Goori

From Awabakal gurri as spoken in far northern New South Wales and south east Queensland, originally distinguished from Koori to the south. (See quotations for more information.)

1991, Joshua Aaron Fishman Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of Assistance to Threatened Languages, Multilingual Matters, →ISBN, page 279,
The availability and spread of an indigenous aggregative term for all Aborigines (Gooris/Kooris) is suggestive of a growing intergroup identity among them, over and above former and current ethnolinguistic demarcations. The term Goori/Kuri itself stems from the Southeastern coastal area, some 300 miles north of Sydney. Wurm and Hattori list ‘7?’ speakers for Kuri and ‘9??’ for the Yuin-Kuric grouping (10 dialects, all but three of which are extinct).

1996, Julie Janson, Gunjies, Act 2, Scene 3, in Black Mary and Gunjies: two plays, Aboriginal Studies Press, →ISBN, page 131,
JUNE: […] It’s born in you, your identity, I never lost mine. Goori spirituality, it’s always there. I was born with somethin’ […]

2002, John Henderson and David Nash, Language in Native Title, Aboriginal Studies Press, →ISBN, page 49,
While I do not have a lot of faith in the native title legislation's ability to deliver the goods for dispossessed and dislocated Goori communities like ours on the eastern seaboard, I am interested in how the process regards our languages in relation to claim hearings and judgements.

2006, Joshua Aaron Fishman, Nancy H. Hornberger, and Martin Pütz, Language Loyalty, Language Planning and Language Revitalization: Recent Writings and Reflections from Joshua A. Fishman, Multilingual Matters, →ISBN, page 144,
Thus, a brochure inviting Gooris (more usually ‘Kooris’, an increasingly popular indigenous self-designation applying to and uniting all Aborigines and favored by some as a collective term to replace Aborigine/Aboriginal) to participate in a series of six weekly seminars about Bundjalung, a language of Southeast Australia that is now down to its last few speakers, […]


Dyuti

Borrowed from Hindi [Term?], meaning halo, radiance and brightness.


Kevyn

A male given name from Irish, of rare usage, variant of Kevin.


Rambabu

The name originated from southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, meaning son of lord Ram. From Ram (god) + babu (son).

A male given name from India, a common Hindu male name in India.


Vinay

From Sanskrit विनय (vinaya), meaning ideal behavior, humility, civility, courtesy, intellect.

A male given name from Sanskrit used in India.


Antara

From Sanskrit अन्तर (antara), meaning interval, this body.


natural language

en-noun

natural language (countable and uncountable, plural natural languages)

Although some computer programs are now widely regarded as having passed the Turing test, it is clear to discerning humans that they still do not use natural language in the same way that sane humans do, as they often spew nonsense, albeit well-formed linguistically, and they cannot engage in some important kinds of original thought.

programming language
programming language

constructed language
constructed language

(retronym, linguistics) Any human language that has evolved naturally in a community, usually in contrast to computer programming languages, to controlled natural languages, and to constructed languages such as Esperanto (although constructed languages are subject to change by natural forces among fluent speakers).


Amina

A female given name from Arabic, meaning “faithful, trustworthy”, masculine equivalent Amin


Amina

A female given name from Arabic, notably borne by:

the mother of the Islamic prophet Muhammad


Kaden

A male given name originating as a coinage, variant of Caden.


Caitlyn

A female given name from Irish, one of the modern spelling variants of Caitlin.


Kven

A language spoken by a few thousand people in Northern Norway. It is a variant of Finnish with a structure and grammar similar to Finnish, but the vocabulary considerably influenced by Norwegian.


Imtenan

From Arabic إِمْتِنَان (ʔimtinān, “gratitude”).


Ihitha

From Hindi [Term?], from Sanskrit [Term?] Iha (world or earth) and 'Hitha' ("who does Good, favor").

A female given name from Hindi used in India, meaning a goddess who does good for all creatures in the world.


Meänkieli

From the native Meänkieli term meänkieli, from meän kieli (“our language”).

The County Board of Education worked out simple textbooks in Meänkieli and started to promote the vernacular in mother tongue instruction (henceforth MTI). Meänkieli was perceived as a bridge between Swedish and St Fi.

2006, Robert B. Kaplan, Richard B. Baldauf, Language Planning and Policy in Europe, →ISBN, page 242:

The Tornedalians call their speech meän kieli ("our language"). Meänkieli was banned from schools until 1992 (see Huss 1999, 80ff. for an historical outline). Since then, the Tornedalians' mother tongue has been taught alongside Swedish. The Meänkieli, however, is not often used in writing outside the schools.

2005, Ulrich Ammon, Sociolinguistics: An International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society, Language Arts & Disciplines, →ISBN, page 1547:

A language spoken by some 40,000–70,000 people mainly in Northern Sweden. It is a variant of Finnish with a structure and grammar similar to Finnish, but the vocabulary considerably influenced by Swedish.

托爾訥河谷芬蘭語

Finnic language spoken in northern Sweden


Jolly

* Cognate to the French name Jolie. It derives from the Old French word joli (merriness).
* In Punjab (India) it is a corruption of the word jalli.


Rappai

Christians coined this word from the name of Saint Raphael.

Rappai says he has other things to worry about apart from food.... Rappai - the man with the giant appetite - has been warned by medics to curb his food intake.

2006. BBCNews, UK, 25 July 2006, India's 'Monster Eater' Retires http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5213238.stm

A male given name from Malayalam used in India.


