scotchtape's Personal Name List

Means "grieving" in Italian, from the title of the Virgin Mary, Maria Addolorata. It is most common in southern Italy. It is the equivalent of Spanish Dolores.

Feminine form of Adelmo. This name was used by Carlo Gozzi for a character in his play Turandot (1762).

Variant of Adante.

Latin form of אַדְרַמֶּלֶךְ (Adar-malik) meaning "king of fire" in Hebrew. This was the name of a Babylonian deity to whom infants were burnt in sacrifice (II Kings xvii, 31). He is possibly the sun god worshipped at Sippar (Sepharvaim). In 'Paradise Lost', Milton refers to Adramelech as an "idol of the Assyrians".

Italian form of Augustinus (see Augustine 1).

Russian form of Agrippina.

Possibly a variant of Valentina.

Means "high grace", taken from the Spanish title of the Virgin Mary Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia, meaning "Our Lady of High Grace". She is considered the patron saint of the Dominican Republic, and it is there that this name is most often used.

Spanish and Italian form of Amarantha.

from the word amnesty.

Possibly from Latin angor "strangulation, torment" or angustus "narrow, constricted". Angerona was the Roman goddess of the winter solstice, death, and silence.

Means "most holy", composed of the Greek prefix ἀρι (ari) meaning "most" combined with Cretan Greek ἀδνός (adnos) meaning "holy". In Greek mythology, Ariadne was the daughter of King Minos. She fell in love with Theseus and helped him to escape the Labyrinth and the Minotaur, but was later abandoned by him. Eventually she married the god Dionysus.

Possibly derived from Swahili asante "thank you".

Portuguese form of Attilius (see Attilio).

Form of Augustinus (see Augustine 1) in several languages.

From a nickname meaning "baby", also a slang term meaning "attractive person". As a feminine name, in some cases it is a diminutive of Barbara.

From bambino meaning "child, baby, toddler." It is more often used for females as its equivalent Bambina.

The name of the swing guitarist Bambino Reinhardt.

Diminutive of Barbara. This is the name of a doll produced by the Mattel toy company since 1959. It was named after the original designer's daughter.

From a nickname for a person with blond hair. This is the name of the title character in a comic strip by Chic Young.

From the name of the region of Brittany in the northwest of France, called in French Bretagne. It was named for the Britons who settled there after the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the invasions of the Anglo-Saxons.

As a given name, it first came into common use in America in the early 1970s, reaching the third ranked spot for girls by 1989. This was an extraordinary increase over only two decades, though it has since fallen almost as dramatically as it climbed.

Spanish form of Bonaventura.

Short form of Calvin and other names beginning with Cal.

From an Irish surname, the Anglicized form of Ó Ceallacháin, itself from the given name Cellachán.

Diminutive of Candace. It is also influenced by the English word candy.

From an English occupational surname for a box maker, derived from Norman French casse meaning "case", from Latin capsa. It coincides with the English word cash meaning "money" (derived from the same French and Latin roots). A famous bearer of the surname was American musician Johnny Cash (1932-2003).

Means "black hoof" in Shawnee. This was the name of an 18th-century Shawnee warrior and chief.

Meaning unknown, perhaps a combination of Charmian or the English word charm with the aine suffix from Lorraine. It was (first?) used for a character in the play What Price Glory (1924), which was made into a popular movie in 1926.

From a Norman surname of unknown meaning. It was used as a given name in America in honour of Harvard president Charles Chauncey (1592-1672).

Short form of Chester.

Diminutive of Francisco.

Short form of Conchita.

From an English surname meaning "cleric" or "scribe", from Old English clerec originally meaning "priest". A famous bearer of the surname was William Clark (1770-1838), an explorer of the west of North America. As a first name it was borne by the American actor Clark Gable (1901-1960), as well as the comic book character Clark Kent, the mild-mannered alter ego of Superman, first created 1938.

