fisher_king_22's Personal Name List
Aella
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἄελλα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-EHL-LA(Classical Greek)
Rating: 100% based on 2 votes
Means
"whirlwind" in Greek. In Greek
myth this was the name of an Amazon warrior killed by
Herakles during his quest for Hippolyta's girdle.
Aeneas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: ie-NEH-as(Latin) i-NEE-əs(English)
Rating: 85% based on 2 votes
Latin form of the Greek name
Αἰνείας (Aineias), derived from Greek
αἴνη (aine) meaning
"praise". In Greek legend he was a son of
Aphrodite and was one of the chief heroes who defended Troy from the Greeks. The Roman poet
Virgil continued his story in the
Aeneid, in which Aeneas travels to Italy and founds the Roman state.
Alcyone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀλκυόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: al-SIE-ə-nee(English)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of Greek
Ἀλκυόνη (Alkyone), derived from the word
ἀλκυών (alkyon) meaning
"kingfisher". In Greek
myth this name belonged to a daughter of Aeolus and the wife of Ceyx. After her husband was killed in a shipwreck she threw herself into the water, but the gods saved her and turned them both into kingfishers. This is also the name of the brightest of the Pleiades, a group of stars in the constellation Taurus, supposedly the daughters of
Atlas and
Pleione.
Amabilis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Late Roman
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Late Latin name meaning
"lovable".
Saint Amabilis was a 5th-century priest in Riom, central France.
Amphelise
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Medieval English
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Meaning unknown. It is attested from the 12th century in the Latin form Amphelisia and the vernacular form Anflis.
Anadyomene
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, Roman Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀναδυόμενη(Ancient Greek)
Means "emerging, rising from the sea", derived from Greek αναδύομαι
(anadyomai) meaning "to surface, emerge, rise to the surface". This was an epithet of
Aphrodite.
Anastasiy
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Russian (Archaic), Bulgarian (Archaic)
Other Scripts: Анастасий(Russian, Bulgarian)
Pronounced: u-nu-STA-syee(Russian)
Rating: 0% based on 1 vote
Antiope
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀντιόπη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: an-TIE-ə-pee(English)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Derived from the Greek elements
ἀντί (anti) meaning "against, compared to, like" and
ὄψ (ops) meaning "voice". This was the name of several figures in Greek
mythology, including a daughter of
Ares who was one of the queens of the Amazons. She was kidnapped and married by
Theseus.
Aoide
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἀοιδή(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ay-EE-dee(English)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Means
"song" in Greek. In Greek
mythology she was one of the original three muses, the muse of song.
Apollinaris
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ἀπολλινάρις(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 100% based on 2 votes
Ancient Greek name derived from the name of the god
Apollo. This was the name of several early
saints and martyrs, including a bishop of Ravenna and a bishop of Hierapolis.
Araminta
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Meaning unknown. This name was (first?) used by William Congreve in his comedy The Old Bachelor (1693) and later by John Vanbrugh in his comedy The Confederacy (1705). This was the original given name of abolitionist Harriet Tubman (1820-1913), who was born Araminta Ross.
Arson
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (American, Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: AR-sən(American English)
Rating: 0% based on 1 vote
Probably a spelling variant of
Arsen. It coincides with the English word
arson meaning "the criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property".
Artemisia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ἀρτεμισία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 80% based on 2 votes
Feminine form of
Artemisios. This was the name of the 4th-century BC builder of the Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. She built it in memory of her husband, the Carian prince Mausolus.
Ash
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: ASH
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Short form of
Ashley. It can also come directly from the English word denoting either the tree or the residue of fire.
Ashland
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: ASH-lənd
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Transferred use of the surname
Ashland.
Astraea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ἀστραία(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Latinized form of the Greek
Ἀστραία (Astraia), derived from Greek
ἀστήρ (aster) meaning
"star". Astraea was a Greek goddess of justice and innocence. After wickedness took root in the world she left the earth and became the constellation Virgo.
Athena
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology, English
Other Scripts: Ἀθηνᾶ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: A-TEH-NA(Classical Greek) ə-THEE-nə(English)
Meaning unknown. Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom and warfare and the patron goddess of the city of Athens in Greece. It is likely that her name is derived from that of the city, not vice versa. The earliest mention of her seems to be a 15th-century BC Mycenaean Greek inscription from Knossos on Crete.