Malika

A female given name from Arabic, the female version of the title Malik ("King" in Arabic).


Hughie

From Hugh + -ie. Regarding rain, various etymologies have been proposed; see Send 'er down, Hughie!.

A diminutive of the male given name Hugh.


Hail Mary

en-noun

Hail Mary (plural Hail Marys or Hail Maries)

Hail Marys (plural)
Hail Maries (plural)

“What did the priest, and all of you, keep on saying when we first went in?” / “Our Fathers, Hail Maries, and Glorias; couldn’t you hear?” asked Emily, laughing. / “No, I should think not, you rattled on so fast- What are Hail Maries and Glorias?” / “The Gloria you know well enough, my dear, because you say it in your church at the end of every psalm,” replied Miss Horton; “the Hail Mary is a prayer to our Blessed Lady,” and she repeated it.

1872, F. A., chapter V, in Marion Howard; or Trials and Triumphs, Philadelphia: Peter F. Cunningham, […], page 100:

And if I say ten Hail Marys / Leave a light on in Heaven for me

1987, Gary Clark (lyrics and music), “Mary's Prayer”, performed by Danny Wilson:

(Christianity) A prayer calling for the intercession of the Virgin Mary.


Floyd

en-proper noun

Floyd (countable and uncountable, plural Floyds)

Anglicisation of the Welsh name Lloyd, from Welsh llwyd (“grey, grey-haired”).

African American
African American#English

A male given name transferred from the surname, variant of Lloyd, today particularly common among African Americans.


Sakha

Borrowed from Russian саха́ (saxá), from Yakut саха (saqa), from Proto-Turkic *yaka (“edge; collar”).


Sakha

Borrowed from Russian Саха́ (Saxá), from Yakut Саха (Saqa), from Proto-Turkic *jaka (“edge; collar”).

A geographical region located in North Asia which is inhabited dominantly by the Sakha people.


Egyptian Arabic

The dialect of Modern Arabic spoken in Egypt, considered as a dialect continuum.

埃及阿拉伯语

Āijí Ālābó yǔ


Howie

A diminutive of the male given name Howard.


Rosamund

Of Germanic origin (probably Frankish via French Rosemonde or Lombardic via Italian Rosmunda), from Proto-Germanic *hrussą (“horse”) and *mundō (“protection”). By medieval folk etymology interpreted as Latin rosa munda (“pure rose”) or rosa mundī (“rose of the world”) in reference to the Virgin Mary.

Cooks of any seniority were always 'Mrs'. Housemaids and parlourmaids were supposed to have 'suitable' names - e.g. Jane, Mary, Edith, etc. Such names as Violet, Muriel, Rosamund and so on were not considered suitable, and the girl was told firmly, 'Whilst you are in my service you will be called "Mary"'.

1977, Agatha Christie, An Autobiography, HarperCollins, published 2011, →ISBN, page 31:

A female given name from the Germanic languages.


Olwen

From Welsh ol (“footprint”) and gwen (“white, fair”).

[…] her daughter, posthumous child of Gil, to my astonishment christened in St. Aidan's with the name Marion (given by her godmother, a broadcaster friend of Esme) and Olwen (given by me as godfather, who thought Nuala's granddaughter should have a good Celtic name to sustain her through life). To my surprise and pleasure, it was Olwen that Esme chose to use when speaking of, and to, the baby - though she showed an unhappy tendency to shorten it to Ollie, in spite of my protests that this brought to mind not a stately princess, but the fat man in the Laurel and Hardy comedy series.

1994, Robertson Davies, The Cunning Man, Viking, published 1995, →ISBN:

A female given name from Welsh from Welsh legend, specifically The Mabinogion.


Bronwen

Bronwen Wallace, b. 1945


Gwendolen

From Welsh gwen (“white, fair, blessed”) + dolen (“ring, bow, hair, brow”).


Gareth

Of Old Welsh origin and cognate with the Welsh name Geraint (from Latin Gerontius (“old man”), from Ancient Greek γέρων (gérōn, “old man”)) or perhaps the word gwareddawg, gwaredd (“gentleness”); see gwâr (“gentle”).

The last tall son of Lot and Bellicent,
And tallest, Gareth, in a showerful spring,
Stared at the spate.

1872, Alfred Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette:

A male given name from Welsh of Welsh origin; name of a knight in the Arthurian romance.


Aubrey

From Middle English Aubrey, Aubry, from Norman Auberi, Alberi, from Latin Alberīcus, Latinized form of Old High German Alberich, from Proto-Germanic *Albirīks, from *albiz (“elf, fairy”) + *rīks (“king, ruler”). Possibly influenced by Gaulish Albiorīx (literally "ruler of the world").
Cognates include German Alberich and Italian Alberico.

Call him my king, by whose injurious doom / My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere, / Was done to death?

c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

A male given name from the Germanic languages or transferred from the surname.

A female given name transferred from the surname, of 1970s and later American usage.


Carmen

From Spanish Carmen, cognate with English Carmel. Made famous outside Spain by the opera Carmen (1875) by Georges Bizet. The male name is from Italian Carmine.

Not all of them looked "Spanish", but, no doubt, all of them were Spanish, even the blue-eyed, white, sylph-like creature, dressed in pale blue and white, who looked much more like a Murillo Madonna than like Carmen, but who danced like a Carmen, with a lithe, luring body entirely without stays[...]

