Names That Mean Cheerful

Helier is the patron saint of the Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, and it is for him that St. Helier, Jersey's capital, is named. The name is related to Hilary, Ilario etc, and therefor shares their wonderful meanings.

Ellar Coltrane, the star of Richard Linklater's acclaimed 2014 movie "Boyhood," is an outlier, namewise. Most others with his first name are girls, and there aren't even many of them -- the last time the Social Security Administration registered the name at all was in 1956, when six girls were named Ellar. Still, with Gaelic names being trendy, and the "El-" sound on the rise, it has some potential.

Allena may feel like a somewhat antiquated feminization, though Allen itself is a tad old-fashioned. In many ways, Allena -- pronounced ah-LEN-ah -- feels more appealing that Alana or ah-LAH-ah.

The addition of the letter "y" gives this a nice, rhythmic Russian feel.