mushroom13's Personal Name List

From the Hebrew name אַבְשָׁלוֹם ('Avshalom) meaning "my father is peace", derived from אָב ('av) meaning "father" and שָׁלוֹם (shalom) meaning "peace". In the Old Testament he is a son of King David. He avenged his sister Tamar by arranging the murder of her rapist, their half-brother Amnon. He later led a revolt against his father. While fleeing on the back of a mule he got his head caught in a tree and was killed by Joab.

Alternate transcription of Russian Алексей (see Aleksey).

Possibly from Latin altus or Italian/Spanish alto meaning "high".

Derived from Greek ἀμαρύσσω (amarysso) meaning "to sparkle". This is the name of a character appearing in Virgil's pastoral poems Eclogues [1]. The amaryllis flower is named for her.

French form of Amalric.

From the Late Latin name Ambrosius, which was derived from the Greek name Ἀμβρόσιος (Ambrosios) meaning "immortal". Saint Ambrose was a 4th-century theologian and bishop of Milan, who is considered a Doctor of the Church. Due to the saint, the name came into general use in Christian Europe, though it was never particularly common in England.

Québecois variant of Anaclète.

Meaning uncertain, possibly a derivative of Anne 1 or Agnès. It was used in Jean-Henri Guy's opera Anacréon chez Polycrate (1798), where it is borne by the daughter (otherwise unnamed in history) of the 6th-century BC tyrant Polycrates of Samos. Guy could have adapted it from a classical name such as Anaitis or Athénaïs.

A famous bearer was the Cuban-French writer Anaïs Nin (1903-1977), known for her diaries.

Means "master of virtue", derived from Greek ἄναξ (anax) meaning "lord, master" and ἀρετή (arete) meaning "virtue". In Greek myth this name belonged to a Cypriot maiden whose rejection of Iphis incurred the wrath of Aphrodite. Anaxarete reacted so coolly to the shepherd's passionate love for her that he killed himself; when even the sight of Iphis' dead body did not move her, the goddess of love turned her into stone.

From the name of an old Armenian city, of unknown meaning. Now in eastern Turkey, in the 10th and 11th centuries it was the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia, though it was later abandoned and is now only ruins.

Swedish diminutive of Anna.

Derived from Greek ἀντί (anti) meaning "against, compared to, like" and γονή (gone) meaning "birth, offspring". In Greek legend Antigone was the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta. King Creon of Thebes declared that her slain brother Polynices was to remain unburied, a great dishonour. She disobeyed and gave him a proper burial, and for this she was sealed alive in a cave.

Variant of Araksi.

From an English surname, originally taken from various place names, which were derived from a Celtic word meaning "high".

Means "song, melody" in Italian (literally means "air"). An aria is an elaborate vocal solo, the type usually performed in operas. As an English name, it has only been in use since the 20th century, its rise in popularity accelerating after the 2010 premier of the television drama Pretty Little Liars, featuring a character by this name. It is not traditionally used in Italy.

Means "taken up, received, assumed" in Italian, referring to the assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven.

Means "star", ultimately from Greek ἀστήρ (aster). This name has only been (rarely) used since the 20th century.

Meaning uncertain, but it may be a feminine form of Axel.

Feminine form of Axel.

Variant of Aznavur.

From Egyptian bꜣstt, which was possibly derived from bꜣs meaning "ointment jar" and a feminine t suffix. In Egyptian mythology Bastet was a goddess of cats, fertility and the sun who was considered a protector of Lower Egypt. In early times she was typically depicted with the head of a lioness. By the New Kingdom period she was more associated with domestic cats, while the similar cat goddess Sekhmet took on the fierce lioness aspect.

Variant of Bedivere.

From Persian بی‌نظیر (bi-nazir) meaning "incomparable, matchless". It is used as a feminine name in Pakistan while it is typically masculine in Bangladesh. A famous bearer was Benazir Bhutto (1953-2007), the first female prime minister of Pakistan.

From the English word blossom, ultimately from Old English blóstm. It came into use as a rare given name in the 19th century.

French feminine and masculine form of Caelestis.

The name of the rooster in 'Chanticleer and the Fox' and 'Reynard,' medieval fables.