1914, Keith Clark, The Spell of Spain, The Page Company, published 1914, page 223:

"But your Mom won," Carmen said, "and named you after a movie star. Moms get away with murder. Mine, you probably think, named me after the girl in the opera."
"Tell you the truth," Wayne said, "I never thought about it."
"She didn't. She named me after Guy Lombardo's brother, Carmen Lombardo, he sang with the band.

1988, Elmore Leonard, Killshot, Arbor House, published 1989, →ISBN, page 145:

A female given name from Spanish in the nineteenth century.

(dated, rare) A male given name from Italian.


Yakut

From Russian яку́т (jakút), from Proto-Turkic *yaka (“collar; edge”). Related to Yakut саха (saqa) via earlier *čaqa < *ǰaqa. Compare Turkish yaka (“collar”). The ending -ут possibly contains the Mongol plural suffix; compare Buryat яхад (jaxad, “Yakuts”).

One of a Siberian people who speak a Turkic language, and live in the Lena river basin.


Liam

From Irish Liam, a clipping of Uilliam, itself from English William.

Tall. Glasses. Wearing this yellow hoodie. - - - Liam. I'm pretty sure that's his name. Like, ninety-percent sure. I think it suits him. Liam. The kind of name you never normally hear outside a novel or a movie or whatever.

2003, Alasdair Duncan, Sushi Central, University of Queensland Press, →ISBN, page 43:

A male given name from Irish, currently popular in Ireland, England, Scotland, and the United States.


Livy

A diminutive of the female given name Olivia.


Ayush

From the Sanskrit phrase आयुष्मान्भव (āyuṣmānbhava) in the Mahabharata, meaning "live long".

A male given name from India, of Indian usage.


Mohammad

A male given name from Arabic: alternative spelling of Muhammad


Dangme

A Niger-Congo language spoken in southeastern Ghana.


Chanti

A male given name from India. A common nickname in Andhra Pradesh, India.


Yapese

The Austronesian language spoken in the Federated States of Micronesia, especially by the inhabitants of Yap.


Delilah

Borrowed from Hebrew דְּלִילָה (d'līla, “[she who] weakened”).

bor

"Leila!" she said enigmatically. "Have you seen her?" / "I went to her flat last week with Dad—he likes her." / "Delilah is her real name, you know. All men like her. And Captain Fort is her lover."

1919 October, John Galsworthy, chapter I, in Saint’s Progress, London: William Heinemann, published December 1919, →OCLC, part III, 1 §, page 220:

A female given name from Hebrew of Biblical origin.


Kimmy

A diminutive of the female given names Kimberley or Kimberly.


Scotty

A diminutive of the male given name Scott.


Stewie

A diminutive of the male given name Stewart.


Chrissie

A diminutive of the female given names Christina or Christine, sometimes also used as a formal given name


Donny

A male given name; diminutive of Don, Donald, Donovan, Adonis


Benji

His full name is Benji Duncan Geoffrey Rigby-Monk. 'You're joking,' Kit said, when I first told him. 'Benji? Not even Benjamin?' Duncan and Geoffrey are his two granddads'names ― both unglamorous and old-dufferish, in Kit's view, and not worth inflicting on a new generation ― and Rigby-Monk is a fusion of Fran's surname and Anton's. 'As far as I'm concerned, he's Benjamin Rigby,' said Kit, after the first time we met him. 'He seems like a decent baby and he deserves a decent name.

2011, Sophie Hannah, Lasting Damage, Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, pages 77–78:

A diminutive of the male given name Benjamin.


Bernie

* (male): From Bernard + -ie.
* (female): From Bernadette + -ie or Bernice + -ie.

A similar arrangement was made for her son Bernard, named in honor of the great Carthusian mystic (at least, that is what Jim Gaffney would softly tell Mrs. Kozinski) and of Bernie Astor, the publicist.

1992, Thomas Keneally, Woman of the Inner Sea, Plume, published 1994, →ISBN, pages 18–19:

A diminutive of the male given name Bernard, also used as a formal given name.

To catch a nearer view of the coming ship, now much larger than the mere speck it had at first appeared, little Bernice, or Bernie, as she was most lovingly called at home, had moved far in advance of her mother, till now she stood quite near to the edge of the wharf.

1864 Mary Andrews Denison, Out of Prison, Graves and Young (1864), pages 21-22

A diminutive of the female given names Bernice or Bernadette.


Kimberley

English place name "wood or clearing of Kyneburga (a seventh century female saint)", from Old English cyne- (“royal”) + burh (“fortress”) + lēah (“leigh, clearing”).

A male given name transferred from the surname or place name (site of a battle in the Boer Wars).

It will take some getting used to, a husband named Kim. She has known girls named Kim since she was a squirt in a sunsuit. Quite a few really. Kimberleys and plain Kims.

1991, Don DeLillo, Mao II, Viking, →ISBN, page 16:

A female given name transferred from the surname, variant of Kimberly, popular in the 1960s and the 1970s.


Matty

A diminutive of the male given name Matthew.

Tilly's name is Matilda. It was typical of Mum and Dad that they wouldn't let her be called Tilly when she came to them because that was the unusual shortening of Matilda, the unconventional one, and you never did unconventional things, you never did things to draw attention to yourself. So they called her Matty. Of course, they hardly ever called her anything, but when they had to, it was Matty.

