has been used as an English name since the Protestant Reformation, and it was popularized in the 1960s by the character Jarrod Barkley on the television series The Big Valley [1].

Diminutive of names beginning with the Slavic element jarŭ meaning "fierce, energetic", such as Jarosław or Jaroslav. It is sometimes used independently.

The title character of a 1944 melodramatic novel by Norah Lofts, made into a film in 1947. In the story, Jassy is a wild gypsy girl. The name seems to be a form of Jessie 1 – probably not short for Jessica, but a pet form of Jane.

Variant of Javan.

Short form of Jackson. It appeared in the video game Mortal Kombat II in 1993. It first registered as a given name in the United States in 1995 (when it was used only five times) but steadily grew in popularity for two decades, probably inspired by similar names like Max and Dax and helped by a character of this name on the American television series Sons of Anarchy (2008-2014).

Means "taught by God" in Hebrew (see also Jeriah). In the Bible, this was the name of a chief of Issachar.

From Chinese 建 (jiàn) meaning "build, establish", 健 (jiàn) meaning "strong, healthy", or other characters that are pronounced in a similar fashion.

Dutch, Low German and North Frisian name derived from both Georg and Gregor.

Variant of Jocelene.

Latin "judge!" (imperative).

Judica is the name of the fifth Sunday of lent, after first word of the antiphon used on that Sunday. It is occasionally used as a given name in Germany.

Danish and Norwegian contracted form of Katherine.

From an English surname that was originally from a place name meaning "church settlement" in Old Norse. This name briefly spiked in popularity for American girls in 1982 after the character Kirby Anders Colby was introduced to the soap opera Dynasty.

Short form of Elizabeth (English), Yelizaveta (Russian), Elisavet (Greek) or Elisabed (Georgian).

Variant of Lommán.

Variant of Lovisa.

Possibly from one of the Indo-European roots *lewk- "light, brightness", *lewg- "dark" or *lewgh- "oath". This was the name of a Celtic (Gaulish) god of commerce and craftsmanship, who was equated by the Romans with Mercury. He probably forms the basis for the characters and names of Lugh (Irish) and Lleu (Welsh).

Medieval Dutch variant of Mabilia.

Contraction of Maddaleno.

In literature, this is the name of the eponymous character from the poem Julian and Maddalo (1819) written by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). In the poem, the philosophical Julian is based on himself, whilst the cynical Maddalo is based on the English poet Lord Byron (1788-1824).

Alleged Prussian Lithuanian goddess of wrath.

Maggila was first mentioned in the form Magyla in Matthäus Prätorius' work Deliciae Prussica, published in 1703, and later corroborated by the writings of Jakob Brodowski and Philipp Ruhig.

As the goddess of wrath, her role is akin to that of the Furiae in Roman mythology. According to Prätorius, she is a servant of the goddess Giltinė and will act as the executor of her wishes.

The meaning of her name is yet unknown.

Russian form of Makarios (see Macario).

Indian name coming from the Urdu word for “gilded”.

Variant of Marlene using the suffix la.

From a noble title that derives from the Old French word marche meaning "march, borderland". The title originally referred to someone who ruled on the borderlands of a realm.

Regional or archaic form of Italian massaio meaning "tenant farmer, share cropper".

This English name means 'strong mill'. Meldrick Taylor, a two-weight world champion in boxing, is a famous bearer of this name.

Greek form of Micaiah. It is used in the Greek Old Testament when referring to the prophet Micah.

Means "young shoot or twig; young of an animal (especially a calf)" or "musk" in Ancient Greek.

Anglicized form of Irish Muirgel and Scottish Muireall. A form of this name was also used in Brittany, and it was first introduced to medieval England by Breton settlers in the wake of the Norman Conquest. In the modern era it was popularized by a character from Dinah Craik's novel John Halifax, Gentleman (1856).

According to some sources, a King of Syria during the Arthurian period. One of the allies of Emperor Thereus of Rome. Nadus joined Thereus in a war against Arthur, and he was slain in battle against Claris and Laris.

Variant of Nashaly.

