User-created list
By DoomKitten · Updated May 2023
Across 5 pages
of 5
Welsh
"white spear; famous friend; fame and joy"
A fabled storybook name via the heroine of Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe (1819), which featured a heroine called Rowena of Hargottstanstede, and also a Harry Potter name, as Rowena Ravenclaw,…
Latin
"to give"
The name of the great Italian Renaissance sculptor known as Donatello (but born DONATO), is one that could easily emigrate to modern America, just like sister DONATELLA.
"light-bearer"
Lucifer is the name of the archangel cast into hell and while theologians disagree on whether he and Satan are separate beings, it long been on the list of forbidden names for religious and…
English, diminutive of Michael
Most often associated with Rolling Stone Jagger, Mick is also used as a generic, and derogatory, term for an Irishman.
Czech
"white"
Since this is strictly a male name in Slavic cultures, better to stick with the "Bella" spelling here.
Diminutive of Joan and Judith
One of the cute and bouncy nicknames so popular in the 1960s and 70s, but that hasn't made a comeback in the way Eames chairs and miniskirts have. Think of it as one of the original but now…
Diminutive of Charles
So far out it's almost ready to be let back in.
Norse
"groundskeeper, enclosure"
A name that took on a pronounced country twang via Nashville megastar Garth (born Troyal) Brooks.
Phoenician
"Baal protects the King"
This evocative name of one of the Three Wise Men of the Orient, also spelled Balthasar, may finally be ready for prime time. Balthazar, Melchior and Caspar were the Magi who brought gifts of gold,…
English word name, diminutive of Barbara, Latin
"foreign woman"
Baby is rarely seen as a given name — or even nickname — these days, although it did rank in the Top 1000 from 1989 to 2003. These instances can be accounted for in two ways. Firstly, infants whose…
Native American
"dugout canoe"
Missouri, the name of a tribe, a state and a river, derives from the Illinois word mihsoori meaning "dugout canoe". It became a somewhat popular American girls' name in the mid-19th century. Missouri…
"desire"
The name of the Roman god of love, the son of Venus, considered so romantic as to be unfit for mere mortals. Yet now that Romeo and Venus herself are fair game for modern babies, why not Cupid?
Diminutive of Margaret, Greek
"pearl"
Meg, perennially one of the Little Women, is a Margaret short form that manages to be neither quite in nor quite out of style. Meg is sleeker and more sophisticated than Maggie, more contemporary…