1990, Barbara Vine, Gallowglass, Curley Pub, published 1991, →ISBN, page 24:

A diminutive of the female given names Matilda or Martha, variant of Mattie.


Ambai

An Austronesian language spoken in Indonesian New Guinea.


Adygei

A Northwest Caucasian language spoken in the Republic of Adygea, in the Russian Federation.


Adzera

An Oceanic Austronesian language spoken in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.

SIL International split the ISO 639-3 classification into three separate languages: Adzera


Agul

A language primarily spoken by the Aghul people in Russian Dagestan and in Azerbaijan.


Adyghe

/ˈɑː.dɪ.ɡeɪ/

адыгабзэ

language spoken in the Republic of Adygea


Niger-Congo

Coined in the 1950s by Joseph Greenberg, from the name of the two principal rivers in the area this language family is spoken, the Niger River and the Congo River.

(linguistics) A major language family of sub-Saharan Africa noted for the use of a noun class system.

Congo River
Joseph Greenberg
Niger River
Niger-Congo languages


Coptic

The Afroasiatic language traditionally spoken by the Copts in Egypt, now extinct and used only as a liturgical language.


Circassian

Adyghe language
Kabardian language
Ubykh language

A North Caucasian language group spoken in Circassia in North West Caucasus Russia.


short s

Coordinate term: long s

Most of it was in modern face of a bad cut, small pica size; the apocrypha was in long primer, old style face, although having short s’s, but the peculiarity was that one signature in the Psalms was in old style with long s’s.

1888 November, The American Bookmaker: A Journal of Technical Art and Information, […], volume VII, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Howard Lockwood & Co., […], page 146:

The following changes have silently been made: long s’s have been changed to short s’s;

2004, Richard-Gabriel Rummonds, “Preface”, in Nineteenth-Century Printing Practices and the Iron Handpress, Oak Knoll Press, page xxxiii:

The s character, as distinct from the long s — the ſ character.


Nash

en-proper noun

Nash (countable and uncountable, plural Nashes)

(countable) A male given name transferred from the surname, of modern America usage


long s

An instance lately occurred of a work so divided (a prayer-book), where the first part was printed with long s’s, and the last part with round, independent of other deviations;

1824, J[ohn] Johnson, Typographia, or the Printers’ Instructor: […], volume II, London: […] Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown & Green, […], page 27:

The Bible itself was quite unknown ground until I was ten and stumbled upon the Apocrypha in an old edition of the Bible printed with long s’s and beautiful early type.

1914, Una Hunt, Una Mary: The Inner Life of a Child, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 43:

He liked me to come into his dressing-room to talk to him while he lathered his face, and I remembered the lie I told him when he asked me if I had used the top of his silver shaving-pot to knock in a nail, and the day when he asked me to read him Burke’s speeches aloud in an edition printed with long s’s.

1914, George Moore, ‘Hail and Farewell!’: Vale, London: William Heinemann, page 311:

The ſ character, as distinct from the short s (which is the s character).


Len

A diminutive of the male given name Leonard.


Lenny

A diminutive of the male given name Leonard


Marietta

A female given name from Italian, an Italian diminutive of Maria.


wine-whine merger

en-noun

wine-whine merger (plural wine-whine mergers)

/wəinˈʍəin ˌmɛɾdʒəɾ/

As was the case with the wine–whine merger, date from the early twentieth century show that southeastern Pennsylvania was subject to patterns of variation in pronunciation.

2016, Mark L. Louden, Pennsylvania Dutch: The Story of an American Language, page 228:

Chambers (2002) graphs the trajectory of the wine-whine''' merger in four reigions preserving ʍ.

2019, Keiko Bridwell, “Previous Research on the Wine-Whine''' Merger”, in The Distribution of ʍ, page 7:

In Scottish English, the so-called wine-whine''' merger did not take place, in which historical Old and Middle English /hw/ was replaced by /w/[.]

2021, Zeyu Li, “The Distribution of /w/ and /ʍ/”, in Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory:

(phonology) A merger in which [ʍ] (the voiceless sound heard at the beginning of the word whine in a Scottish accent or several accents in the United States) becomes [w] (the sound heard at the beginning of the word wine); in accents where this merger occurs, whine and wine are homophones.


Javan

Belonging to, or descended from, its Javanese main people and its culture


Javan

An inhabitant of the Indonesian island Java

A member or descendant of Java's main, Javanese ethno-linguistic group, by far the largest in Indonesia


Javan

From Hebrew יוון / יָוָן (yaván), identified with Greece.

he-m

יוון / יָוָן (yaván)


Okinawan

/ˌɒkiːˈnɑːwən/

/ˌəʊkiːˈnɑːwən/


Toraja-Sa'dan

An unwritten South Sulawesi language spoken in southwestern Sulawesi Island in Indonesia.


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 吳／吴 (Wú). Doublet of O.

Linguists say the Wu dialect widely spoken in Shanghai, to take one prominent example, shares only about 31 percent lexical similarity with Mandarin, or roughly the same as English and French.
The encounter at the Datian market began when the dumpling seller approached the foreigner with a phrase that sounded like "goodbye" in the Wu dialect. Knowing it must mean something else, the foreigner guessed she was asking his name, and provided it, producing a laugh from the woman who explained, switching to Mandarin, that she had asked if he had eaten lately.