Inspired by the name of a fictional place from the 1905 novel Nedra by George Barr McCutcheon. In the novel, Nedra is an island where some of the protagonists are stranded, but the cover illustration featuring a lady probably gave the impression that it was a personal name belonging to a female character. This name was then reused for several characters in early films.

Transferred use of the surname Nedrick.

A notable bearer of this name is the American actor Nedrick Young (1914-1968).

Means "returner, homecomer" in Greek, from νέομαι (neomai) meaning "to return". In Homer's Iliad this was the name of the king of Pylos, famous for his great wisdom and longevity, who acted as a counselor to the Greek allies.

From an Irish surname, the Anglicized form of Ó Nualláin, itself derived from the given name Nuallán. The baseball player Nolan Ryan (1947-) is a famous bearer. This name has climbed steadily in popularity since the 1970s.

Old High German ōt, Old Saxon ōd "wealth, riches" + Old High German rih "ruler".

From an English surname meaning "pilgrim". It is ultimately from Latin palma "palm tree", since pilgrims to the Holy Land often brought back palm fronds as proof of their journey.

Greek adoption of Piero.

Means "abounding in song", derived from Greek πολύς (polys) meaning "much" and ὕμνος (hymnos) meaning "song, hymn". In Greek mythology she was the goddess of dance and sacred songs, one of the nine Muses.

Possibly derived from Mongolian хацар (khatsar) meaning "cheek, face; flank".

Means "urinated on" in Greenlandic. Quissik was the name of a shaman, still remembered in local legends, who acquired that name when foxes in human figure urinated on him.

Diminutive of Raphael.

Derived from Hebrew rekhah "soft; tender; velvety; silky".

Recha Freier (1892-1984) was a German-born Jewish teacher and poet who founded the Youth Aliyah organization in 1933. The organization saved the lives of 22,000 Jewish children by helping them to leave Nazi Germany for Palestine.

Recha is also a prominent character in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's play Nathan the Wise, a fervent plea for religious tolerance published in 1779.

Variant of Rickel, last recorded in the 1700s.

Russian form of Roland.

Greek form of Roland.

Spanish and European Portuguese form of Romulus.

Diminutive of Christoforos.

Galician form of Isabel.

Means "lizard" in Arabic.

Means "safe" in Arabic, derived from سلم (salima) meaning "to be safe".

Likely coined by the English poet Robert Greene in the late sixteenth century for his poem "Samela", Samela is most likely a reworking of Semele.

This is a Japanese name which refers to a scabbard or sheath for a sword. Beyond being a simple noun, Saya connotes peace because of the image of a sword that remains in its scabbard.
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From 沙 (sa) "sand" and 耶 (ya), a kanji used exclusively in names meaning "question mark."

Variant of Zoélie.

From a nickname that is commonly used to denote a young boy, derived from the English word son.

Means "good-tempered, well-disposed", derived from the Sanskrit prefix सु (su) meaning "good" combined with शील (śīla) meaning "conduct, disposition". This is a transcription of both the feminine form सुशीला (long final vowel, borne by a consort of the Hindu god Yama) and the masculine form सुशील (short final vowel).

Transferred use of the surname Taber.

Means "study, learning" in Arabic.

Means "virtuous, pure, chaste" in Arabic.

Means "world", "universe" or "macrocosm" in Hebrew.

From an English surname that was itself derived from the given name Tobias.

Probably a variant of Wilma, the spelling with an e perhaps due to the influence of Selma 1. This name has been in use since the 19th century.

Variant of Virginia.

Transferred use of the surname Vox.

Latinized form of Wilhelm. This is also the official Dutch form of the name, used on birth certificates but not commonly in daily life.

Alternate transcription of Hebrew יוֹנָה (see Yona).

Feminine form of Zayd. This was the name of a Muslim princess who took refuge at the court of (and perhaps married) Alfonso VI of León and Castile in the 11th century.

Russian form of Zacharias.

Alternate transcription of Russian Зиновий (see Zinoviy).

Probably an invented name, perhaps an elaboration of Suhaila or Sujey using the English name suffix lyn. This is borne by Zuheilyn Clemente (2000-), a Honduran model and beauty pageant titleholder.