Short form of Cleopatra, Cleon or Cleopas.

Means "conceived" in Italian, referring to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.

Variant of Kosta.

Rare French feminine form of Cyrus.

From a nickname originally given to people perceived as being dusty. It is also used a diminutive of Dustin. A famous bearer was British singer Dusty Springfield (1939-1999), who acquired her nickname as a child.

From Welsh eilon meaning "deer, stag" or "song, melody". This name was used by Lloyd Alexander in his book series The Chronicles of Prydain (1964-1968) as well as the Disney film adaptation The Black Cauldron (1985).

Variant of Emery.

Means "friend, brother" in Turkish. This name was borne by the 13th-century Turkish poet Yunus Emre.

Diminutive of Eve or Evelyn.

Derived from the word for a succinct story, in prose or verse, that features animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature which are given human qualities, and that illustrates a moral lesson.
The word "fable" comes from the Latin fabula (a "story"), itself derived from fari ("to speak") with the -ula suffix that signifies "little".

Feminine form of Felinus.

Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Lithuanian form of Philomena.

Derived from Latin flos meaning "flower" (genitive case floris). Flora was the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, the wife of Zephyr the west wind. It has been used as a given name since the Renaissance, starting in France. In Scotland it was sometimes used as an Anglicized form of Fionnghuala.

Variant of Freyja.

Feminine form of Fulvius (see Fulvio).

From the English word garnet for the precious stone, the birthstone of January. The word is derived from Middle English gernet meaning "dark red".

Medieval Italian nickname meaning "gem, precious stone". It was borne by the wife of the 13th-century Italian poet Dante Alighieri.

From the Norman French form of the Welsh name Gwenhwyfar meaning "white phantom", ultimately from the old Celtic roots *windos meaning "white" (modern Welsh gwen) and *sēbros meaning "phantom, magical being" [1]. In Arthurian legend she was the beautiful wife of King Arthur. According to the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth, she was seduced by Mordred before the battle of Camlann, which led to the deaths of both Mordred and Arthur. According to the 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes, she engaged in an adulterous affair with Sir Lancelot.

The Cornish form of this name, Jennifer, has become popular in the English-speaking world.

Medieval English name, probably a Latinized form of Iðunn. The spelling may have been influenced by Latin idonea "suitable". It was common in England from the 12th century [1].

Possibly means "interpreter" in Arabic. According to the Quran this was the name of an ancient prophet. He is traditionally equated with the Hebrew prophet Enoch.

Italian cognate of Inmaculada.

The name of the daughter of King Cymbeline in the play Cymbeline (1609) by William Shakespeare. He based her on a legendary character named Innogen, but it was printed incorrectly and never emended. Innogen is probably derived from Gaelic inghean meaning "maiden". As a given name it is chiefly British and Australian.

Variant of Imogen.

Strictly feminine form of Inge.

Finnish and Frisian feminine form of Inge.

Italian form of Hippolyte 1.

Short form of Isabella.

Variant of Islay, typically used as a feminine name. It also coincides with the Spanish word isla meaning "island".

From the English word for the climbing plant that has small yellow flowers. It is ultimately derived from Old English ifig.

This name was recorded in Vitoria/Gasteiz in 1513, with its original meaning unknown. However, it has been revived since the 1970's, probably interpreted as a combination of Basque ixo (meaning "hush") and the modern feminine suffix -ne.

Variant of Gemma.

In part from the English word jewel, a precious stone, derived from Old French jouel, which was possibly related to jeu "game". It is also in part from the surname Jewel or Jewell (a derivative of the Breton name Judicaël), which was sometimes used in honour of the 16th-century bishop of Salisbury John Jewel. It has been in use as a given name since the 19th century.

Feminine form of Junius. This was the name of an early Christian mentioned in the New Testament (there is some debate about whether the name belongs to a man or a woman).

Diminutive of Christopher or Katherine. A notable bearer was Kit Carson (1809-1868), an American frontiersman and explorer.

From a Scottish surname that was derived from the name of a district in Scotland. The district, called Leamhnachd in Gaelic, possibly means "place of elms". This name steadily rose in popularity in the 2000s, at the same time as the similar-sounding (but unrelated) names Lennon and Knox.