2005 July 10, Howard W. French, “Uniting China to Speak Mandarin, the One Official Language: Easier Said Than Done”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-05-10, World:

A historic and cultural region of China around the mouth of the Yangtze River, whence:

The family of Chinese languages spoken in that region, including Shanghainese and Suzhounese, the second-most spoken family after Mandarin.

وُو

one of the families of the Chinese language


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 武 (Wǔ, “war, warrior, warlike”).

(historical) An epithet of numerous kings and emperors in Chinese history who were honored with variants of the posthumous name Wuwang or Wudi.


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 烏／乌 (Wū or Wù, “crow, raven, black”).


Wu

Romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 巫 (Wū or Wú, “shaman, sorceror, witch”).


Wu

The romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of various other Chinese surnames: 伍 (Wǔ), 仵 (Wǔ), 鄔／邬 (Wū).


cross-bench

(UK politics) A bench placed perpendicular to others, especially certain such benches in the House of Lords on which independent or neutral members traditionally sit.


cross-bench

en-adj

cross-bench (comparative more cross-bench, superlative most cross-bench)

more cross-bench (comparative)
most cross-bench (superlative)

(UK politics) Of or pertaining to the cross-benches in the UK houses of parliament.


Umbrian

Relating to Umbria or to its inhabitants or extinct language.

umbre

relating to Umbria or to its inhabitants or extinct language


Cairene

From Latin Cairenus, from Cairo + -nus (“-ene: forming related nouns”). Equivalent to Cairo + -ene.


Jolene

A blend of the element Jo... in common anglicized forms of various Hebrew names and the ending ...lene shared by the German names Helene and Magdalene. Cognate with Charlene, Darlene, and Marlene, which were constructed in similar manner from the names Charles, darling, and Maria.

Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
I'm begging of you please don't take my man
Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene
Please don't take him just because you can...

A female given name originating as a coinage.


gentilic

From Latin gentilis (“of a clan or gens”) + English suffix -ic.

Vito Corleone? What kind of name is Corleone? A gentilic?

A personal name derived from a place name.


backwoodsman

(informal, UK politics) A Peer who is seldom present in the House of Lords of the United Kingdom Parliament, who may be encouraged to attend when a very important vote is expected.


Yoselyn

A female given name from the Germanic languages, a modern variant of Jocelyn, by folk etymology interpreted as a feminine form of Jose/José.


Hick

Rhyming nickname for Rick, pet form of Richard.

(rare today) A diminutive of the male given name Richard


kasra

Borrowed from Arabic كَسْرَة (kasra, “a breaking”), instance noun of the verb كَسَرَ (kasara, “to break”).

In Arabic script, the vowel point for "i", appearing as a small diagonal line placed below a letter ( ـِ ) and designating a short i /i/. If the Arabic letter ي (yāʔ) immediately follows, it indicates a long ī /iː/.

كَسْرَة

in the Arabic script, the vowel point for "i" (kasra)


Maia

A female given name from Latin of recent usage.


Shahab

From Persian شهاب (šahâb, literally “meteor”), from Arabic شِهَاب (šihāb).

bor

شهاب شهاب#Persian

A transliteration of the Persian male given name شهاب (šahâb).


Tungusic

A language family spoken in Inner Mongolia and parts of Siberia.


Mixtec

Borrowed from Spanish mixteco, alteration of mixteca, from Classical Nahuatl mixtēcah (“Mixtecs”, plural).

der

A member of a Mesoamerican people who live primarily in southern Mexico.


Mixtec

en-adj

Mixtec (comparative more Mixtec, superlative most Mixtec)

more Mixtec (comparative)
most Mixtec (superlative)

Relating to the Mixtecs or their language.


Mixtec

The language or language family of this people.


Baker Street

She was looking more like Sherlock Holmes than ever. Slap a dressing-gown on her and give her a violin, and she could have walked straight into Baker Street and no questions asked.

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XX, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

A street in the City of Westminster, London; the fictional home of Sherlock Holmes was at number 221B.


Atlantean

With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear / The weight of mightiest Monarchies.

Of or like the Greek titan Atlas, who carries the heavens on his shoulders, as in Atlantean strength

1940, WHD Rouse, trans. of Nonnus, Dionysiaca
I [Elektra] shall pass from the earth to the stars’ Atlantean vault, and dwell in heaven

(figuratively) Of the celestial spheres carried by Atlas


Atlantean

How Atlantean sounded or how the various alphabets worked is anyone's guess, of course, but since there is a certain logic to how language is constructed, we might allow that theirs may not have been so different from our own.

2008, J. Allan Danelek, Atlantis: Lessons from the Lost Continent:

The language supposedly spoken by the inhabitants of Atlantis.

Indeed, Okrand's goal in inventing Atlantean was to recreate Indo-European, and it thus borrows from several languages yet contains no recognizable words from these linguistic systems.

2006, Tim Conley, Stephen Cain, Encyclopedia of Fictional and Fantastic Languages:

A constructed language invented for the 2001 animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire.


Pennsylvania Avenue

A street in Washington, D.C. that runs between the White House and the United States Capitol.


Sini

A female given name from Malayalam, meaning “a fair-skinned girl”, of Indian usage.


Crimean Tatar

A Turkic language of Crimea (Ukraine), Turkey, Romania, Russia, Bulgaria and Uzbekistan.