The daughter of Zeus, she was said to have sprung from his head fully grown after he impregnated and swallowed her mother Metis. Athena is associated with the olive tree and the owl.
Aula
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Aulus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman
Pronounced: OW-loos
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Possibly from Latin
avulus meaning
"little grandfather", though it could be from the Etruscan name
Aule, which was possibly derived from
avils meaning "years". This was a Roman
praenomen, or given name. Folk etymology connects it to Latin
aula meaning "palace".
Avis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AY-vis
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
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".
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.
Basia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: BA-sha
Cassiana
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Roman, Italian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Provençal
Celyn
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Means
"holly" in Welsh. It appears briefly in the Welsh tale
Culhwch and Olwen [1], belonging to a son of Caw, but was not typically used as a given name until the 20th century.
Chrysostom
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History (Ecclesiastical)
Rating: 0% based on 1 vote
Cinzia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Corinne
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: KAW-REEN(French) kə-REEN(English) kə-RIN(English)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
French form of
Corinna. The French-Swiss author Madame de Staël used it for her novel
Corinne (1807).
Cyan
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: SIE-an
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
From the English word meaning
"greenish blue, cyan", ultimately derived from Greek
κύανος (kyanos).
Cynthia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, French, Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Κυνθία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: SIN-thee-ə(English) SEEN-TYA(French)
Latinized form of Greek
Κυνθία (Kynthia), which means
"woman from Cynthus". This was an epithet of the Greek moon goddess
Artemis, given because Cynthus was the mountain on Delos on which she and her twin brother
Apollo were born. It was not used as a given name until the Renaissance, and it did not become common in the English-speaking world until the 19th century. It reached a peak of popularity in the United States in 1957 and has declined steadily since then.
Cyprian
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish, History (Ecclesiastical)
Pronounced: TSI-pryan(Polish) SIP-ree-ən(English)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
From the Roman family name
Cyprianus, which meant
"from Cyprus".
Saint Cyprian was a 3rd-century bishop of Carthage who was martyred under the Roman emperor Valerian.
Cysa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Medieval German
Pronounced: TSEE-za
Of unknown origin, maybe a hypochoristic form of names containing
sigu "victory".
Dandelion
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: DAN-de-lie-on
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
The English name, Dandelion, is a corruption of the French dent de lion meaning "lion's tooth", referring to the coarsely toothed leaves. It is usually is used as a nickname.
Dante
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian
Pronounced: DAN-teh(Italian) DAHN-tay(English) DAN-tee(English)
Medieval short form of
Durante. The most notable bearer of this name was Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), the Italian poet who wrote the
Divine Comedy.
Delia 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Δηλία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: DEE-lee-ə(English) DEH-lya(Italian, Spanish) DEH-lee-a(Romanian)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Means
"of Delos" in Greek. This was an epithet of the Greek goddess
Artemis, given because she and her twin brother
Apollo were born on the island of Delos. The name appeared in several poems of the 16th and 17th centuries, and it has occasionally been used as a given name since that time.
Edelweiss
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Various
Pronounced: AY-dəl-vies(English) EH-DEHL-VIES(French) EH-DEHL-VEHS(French) eh-dehl-VIES(Italian) EH-dehl-vies(Italian)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
From the name of the edelweiss flower (species Leontopodium alpinum). It is derived from the German elements edel "noble" and weiß "white." The name of the flower is spelled Edelweiß in German; Edelweiss is an Anglicized spelling.
Eiluned
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Endellion
Gender: Feminine
Usage: History (Ecclesiastical)
Pronounced: ehn-DEHL-ee-ən(English)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Anglicized form of
Endelienta, the Latin form of a Welsh or Cornish name. It was borne by a 5th or 6th-century Cornish
saint whose birth name is lost. According to some traditions she was a daughter of
Brychan Brycheiniog (identifying her with Cynheiddon).
Eris
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἔρις(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: EHR-is(English)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Means
"strife, discord" in Greek. In Greek
mythology Eris was the goddess of discord. She was the sister and companion of
Ares.
Franciszek
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: fran-CHEE-shehk
Rating: 0% based on 1 vote
Polish form of
Franciscus (see
Francis).
Gabija
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Lithuanian, Baltic Mythology
Probably from Lithuanian
gaubti meaning
"to cover". In Lithuanian
mythology this was the name of the goddess of fire and the home.