Derived from Latin lux meaning "light".

Form of Maia 1 in various languages.

Feminine form of Marinus. This name was borne by a few early saints. This is also the name by which Saint Margaret of Antioch is known in the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Variant of Marjan notably borne by Marjane Satrapi (1969-), an Iranian-born French illustrator and graphic novelist.

From the English word merle or the French surname Merle, which both mean "blackbird" (from Latin merula). It was borne by the devious character Madame Merle (in fact her surname) in Henry James' novel The Portrait of a Lady (1880).

This name is also common for girls in Estonia, though a connection to the English-language name is uncertain.

Hebrew form of Mary. It is used in the Old Testament, where it belongs to the elder sister of Moses and Aaron. She watched over the infant Moses as the pharaoh's daughter drew him from the Nile. The name has long been popular among Jews, and it has been used as an English Christian name (alongside Mary) since the Protestant Reformation.

Means either "demon queen" or "great queen", derived from Old Irish mor "demon, evil spirit" or mór "great, big" combined with rígain "queen". In Irish mythology Morrígan (called also The Morrígan) was a goddess of war and death who often took the form of a crow.

Means "snows" in Spanish, derived from the title of the Virgin Mary Nuestra Señora de las Nieves meaning "Our Lady of the Snows".

Russian form of Niketas. This form is also used in Ukrainian and Belarusian alongside the more traditional forms Mykyta and Mikita. A notable bearer was the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971).

Short form of Nimrod, Nimue or other names containing Nim-.

Used as a female name in the book and movie Nim's Island by Wendy Orr.

Short form of Annunziata.

Means "night" in Greek. This was the name of the Greek goddess of the night, the daughter of Khaos and the wife of Erebos.

Means "peace" in Latin. In Roman mythology this was the name of the goddess of peace.

From the English word pearl for the concretions formed in the shells of some mollusks, ultimately from Late Latin perla. Like other gemstone names, it has been used as a given name in the English-speaking world since the 19th century. The pearl is the traditional birthstone for June, and it supposedly imparts health and wealth.

French form of the Roman name Quintinus. It was borne by a 3rd-century saint, a missionary who was martyred in Gaul. The Normans introduced this name to England. In America it was brought to public attention by president Theodore Roosevelt's son Quentin Roosevelt (1897-1918), who was killed in World War I. A famous bearer is the American movie director Quentin Tarantino (1963-).

Feminine form of Renatus.

Generally this can be considered to be from Latin rosa meaning "rose", though originally it may have come from the unrelated Germanic name Roza 2. This was the name of a 13th-century saint from Viterbo in Italy. In the English-speaking world it was first used in the 19th century. Famous bearers include the Polish-German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg (1871-1919) and the American civil rights activist Rosa Parks (1913-2005).

Derived from the Old German elements hros meaning "horse" and lind meaning "soft, flexible, tender". The Normans introduced this name to England, though it was not common. During the Middle Ages its spelling was influenced by the Latin phrase rosa linda "beautiful rose". The name was popularized by Edmund Spencer, who used it in his poetry, and by William Shakespeare, who used it for the heroine in his comedy As You Like It (1599).

Medieval variant of Rosalind. This is the name of characters in Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost (1594) and Romeo and Juliet (1596).

Originally a Norman French form of the Germanic name Hrodohaidis meaning "famous type", composed of the elements hruod "fame" and heit "kind, sort, type". The Normans introduced it to England in the forms Roese and Rohese. From an early date it was associated with the word for the fragrant flower rose (derived from Latin rosa). When the name was revived in the 19th century, it was probably with the flower in mind.

Southern German diminutive of Rose and names containing Rose like Rosemarie or Annerose.

Latin form of Ῥωξάνη (Rhoxane), the Greek form of an Old Persian or Bactrian name, from Old Iranian *rauxšnā meaning "bright, shining" [1]. This was the name of Alexander the Great's first wife, a daughter of the Bactrian nobleman Oxyartes. In the modern era it came into use during the 17th century. In the English-speaking world it was popularized by Daniel Defoe, who used it in his novel Roxana (1724).

Simply from the name of the precious stone (which ultimately derives from Latin ruber "red"), which is the traditional birthstone of July. It came into use as a given name in the 16th century [1].