克里米亚鞑靼语

Kèlǐmǐyà Dádáyǔ


Aari

2008 SIL International split out Gayil as a separate language and gave Aari the new code aiw


Ella

en-proper noun

Ella (countable and uncountable, plural Ellas)

A 19th-century shortening of Eleanor or Ellen, later also used for any name ending in -ella, such as Gabriella or Daniella. Similar abbreviations have been formed independently in many European languages, for any name containing the syllable -el-, e.g. Elisabeth.

A female given name.
Clipping of Gabriella or Daniella.

She was named Ella Lorena, Ella for her grandmother Ellen, and Lorena because it was the most fashionable name of the day for girls […]

1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter XLII, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:


Aklanon

An Austronesian (Visayan) language spoken in the Philippines.


Awabakal

The extinct Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal suffixing language, within the Yuin-Kuric group, formerly spoken by these people.


Amaimon

The Papuan language spoken by these people.


Akawaio

A northern Carib language spoken in Guyana.


Kassandra

A female given name from Ancient Greek, a rare spelling variant (or alternate transliteration) of Cassandra.


Britney

A female given name transferred from the place name, variant of Brittany.


Amto

A Papuan language spoken in Sandaun Province of Papua New Guinea.


Antakarinya

Western Desert language
Western Desert language

A Pama-Nyungan Australian Aboriginal language spoken in the Oodnadatta region of South Australia; a major dialect of the Western Desert language group.


Ansus

An Austronesian language spoken in Indonesian New Guinea.


Plains Apache

The now-extinct Southern Athabascan language spoken by the Plains Apache people.


Travis

From an Old French word meaning "to cross over," related to traverse. Probably a name for a gatekeeper or the toll collector of a bridge.

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Umbundu

A Bantu language spoken by the Ovimbundu people in the central highlands of Angola.


Kanuri

A Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Niger, Nigeria, and Chad.


Suzi

A diminutive of Susan and of related female given names.


Sumatran

From, or pertaining to, the island of Sumatra


Makua

A group of Bantu languages spoken in Mozambique and neighboring regions.


Makhuwa

A Bantu language spoken by about 2.5 million people in Mozambique and neighboring regions.


Mende

A large West African ethnic group, speakers of the Mende language, living primarily in Sierra Leone and Liberia.


Arawak

From Kari'na Aruwako, from the name in Lokono.

A member of an Amerindian people who lived in the region of the Caribbean when the Spanish arrived in America.


Arawak

A Caribbean language belonging to this group.


Makhuwa-Shirima

A Bantu language spoken by half a million people in Mozambique.


Makhuwa-Meetto

A Bantu language spoken by more than one million people in Mozambique and Tanzania.


tribelet

From tribe + -let. In use since at least 1925, the term was coined by anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber to refer to hundreds of groups of Native Americans in Central California, and has since been employed by many anthropologists to denote California groups of native people.

Kroeber’s emphasis on the small scale of indigenous California social organizations led him to attach the diminutive "-let" to the anthropologically normative term "tribe".

1994, Leventhal et. al., Back from Extinction, "The Ohlone: Past and Present Native Americans of the San Francisco Bay Region." Ballena Press Publication, page 299–300

The second feature, dialectic separateness, of course is an old story for California, but elsewhere in the state each idiom is usually common to a considerable number of tribelets or "village communities."

1925, Kroeber, Alfred L. Handbook of the Indians of California. Washington, D.C: Bureau of American Ethnology: Bulletin No. 78, page 474

The larger tribelets usually had several permanent villages.

1978, Richard Levy, “Costanoan”, in Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 8 (California):

Tribelet […] defined a political and geographical unit comprising several units, usually including a principal and most powerful central village, tied by relations of kinship.

1994, Leventhal et. al., ‘’Back from Extinction’’, ibid., page 299-300

A small tribe of Native Americans, especially a small independent group of Native California people who shared a language and usually comprised one principal village, or several in close proximity, plus smaller resource-gathering camps and territories.


QEW

(Canada, initialism) The Queen Elizabeth Way, a heavily-traveled Canadian highway connecting the Peace Bridge at Buffalo, New York to Toronto, Ontario.


Manxwoman

...the rising inflexion in her voice which made the talk of the true Manxwoman the sweetest thing in the world to listen to.


Manxman

"Potatoes and herrings, Mr. Christian; just a Manxman’s supper.”

The Manxman is never wise until the day after the fair. (Traditional Manx saying).

2005, John Ayto, Ian Crofton, Brewer's Britain and Ireland, page 587:


Camille

From French Camille (“Camilla”). Doublet of Camilla.

- - - homecoming weekend at Colgate was frat parties like this, wild earsplitting drunken and not for sensitive girls like Camille, even her name was sensitive, delicate, Camille was to Lionel the most beautiful name he'd ever spoken, like music, - - -

2001, Joyce Carol Oates, Middle Age: A Romance, Fourth Estate, published 2002, →ISBN, page 88:


Rebekah

From Hebrew רִבְקָה (Riḇqāh, “enchantingly beautiful, captivating, snare”).

bor

A female given name from Hebrew, a less-common variant of Rebecca.


Diann

A female given name from Latin, variant of Diane.


Minnesotan

United States of America
United States of America

A native or resident of the state of Minnesota in the United States of America.


Manitoban

A native or inhabitant of Manitoba, Canada.


Ontarian

A native or inhabitant of Ontario, Canada


Proteas

(cricket) The South African cricket team


Carthaginian

/ˌkɑɹθəˈd͡ʒɪniən/

/ˌkɑːθəˈd͡ʒɪniən/

Latin carthāginiānus, from Carthāgō + -iānus.