Galileo
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Italian (Rare)
Pronounced: ga-lee-LEH-o
Medieval Italian name derived from Latin
galilaeus 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".
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was an important Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer. Both his name and surname were from an earlier 15th-century ancestor (a doctor).
Gawain
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: gə-WAYN(English) GAH-win(English)
Rating: 0% based on 1 vote
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.
Gwydion
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
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.
Herais
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Greek [1]
Other Scripts: Ἡραΐς(Ancient Greek)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Ancient Greek personal name that was probably derived from the name of the Greek goddess
Hera. It was borne by a
saint and martyr from Alexandria who was killed during the early 4th-century persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian.
Hero 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Ἡρώ(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HIR-o(English)
Derived from Greek
ἥρως (heros) meaning
"hero". In Greek legend she was the lover of
Leander, who would swim across the Hellespont each night to meet her. He was killed on one such occasion when he got caught in a storm while in the water, and when Hero saw his dead body she drowned herself. This is also the name of a character in Shakespeare's play
Much Ado About Nothing (1599).
Heulwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh
Pronounced: HAYL-wehn
Means
"sunshine" in Welsh (a compound of
haul "sun" and
gwen "white, blessed").
Heurodis
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Medieval English form of
Eurydice. This form was used in the 13th-century poem 'Sir Orfeo', a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth.
Hlíf
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Old Norse [1], Icelandic
Old Norse and Icelandic form of
Liv 1.
Hlín
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Old Norse, Norse Mythology, Icelandic
Means "protection" in Old Norse, the root of which is Old Icelandic
hleina "to save, protect, defend" (ultimately relating to Old English
hlæna and modern English
lean; also the related noun
hlein is used of the upright warp-weighted loom, which is leaned against a wall in use). It was also used to mean "woman" in a large number of poetic compounds, such as
hrínga-hlín,
bauga-hlín "ring-lady". This Old Norse name is usually found as a goddess-name, a wife of
Odin, possibly a byname of
Frigg.
Hlothar
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Germanic [1]
Horatio
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English
Pronounced: hə-RAY-shee-o, hə-RAY-sho
Variant of
Horatius. Shakespeare used it for a character in his tragedy
Hamlet (1600). It was borne by the British admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), famous for his defeat of Napoleon's forces in the Battle of Trafalgar, in which he was himself killed. Since his time the name has been occasionally used in his honour.
Hrafn
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Icelandic, Old Norse [1]
Pronounced: RAPN(Icelandic)
Means "raven" in Old Norse.
Hyacinth 1
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Anglicized)
Other Scripts: Ὑάκινθος(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: HIE-ə-sinth(English)
Iseult
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: i-SOOLT(English) i-ZOOLT(English) EE-ZUU(French)
The origins of this name are uncertain, though some Celtic roots have been suggested. It is possible that the name is ultimately Germanic, from a hypothetical name like *
Ishild, composed of the elements
is "ice" and
hilt "battle".
According to tales first recorded in Old French in the 12th century, Yseut or Ysolt was an Irish princess betrothed to King Mark of Cornwall. After accidentally drinking a love potion, she became the lover of his nephew Tristan. Their tragic story, which was set in the Arthurian world, was popular during the Middle Ages and the name became relatively common in England at that time. It was rare by the 19th century, though some interest was generated by Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde (1865).
Kaisa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Finnish, Estonian
Pronounced: KIE-sah(Finnish)
Kalina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian, Macedonian, Polish
Other Scripts: Калина(Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Pronounced: ka-LEE-na(Polish)
Rating: 100% based on 1 vote
Means "viburnum tree" in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Polish.
Kasimir
Gender: Masculine
Usage: German (Rare)
Pronounced: KA-zee-meew
Lake
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: LAYK
From the English word lake, for the inland body of water. It is ultimately derived from Latin lacus.
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.
Leyre
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: LAY-reh
From the name of a mountain in Navarre in northern Spain, the site of the old monastery of San Salvador of Leyre. It is from Basque Leire, possibly derived from Latin legionarius meaning "pertaining to a legion".
Ligeia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Λιγεία(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: lie-JEE-ə(English)
Derived from Greek
λιγύς (ligys) meaning
"clear-voiced, shrill, whistling". This was the name of one of the Sirens in Greek legend. It was also used by Edgar Allan Poe in his story
Ligeia (1838).