Dutch diminutive of Cornelia.

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

Italian, Portuguese and Romanian form of Christina.

Means "cross" in Spanish or Portuguese, referring to the cross of the crucifixion.

From a surname that could either be of Old English origin meaning "valley house" or of Scottish Gaelic origin meaning "meadow dwelling". A city in Texas bears this name, probably in honour of American Vice President George M. Dallas (1792-1864).

Short form of names beginning with D. It may also be given in reference to the Dee River in Scotland.

Originally a nickname, typically for names beginning with D. It can be spelled Deedee, DeeDee or Dee Dee.

From an English and Scottish surname meaning "judge", from Old English demere.

Means "judged" in Hebrew, derived from דִּין (din) meaning "to judge". According to the Old Testament, Dinah was a daughter of Jacob and Leah who was abducted by Shechem. It has been used as an English given name since after the Protestant Reformation.

Diminutive of Dorothy. Doll and Dolly were used from the 16th century, and the common English word doll (for the plaything) is derived from them. In modern times this name is also sometimes used as a diminutive of Dolores.

Feminine form of Donatus (see Donato).

French feminine form of Donatianus.

From the Late Latin name Donatus meaning "given". Several early saints had this name. The name was also borne by two Renaissance masters: the sculptor Donato di Niccolo di Bette Bardi (also known as Donatello), and the architect Donato Bramante.

Means "sweet" or "candy" in Spanish.

From Latin dulcis meaning "sweet". It was used in the Middle Ages in the spellings Dowse and Duce, and was recoined in the 19th century.

Bulgarian and Macedonian form of Katherine, and an alternate transcription of Russian Екатерина (see Yekaterina).

Spanish form of the Late Latin name Sperantia, which was derived from sperare "to hope".

English form of Eustachius or Eustathius, two names of Greek origin that have been conflated in the post-classical period. Saint Eustace, who is known under both spellings, was a 2nd-century Roman general who became a Christian after seeing a vision of a cross between the antlers of a stag he was hunting. He was burned to death for refusing to worship the Roman gods and is now regarded as the patron saint of hunters. Due to him, this name was common in England during the Middle Ages, though it is presently rare.

Spanish, Portuguese and Italian form of the Roman name Felicianus, which was itself derived from the Roman name Felix. It was borne by a number of early saints, including a 3rd-century bishop of Foligno.

From a surname that was originally taken from a place name meaning "marsh town" in Old English.

From Latin fidus meaning "faithful". This a stereotypical name for dogs.

Diminutive of Felicity. In some cases it can be a nickname from the English word flick.

Feminine form of Fortunato.

Spanish form of Gabinus (see Gavino).

From the English word ginger for the spice or the reddish-brown colour. It can also be a diminutive of Virginia, as in the case of actress and dancer Ginger Rogers (1911-1995), by whom the name was popularized.

Czech and Latvian short form of Margita or Brigita.

From the English word for the holly tree, ultimately derived from Old English holen. Holly Golightly is the main character in the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958) by Truman Capote.

Croatian, Serbian and Slovene feminine form of Adrian.

Diminutive of Virginia.

Jomo Kenyatta was the first Prime Minister and President of Kenya.

Short form of Marjorie.

Meaning unknown, possibly related to an Indo-European root meaning "young", or possibly of Etruscan origin. In Roman mythology Juno was the wife of Jupiter and the queen of the heavens. She was the protectress of marriage and women, and was also the goddess of finance.

From a Scottish surname that was derived from the medieval Gaelic given name Lagmann, itself from Old Norse lǫgmaðr meaning "law man". This name reached a peak in its American popularity in 1972, the same year that the sitcom Sanford and Son debuted, featuring the character Lamont Sanford (the titular son).

Short form of Alana (English) or Svetlana (Russian). In the English-speaking world it was popularized by actress Lana Turner (1921-1995), who was born Julia Jean Turner.

Russian diminutive of Lidiya.