Prince Edward Islander

en-noun

Prince Edward Islander (plural Prince Edward Islanders)

Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island

A native or inhabitant of Prince Edward Island, Canada.


Saskatchewanian

A native or inhabitant of the province of Saskatchewan, Canada.


Nova Scotian

A native or inhabitant of Nova Scotia, Canada.


British Columbian

British Columbian (plural British Columbians)

A native or inhabitant of British Columbia, Canada.


New Brunswicker

New Brunswicker (plural New Brunswickers)

A native or inhabitant of New Brunswick, Canada.


Rubin

A male given name from Hebrew, of rather rare usage, variant of Reuben.


Ruben

A male given name from Hebrew, variant of Reuben.


Quebecker

(Canada) Alternative spelling of Quebecer


Yukoner

A native or inhabitant of the Yukon Territory, Canada.


Quebecer

A native or inhabitant of Quebec City, in the province of Quebec.


Abigaille

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Abigaille.

(rare) A female given name, variant of Abigail.


Graham

Scottish surname originating from a place Grantham in Lincolnshire, possibly from Old English grand (“gravel”) + hām (“homestead”). As a given name, possibly from Old English græghama "grey-coated one" (ie, wolf)

Alexander Graham Bell (credited with inventing the first practical telephone; 'Graham' pronounced as /ˈɡɹeɪ.əm/)

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Montrealer

A native or inhabitant of the city of Montreal.


Neo-Latin

(chiefly 19th century) Of or relating to the Romance languages.


Cybil

A female given name from Ancient Greek. A 20th century spelling variant of Sybil.


Cybill

A 20th-century variant of Sybil or Sibyl.


Blairism

(UK politics) The political ideology attributed to the governments of British Prime Minister Tony Blair


Mutsun

The extinct language of this people, an Ohlone dialect in the Utian family.


Brownite

From Brown + -ite, from the surname of Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister 2007-2010.

(UK politics, informal) A supporter of Gordon Brown, or his economic or political policies


Brownite

(UK politics) Of, or relating to Brownites, or Gordon Brown's government and policies.


Brownism

(UK politics) The political ideology of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.


Sybil

"I beg your pardon," said Egremont blushing; "I was reading your name. I thought I was reading it to myself. Sybil Gerard! What a beautiful name is Sybil!" "My mother's name," said Gerard; "and my grandame's name, and a name I believe that has been about our hearth as long as our race; and that's a very long time indeed," he added smiling, "for we were tall men in King John's reign, as I have heard say."

1845, Benjamin Disraeli, Sybil, Book 3, Chapter 5:

A female given name from Ancient Greek, the most popular spelling variant of Sibyl since the 19th century.


Kristina

A modern Scandinavian spelling variant of Christina

"Kristina Castleberry," she told him. "That's Kristina with a K, and Castleberry just like it sounds."

1991, Julie Kistler, Christmas in Toyland, Harlequin Books, published 1991, →ISBN, page 62:

A female given name from Ancient Greek, variant of Christina.


Quinne

Possibly from Doric Scots, quinne (young woman); though the name may also be a modern feminine version of Quinn.


mentalese

mentalese (usually uncountable, plural mentaleses)

From mental + -ese (suffix forming adjectives and nouns describing, among other things, languages).

suffix

The concept of a proposition as something that can be expressed by sentences in both Mentalese and, say, English is an analogical extension of the concept of a proposition as something that can be expressed by sentences in both English and German.

1964 November 12, Wilfrid Sellars, “Notes on Intentionality”, in The Journal of Philosophy, volume LXI, number 21, New York, N.Y.: The Journal of Philosophy, →DOI, →ISSN, →JSTOR, →OCLC, page 657:

Translationists are said to treat the coding of thoughts in ‘Mentalese’, whose structure is already known, into a natural language, just like translating a natural language, say Russian, in terms of another known language, say English (G 282). Incorporationists point out the circularity of (36b) because Mentalese, supposed to be intrinsically intelligible, is just English or some other variety of a natural language, and the translation maneuver only postpones the problem, [...]

1977, P. G. Patel, “The Left Parieto-temporo-occipital Junction, Semantic Aphasia and Language Development around Age Seven”, in Linguistics: An Interdisciplinary Journal of the Language Sciences, volume 15, number 196, Berlin, New York, N.Y.: Mouton de Gruyter, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 45:

But where does mentalese come from? If it is learned, then what is it related to in the preceding mentaleses? To avoid endless regress, [Jerry] Fodor postulates an internal language that is innate, a claim that he himself calls "horrendous" and "scandalous," yet inescapable.

1979, Gavriel Salomon, “Cultivation of Mental Skills through Symbolic Forms”, in Interaction of Media, Cognition, and Learning: An Exploration of how Symbolic Forms Cultivate Mental Skills and Affect Knowledge Acquisition (Jossey-Bass Social and Behavioral Science Series), San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass Publishers, →ISBN; republished Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1994 (2009 printing), →ISBN, page 121:

[A]re natural languages merely vehicles for the communication of mentalese? Or does language itself play a role in the formation of our thought? The question is called critical, since a positive response to the latter (language does play a role) would call into question the assumption that all meaning is reducible to mentalese.

