User-created list
By augusta_lee · Updated May 2023
Across 19 pages
of 19
Arabic
"night traveler, night rain"
A pretty Arabic name with an evocative meaning.
Norse
"powerful army; wise warrior; counsel from the army"
An fearsome old Norse name with a long history in Scandinavia. It's gotten a boost in the States from popularity of the History Channel drama "Vikings," in which the protagonist is named Ragnar.…
French from German
"desired; or island, water"
Aveline is a name that's long been an obscure cousin of more widely-used choices, but may come into its own riding the tail of the megapopular Ava, which may derive from the same root. Although…
Yiddish
"rose"
A diminutive of Raisa, a Yiddish name meaning "rose", Raizel is a sweet but sharp choice. Also written as Raisel, it is more likely to be used as a diminutive that appear on the birth certificate.
Welsh
"gentle"
Gareth, the name of a modest and brave knight in King Arthur's court, makes a sensitive, gently appealing choice, used more in its native Wales than anywhere else. The name Gareth first appeared in…
Variation of Cleo, Greek
"glory"
Khloe : Chloe :: Kleo : Cleo
English
"friend's hill"
Winston meets Marlow in this surname-style choice, blending old-fashioned charm and a hint of stuffiness with a bit of modern edge and breeziness too. Borne by the distinguished American landscape…
Latin
"light"
This name of a character played by Kirsten Dunst in the movie Virgin Suicides , originally a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, is gaining attention, also thanks to the heroine Lux, Lady of Luminosity in…
Variation of Laurence, English from Latin
"from Laurentum or bay laurel"
A variant form of Laurence or Lawrence which ranked in the #200s in the US from the 1900s through to the 1960s. It didn't fall off the boys' Top 1000 until the late 1990s, following the huge…
Italian variation of Peter, Greek
"rock, stone"
Yet another winning international form of Peter.
Variation of Ezra, Hebrew
"help"
Ezri is one of the cool new unisex names starting with E , except as a Biblical name, it's not so new. Used for both genders in Israel, in the US it's currently running five to one in favor of girls,…
Roman
"grove or light"
Lucina, deriving from Latin lucus "grove" and also associated with lux "light", is an epithet given in Roman mythology to the goddess Juno (and sometimes also Diana) in her role as goddess of…
Welsh, Turkish
"star or sail mast"
Seren is a top girls' name in Wales – and a lovely choice almost unknown elsewhere. Seren, in the Sirona form, was an ancient goddess of the hot springs. Seren only recently fell out of the girls'…
Spanish from Greek
"violet flower"
Bold and distinctive, Yolanda is a floral name that doesn't sound frilly or delicate. Ultimately deriving from the Greek words ioles meaning "violet" and anthos meaning "flower", it appears in a…
Spanish, Conflation of Isabella and Maria
This is one elaboration of the ubiquitous Isobel that we think should be chosen more often and would work well in many languages.
Hebrew
"deer, gazelle"
Ayelet is an unusual -- and somewhat challenging -- Israeli name familiar thanks to sometimes controversial Jerusalem-born novelist-essayist Ayelet Waldman. Well used in Israel, the name was taken…
Irish
"rough, fierce"
The additional syllable makes Lark a masculine surname name, borne by poet Philip Larkin.
Scottish
"clan chieftain"
This early Scottish title -- known to us via Shakespeare's Macbeth -- has recently surfaced as a baby name possibility, familiar sounding through its similarity to names like Zane and Wayne.
"white field"
If you discount the connection to the controversial Whittaker Chambers in the days of the Red Scare, Whittaker is a pleasant enough British surname with the preppyish nickname Whit.
English occupational name
"bailiff, sheriff, local official"
Cool and dignified, sophisticated and modern, Reeve might be seen as alternative to long-familiar Reese. A medieval occupational name, a reeve was an English manor officer responsible for overseeing…