Short form of Yelizaveta.

Italian and Spanish form of Laurentius (see Laurence 1). Lorenzo de' Medici (1449-1492), known as the Magnificent, was a ruler of Florence during the Renaissance. He was also a great patron of the arts who employed Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Botticelli and other famous artists.

Perhaps a variant of Lauretta or Loreto. A famous bearer was the American actress Loretta Young (1913-2000), whose birth name was Gretchen.

Medieval short form of Magnus, brought to Britain by Scandinavian settlers.

Short form of Maksim, Maksym or Maksimilijan.

Medieval variant of Margery, influenced by the name of the herb marjoram. After the Middle Ages this name was rare, but it was revived at the end of the 19th century.

From Japanese 雅 (masa) meaning "elegant, graceful" or 正 (masa) meaning "right, proper" combined with 彦 (hiko) meaning "boy, prince". This name can be formed from other kanji combinations as well.

Russian form of Moses.

Means "death" in Latin. This was the name of the personification of death in Roman mythology, equated to the Greek counterpart Thanatos.

Means "death" in Ugaritic. This was the name of the Ugaritic god of death and the lord of the netherworld. He was a son of the supreme god El.

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).

Derived from Greek νομικός (nomikos) meaning "relating to the law".

Feminine form of Nonnos. This was the name of a 4th-century saint from Nazianzus in Cappadocia. She was the mother of Saint Gregory of Nazianzus.

The use of Phileine as a feminine first name in The Netherlands is due to the 2003 film "Phileine Zegt Sorry" (English: "Phileine Says Sorry"). The film is based on a book written by Dutch author Ronald Giphart (b. 1965), which carries the same title and was published in 1996. Phileine is the first name of the book's main character, and the author derived the name from the Dutch adjective vilein, which means "mean, evil" in English and is etymologically related to the English noun villain. This is both fitting and deliberate, as it points to the unlikability of the main character.

The name Phileine first started to get used in 2004, which is the year immediately following the release year of the book's film adaptation. The name was not in use before that, despite the book having been released in 1996 already. It was the film that finally popularised the name. According to the first names database of the Meertens Institute, the name was at its most popular in 2009, in which year 59 girls were given this name. However, according to the popularity statistics on this website, Phileine was at its most popular in 2011, i.e. more popular in 2011 than it was in 2009 (while the Meertens Institute states the reverse).

It is easy to mistake the name Phileine as being a variant of Philine, which is derived from the Greek verb philein "to love". However, this is not the case, as Phileine as a first name in The Netherlands is completely inspired by the film (and thus indirectly, the book). And since the author derived it from Dutch vilein (as I explained before), that is really the only correct meaning for Phileine.

From the English word prince, a royal title, which comes ultimately from Latin princeps. This name was borne by the American musician Prince Rogers Nelson (1958-2016), who is known simply as Prince.

From a Germanic name that was composed of the elements regin "advice, counsel, decision" and brant "fire, torch, sword". This name belonged to the Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669).

Means "Saint James", derived from Spanish santo "saint" combined with Yago, an old Spanish form of James, the patron saint of Spain. It is the name of the main character in the novella The Old Man and the Sea (1951) by Ernest Hemingway. This also is the name of the capital city of Chile, as well as several other cities in the Spanish-speaking world.

Diminutive of Scott, also used as a feminine form.

From the Hebrew name שְׁלֹמֹה (Shelomo), which was derived from שָׁלוֹם (shalom) meaning "peace". As told in the Old Testament, Solomon was a king of Israel, the son of David and Bathsheba. He was renowned for his wisdom and wealth. Towards the end of his reign he angered God by turning to idolatry. Supposedly, he was the author of the Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon.

This name has never been overly common in the Christian world, and it is considered typically Jewish. It was however borne by an 11th-century Hungarian king.

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

Means "judge, lawyer" in Khmer.

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.

Italian form of Victoria.