Lohengrin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
From the earlier form
Loherangrin, derived from
Lothringen, the German name for the region of
Lorraine. It appears in Arthurian legend, initially in the 13th-century German poem
Parzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach, belonging to a son of the knight
Parzival. The tales were adapted by Richard Wagner for his opera
Lohengrin (1850).
Lynnette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: li-NEHT
Lyonesse
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Means
"lioness" in Middle English. In Thomas Malory's 15th-century tale
Le Morte d'Arthur this is the name of a woman trapped in a castle by the Red Knight. Her sister
Lynet gains the help of the knight
Gareth in order to save her.
Lyonors
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Probably from Middle English
lyon meaning
"lion". It appears in Thomas Malory's 15th-century compilation of Arthurian legends
Le Morte d'Arthur, belonging to a woman who had a child with Arthur
[1]. Alfred Tennyson used the name in his poem
Gareth and Lynette (1872) for the sister of
Lynette (this character is called
Lyonesse in Malory's version of the story).
Lysithea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Λυσιθέα(Ancient Greek)
Derived from Greek
λύσις (lysis) meaning "a release, loosening" and
θεά (thea) meaning "goddess". This was the name of a lover of
Zeus in Greek
mythology. A small moon of Jupiter is named after her.
Monroe
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: mən-RO
From a Scottish surname meaning
"from the mouth of the Roe". The Roe is a river in Northern Ireland. Two famous bearers of the surname were American president James Monroe (1758-1831) and American actress Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962).
As a given name it was mostly masculine in America until around 2009. It was already rising in popularity for girls when singer Mariah Carey gave it to her daughter born 2011 (though this probably helped accelerate it).
Nausicaa
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology (Latinized)
Other Scripts: Ναυσικάα(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: naw-SIK-ee-ə(English)
Latinized form of Greek
Ναυσικάα (Nausikaa) meaning
"burner of ships". In
Homer's epic the
Odyssey this is the name of a daughter of Alcinous who helps
Odysseus on his journey home.
Nazaret
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Spanish, Armenian
Other Scripts: Նազարեթ(Armenian)
Pronounced: na-tha-REHT(European Spanish) na-sa-REHT(Latin American Spanish) nah-zah-REHT(Armenian)
From Nazareth, the town in Galilee where
Jesus lived. This name is primarily feminine in Spanish and primarily masculine in Armenian.
Niloufar
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Persian
Other Scripts: نیلوفر(Persian)
Pronounced: nee-loo-FAR
Means "water lily" in Persian.
Nona 1
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Roman Mythology
Pronounced: NO-na(Latin)
Derived from Latin nonus meaning "ninth", referring to the nine months of pregnancy. This was the name of a Roman goddess of pregnancy. She was also one of the three Fates (or Parcae).
Nopphamat
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Thai
Other Scripts: นพมาศ(Thai)
Pronounced: nop-pa-MAT
From Thai นพ (nop) meaning "nine" and มาศ (mat) meaning "gold".
Nubemhat
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Ancient Egyptian
From Egyptian nbw-m-ḥꜣt meaning "gold is at the front".
Nuphar
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: נופר(Hebrew)
Nuphar is genus of aquatic plants in the family Nymphaeaceae, with a temperate to subarctic Northern Hemisphere distribution. Common names include water-lily (Eurasian species; shared with many other genera in the same family), pond-lily, alligator-bonnet or bonnet lily, and spatterdock (North American species).
Odette
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French
Pronounced: AW-DEHT
French
diminutive of
Oda or
Odilia. This is the name of a princess who has been transformed into a swan in the ballet
Swan Lake (1877) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Odilia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Germanic (Latinized) [1][2]
Derived from the Old German element
uodil meaning
"heritage" or
ot meaning
"wealth, fortune".
Saint Odilia (or Odila) was an 8th-century nun who is considered the patron saint of Alsace. She was apparently born blind but gained sight when she was baptized.
Olwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: OL-wehn(English)
Means
"white footprint" from Welsh
ol "footprint, track" and
gwen "white, blessed". In the Welsh tale
Culhwch and Olwen she was a beautiful maiden, the lover of
Culhwch and the daughter of the giant Yspaddaden. Her father insisted that Culhwch complete several seemingly impossible tasks before he would allow them to marry.