Russian and Ukrainian diminutive of Aleksandr or Aleksandra.

From the English word scout meaning "one who gathers information covertly", which is derived from Old French escouter "to listen". Harper Lee used this name in her novel To Kill a Mockingbird (1960).

From a Roman cognomen derived from Latin senectus meaning "old". This was the name of both a Roman orator (born in Spain) and also of his son, a philosopher and statesman.

This name also coincides with that of the Seneca, a Native American tribe that lived near the Great Lakes, whose name meant "place of stones".

Variant of Seth 2.

From Greek Σίβυλλα (Sibylla), meaning "prophetess, sibyl". In Greek and Roman legend the sibyls were female prophets who practiced at different holy sites in the ancient world. In later Christian theology, the sibyls were thought to have divine knowledge and were revered in much the same way as the Old Testament prophets. Because of this, the name came into general use in the Christian world during the Middle Ages. The Normans imported it to England, where it was spelled both Sibyl and Sybil. It became rare after the Protestant Reformation, but it was revived in the 19th century, perhaps helped by Benjamin Disraeli's novel Sybil (1845).

The name of a companion of Saint Paul in the New Testament. It is probably a short form of Silvanus, a name that Paul calls him by in the epistles. It is possible that Silvanus and Silas were Latin and Greek forms of the Hebrew name Saul (via Aramaic).

As an English name it was not used until after the Protestant Reformation. It was utilized by George Eliot for the title character in her novel Silas Marner (1861).

Irish form of Jehanne, a Norman French variant of Jeanne.

Variant of Sibyl. This spelling variation has existed since the Middle Ages.

Possibly a transferred use of the surname.

Alternate transcription of Hebrew צִפּוֹרָה (see Tzipporah).

Derived from Latin unda meaning "wave". The word undine was created by the 16th-century Swiss author Paracelsus, who used it for female water spirits.

Means "faith" in Russian, though it is sometimes associated with the Latin word verus "true". It has been in general use in the English-speaking world since the late 19th century.

Means "king over warriors" from Gaulish wer "on, over" combined with kingeto "marching men, warriors" and rix "king". This name was borne by a 1st-century BC chieftain of the Gaulish tribe the Arverni. He led the resistance against Julius Caesar's attempts to conquer Gaul, but he was eventually defeated, brought to Rome, and executed.

Probably a Roman cognate of Hestia. Vesta was the Roman goddess of the hearth. A continuous fire, tended by the Vestal Virgins, was burned in the Temple of Vesta in Rome.

Diminutive of Winifred. Winnie-the-Pooh, a stuffed bear in children's books by A. A. Milne, was named after a real bear named Winnipeg who lived at the London Zoo.

Means "firstborn daughter" in Dakota or Lakota. According to folklore, this was the name of a daughter of a Dakota chief (possibly Wapasha III) who leapt from a cliff to her death rather than marry a man she hated. Numerous places in the United States have been named after her. The actress Winona Ryder (1971-) was named after the city in Minnesota where she was born.

Feminine form of Xanthippos. This was the name of the wife of Socrates. Because of her supposedly argumentative nature, the name has been adopted (in the modern era) as a word for a scolding, ill-tempered woman.

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.

Arabic form of Zechariah and Zacharias.

From Middle English senith, from cinit, from Old French cenit and/or Latin cenit, a transliteration of Arabic سمت (samt, "direction, path") which is in itself a weak abbreviation of سمت الرأس (samt ar-ra's, "direction of the head").

In modern English, zenith means "the highest point or state; peak" and in astronomy, refers to "the point in the sky vertically above a given position or observer" or "the highest point in the sky reached by a celestial body."

In the English-speaking world, this name has been in occasional use from the late 19th century onwards.

Derived from the Italian zero itself from Medieval Latin zèphyrum, Arabic صفر (ṣifr) and Sanskrit शून्य (śūnyá), ultimately meaning "empty".

In Japan the same sound and meaning was given to the kanji 零 (rei), probably after the contact with Western cultures. Zero has been used for some manga and anime characters.

Alternate transcription of Arabic ضياء الدين (see Ziya ad-Din), as well as the usual Urdu transcription.

Spanish feminine form of Zoilus.