User-created list
By thunderdragon424 · Updated January 2023
Across 5 pages
of 5
Latin
"pig"
Portia is a perfect role-model name, relating to Shakespeare's brilliant and spirited lawyer in The Merchant of Venice , and is now also a Hunger Games name . Another Shakespearean Portia was the…
English
"divine ruler"
Clad in armor. But while this name may have been forbiddingly antiquated not that long ago, the connection to the trendy nickname Os or Oz makes it a real possibility.
German
"bright raven"
Last in fashion in the 1930s, Bertram might once have been firmly in the best left in the past category, but with sweet nickname Bertie and the cool option of Bram, Bertram might just be one to…
English, diminutive of Edward
"wealthy guardian"
Ned is a gently old-fashioned Nancy Drew-Bobbsey Twins-era short form for Edward that sounds cooler than Ed and is enjoying a small style renaissance. Usage of Ned in literature goes back to a Ben…
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,…
Greek
"from the sea"
An offbeat possible replacement for the overused Melissa and Marisa, Nerissa was used by Shakespeare for Portia's witty confidante in The Merchant of Venice . Queen Elizabeth has a cousin named…
"giant, great one"
This name of the queen of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream has a delicate, lacy charm similar to Tatiana's, but that first syllable could cause embarrassing problems.
Medieval variation of Margaret, Greek
"pearl"
An old royal name in England and Scotland that's also spelled Marjorie. Popular in the Middle Ages and Tudor period, it was revived at the end of the 19th century, peaked in 1921 and dropped off the…
"demi-god"
Despite the possibility of gender confusion, the Hero in Greek myth was a woman. Myleene Klass got that when she chose Hero for her daughter, and Sam Taylor-Wood and Aaron Johnson used it as their…
English elaboration of Lucia or Lucy
"light"
Lace-hankie name with Shakespearean pedigree.
Greek mythological name, meaning unknown
Thisbe, the name of a beautiful but tragic lover in mythology, is lively and cute -- in a slightly thistly, prickly way. Ovid retold the story of Thisbe and Pyramus, young lovers in ancient Babylon…
"foreign"
This is a name used as a pseudonym by Celia in Shakespeare's As You Like It to conceal her real identity. It was later seen as a character in the Ken Follett novel Pillars of the Earth . Can also be…
"ill-starred"
Desdemona is as Shakespearean as a name can be, but because the beautiful and innocent wife of Othello came to such a tragic end, her name has been avoided for centuries. But at this point in time,…
Variation of Benedict, Latin
"blessed"
Stick with the original.
Italian
"good wisher; peacemaker, benevolent"
A kindly, virtue-adjacent name, it appears in Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet , borne by the peacemaker friend who persuades Romeo to go to the party where he meets Juliet. Alas. A bold choice but with…
"command of the valley"
Upscale and upstanding.