Owain
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: O-wien(Welsh)
From an Old Welsh name (
Ougein,
Eugein and other spellings), which was possibly from the Latin name
Eugenius. Other theories connect it to the Celtic roots *
owi- "sheep", *
wesu- "good" or *
awi- "desire" combined with the Old Welsh suffix
gen "born of". This is the name of several figures from British history, including Owain mab Urien, a 6th-century prince of Rheged who fought against the Angles. The 12th-century French poet Chrétien de Troyes adapted him into
Yvain for his Arthurian romance
Yvain, the Knight of the Lion. Regarded as one of the Knights of the Round Table, Yvain or Owain has since appeared in many other Arthurian tales, typically being the son of King
Urien of Gore, and the errant husband of
Laudine, the Lady of the Fountain.
Other notable bearers include Owain the Great, a 12th-century king of Gwynedd, and Owain Glyndwr, a 14th-century leader of the Welsh resistance to English rule.
Parzival
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arthurian Cycle
Form of
Percival used by the 13th-century German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach.
Peredur
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh Mythology, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: peh-REH-dir(Welsh)
Meaning uncertain. It possibly means
"hard spears" from Welsh
peri "spears" and
dur "hard, steel"
[1]. In early Welsh poetry and histories, the brothers Peredur and Gwrgi were chieftains in Cumbria who defeated
Gwenddoleu at the Battle of Arfderydd. This name was later used by the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in the Latin form
Peredurus for an early (fictitious) king of Britain. Entering into Arthurian romance, Peredur is an aspiring knight in the 14th-century Welsh tale
Peredur son of Efrawg (an adaptation or parallel of Chrétien de Troyes' hero
Percival).
Philomel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: FIL-ə-mehl(English)
From an English word meaning
"nightingale" (ultimately from
Philomela). It has been used frequently in poetry to denote the bird.
Pilar
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: pee-LAR
Means
"pillar" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin
Mary,
María del Pilar, meaning "Mary of the Pillar". According to legend, when
Saint James the Greater was in Saragossa in Spain, the Virgin Mary appeared on a pillar.
Quodvultdeus
Gender: Masculine
Usage: History (Ecclesiastical)
Means "what God wants" in Latin. This was the name of a 5th-century saint from North Africa who was martyred in the Valerianus persecutions. He was a spiritual student and friend of Saint
Augustine of Hippo.
Rea
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Croatian, English, German (Rare), Catalan (Rare), Galician, Italian, Spanish (Rare), Filipino, Hungarian, Estonian, Romansh, Albanian
Form of
Rhea in several languages.
Rocío
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Spanish
Pronounced: ro-THEE-o(European Spanish) ro-SEE-o(Latin American Spanish)
Means
"dew" in Spanish. It is taken from the title of the Virgin
Mary María del Rocío meaning "Mary of the Dew".
Rosalba
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Italian
Italian name meaning
"white rose", derived from Latin
rosa "rose" and
alba "white". A famous bearer was the Venetian painter Rosalba Carriera (1675-1757).
Şahin
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Turkish
Pronounced: sha-HEEN
Means "hawk" in Turkish, of Persian origin.
Sarika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hindi, Marathi
Other Scripts: सारिका(Hindi, Marathi)
From a Sanskrit word referring to a type of thrush (species Turdus salica) or myna bird (species Gracula religiosa).
Sascha
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: German, Dutch
Pronounced: ZA-sha(German) SAH-sha(Dutch)
German and Dutch form of
Sasha.
Saskia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Dutch, German
Pronounced: SAHS-kee-a(Dutch) ZAS-kya(German)
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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.
Sassia
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
This name derives from the Germanic “*sakhsan > sachs (Old English: sæx; Latin: sachsum)”, meaning “knife, short sword, dagger”. The Anglo-Saxons were the population in Britain partly descended from the Germanic tribes who migrated from continental Europe and settled the south and east of the island beginning in the early 5th century. The Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period of English history after their initial settlement through their creation of the English nation, up to the Norman Conquest; that is, between about 550 and 1066. Saskia as flora is a painting by Rembrandt van Rijn portrait from 1634. The large painting shows Saskia van Uylenburgh in the role of flora, which was in Roman mythology the goddess of flowers and spring. The portrait is in the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg.
September
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: sehp-TEHM-bər(American English) sehp-TEHM-bə(British English)
From the name of the ninth month (though it means "seventh month" in Latin, since it was originally the seventh month of the Roman year), which is sometimes used as a given name for someone born in September.
Silje
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Norwegian, Danish
Snowdrop
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare)
Pronounced: SNO-drahp
The name of the flower used as a first name, mainly between the 1890s and 1920s, but never one of the more popular names of this kind.
Solange
Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, Portuguese
Pronounced: SAW-LAHNZH(French)
French form of the Late Latin name
Sollemnia, which was derived from Latin
sollemnis "religious". This was the name of a French shepherdess who became a
saint after she was killed by her master.
Sonnet
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Modern, Rare)
Pronounced: SAHN-it
Diminutive of Italian
sonetto - song, sound; little song. Also the term for a short lyric poem, usually with eight line stanzas, followed by six line
stanzas.
The sonnets of William Shakespeare, on the other hand, are typically three Sicilian quatrains, followed by an heroic couplet.
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.
Tisiphone
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Greek Mythology
Other Scripts: Τισιφόνη(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: ti-SIF-ə-nee(English)
Means
"avenging murder" in Greek, derived from
τίσις (tisis) meaning "vengeance" and
φόνος (phonos) meaning "murder". This was the name of one of the Furies or
Ἐρινύες (Erinyes) in Greek
mythology. She killed Cithaeron with the bite of one of the snakes on her head.
Tzameret
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: צמרת(Hebrew)
Pronounced: tza-me-ret
Means "elite, top, high level" in Hebrew.
Tzavalas
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Greek (Archaic)
Other Scripts: Τζαβαλάς(Greek)
Meaning unknown, possibly of Albanian origin. The best known bearer of this name is the Greek actor Tzavalas Karousos (1904-1969).
Tzlil
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: Hebrew
Other Scripts: צליל(Hebrew)
Pronounced: tze-LEEL
Variant of the name
Tslil which means "sound; voice" in Hebrew.
Ulalume
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: oo-lah-LOOM
Possibly from Latin ululare "to wail" or lumen "light". This was the title character of Edgar Allen Poe's poem 'Ulalume' (1847).
Vesperina
Gender: Feminine
Usage: English (Rare, Archaic)
Vireo
Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: veer-ee-o
From Latin
vireo, a word Pliny uses for some kind of bird, perhaps the greenfinch, from
virere "be green" (see
Viridius), which in modern times is applied to an American bird.
Zbigniew
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish
Pronounced: ZBEEG-nyehf
Derived from the Slavic elements
jĭzbyti "to dispel" and
gněvŭ "anger". This was the name of a 12th-century duke of Poland.
Zbylut
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Polish (Archaic)
Pronounced: ZBI-loot
Zealand
Gender: Masculine
Usage: English (American, Modern, Rare), Romani (Archaic)
Zenith
Gender: Feminine & Masculine
Usage: English (Rare)
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.
Zeruja
Gender: Feminine
Usage: German (Rare)
Pronounced: tse-ROO-ya
German form of the Biblical name
Zeruiah
Zeuxis
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Greek
Other Scripts: Ζεῦξις(Ancient Greek)
Pronounced: zdewk-sees(Attic Greek) ZEFK-sees(Koine Greek) ZYOOK-sis(English)
Means "to yoke together" or "to bridge", ultimately derived from Greek ζεύγνυμι (zeugnymi) meaning "to yoke, saddle; to join, link together".
Zhivka
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Bulgarian, Macedonian
Other Scripts: Живка(Bulgarian, Macedonian)
Zidtzel
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Danish (Archaic)
Pronounced: ZID-tzehl
Variant of
Sidsel, common in 17th century Denmark.
Zitkala
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Sioux
From Lakota zitkála meaning "bird".
Zitkala-ša
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Sioux
Means "red bird" from Lakota ziŋtkála "bird" and šá "red". This name was adopted by a Yankton Dakota writer and political activist, birth name Gertrude Simmons (1876-1938).
Zuleika
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Literature
Pronounced: zoo-LAY-kə(English)
Meaning uncertain, possibly of Arabic origin. According to medieval tradition, notably related by the 15th-century Persian poet Jami, this was the name of the biblical Potiphar's wife. She has been a frequent subject of poems and tales.
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