1990, Patrick de Gramont, “The Problem of Representation”, in Language and the Distortion of Meaning (Psychoanalytic Crosscurrents), New York, N.Y., London: New York University Press, →ISBN, page 53:

One suggestion is that there is a de facto correlation between words or sentences of natural language and expressions of mentalese and between the logical relations among the former and the causal relations among the latter. This is a curious idea. The alleged correlation is not empirically grounded.

1990, Peter A. French, Theodore Edward Uehling, Howard K. Wettstein, editors, The Philosophy of the Human Sciences (Midwest Studies in Philosophy; XV), Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 446:

[I]t is probably misleading to talk about the language of thought, or to talk about ‘Mentalese’, as if it were a single representational system. We should more properly, in the context of a thesis of massive mental modularity, talk about languages of thought, or Mentaleses.

2006, Peter Carruthers, “The Case for Massively Modular Models of Mind”, in The Architecture of the Mind: Massive Modularity and the Flexibility of Thought, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, section 6 (The Argument from Computational Tractability), page 51:

[Jerry] Fodor's position stems from his theory, first articulated in The Language of Thought, that there is a type of internal system of representation contained within the human mind out of which thoughts are formed, similarly to the way sentences are formed out of individual words, a "language" which he refers to as "mentalese." Our concepts are the units out of which mentalese constructs thoughts. [...] Importantly, mentalese must be sufficiently rich to enable us to utilize it to learn the natural language of our birth, and we must have this type of system of representation prior to any development of natural language.

2014, Gabriel Keehn, “Does the Theory of Recollection Preclude Learning?: A New Dimension to Platonic Nativism”, in Chris Higgins, editor, Philosophy of Education, Urbana, Ill.: Philosophy of Education Society; University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2019-03-07, page 161:

(philosophy, psychology) A hypothetical non-verbal language in which concepts are represented in the mind.


Mriganka

Transliteration of Bengali মৃগাঙ্ক (mrigaṅkô).


Ivo

Latinate form of a medieval name of Old French origin, from Proto-Germanic *īhwaz (“yew, bow”). Name of French and English saints. Cognate with modern French Yves.

It was so farcically alien to be called 'Roger' and 'Furnivall' in a place where everybody had names like Ivo and Gito and Madog.

1970, John Wain, A Winter in the Hills, Viking Press, page 45:

A male given name from the Germanic languages.


Prerna

A female given name from Hindi used in Hindi-speaking nations.


Aarush

A male given name from Hindi, of Indian usage.


Keelin

Borrowed from Irish Caoilfhionn, from cael (“thin, slender”) + fionn (“light, fair”).


Susheela

From Sanskrit (meaning "good character").

A female given name from Sanskrit, popular among Hindu women.


Shem

From Ancient Greek Σήμ (Sḗm), from Hebrew שם (Šēm).

A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.


Esselen

The name Esselen "probably derived from the name of a major native village", possibly from the village known as Exse'ein, or the place called Eslenes, the site of the Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo. The Spanish extended the term to mean the entire linguistic group (Hester 1978:498-499).

An indigenous population native to the region of Big Sur on the Central Coast of California.


Salinan

The Salinan were named after the Salinas River by Robert Latham first in 1856, and by John Wesley Powell in 1891.


Mordred

Alteration of Modred, from Latin Modredus, from Proto-Brythonic *Modrọd (whence Old Breton Modrot, Old Cornish Modred, Old Welsh Medraut), perhaps from Latin Moderātus.

(Arthurian legend) The illegitimate son of King Arthur, who ultimately killed him in battle.

莫德雷德

in Arthurian legend, the son of King Arthur


Maxonian

Coined to identify a group of alumni of King's School, Macclesfield at Oxford University as a blend of Macclesfield + Oxonian, which was then applied to residents of the town in general.

As a fellow Macclesfieldian — or Maxonian as one was inexplicably called — I was fascinated to read the whole factual story of St Peter's Working Men's Institute, whose weekly affairs I used to report, all unknowing, in the days of bicycle clips and wet macs.

1967, New Society, volume 9, numbers 236-248, page 892:

My thanks to my friends Clifford and Pauline Baillie, true Maxonians both, who helped me with local colour and phrases.

1992, Jan Webster, Bluebell Blue, page viii:

One born-and-bred Maxonian, now living around High Street, proffered a cognate observation about the plight of those 'stuck' on Moss Rose

2005, Evi Girling, Crime and Social Change in Middle England: Questions of Order in an English Town:


Japheth

Aelfric of Eynsham
James Tissot
Wycliffe's Bible

From Middle English Jafeth (as attested in Wycliffe's Bible), from Old English Iafeth (see e.g. Aelfric of Eynsham) and Middle French Japhet, both from Late Latin Iaphet, Iafeth, from Koine Greek Ἰάφεθ (Iápheth), from Hebrew יֶפֶת (yépheth). Further origin uncertain; folk etymology as well as rabbinical and patristic claims usually point to a meaning like "enlarged", in reference to Genesis 9:27, or "fair" (pale, in reference to complexion).

“If you are not ready, come with me to another beach,” Japheth said anxiously. “I said,” Jed Elliott said flatly, his teeth showing, “that I can take care of myself.” And the tone was too flat. “Would the americano fight?" Don Leon asked."

1957, The Saturday Evening Post Stories:

“I want to see the bear, Japheth,” said a young Crow. Japheth shook his head, said, “I'll take you to Willow Ridge and show you the black bears that live above the Green River when we get back home, Lowell."

2007, James Patrick Kelly, John Kessel, Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology, Tachyon Publications, →ISBN, page 299:

(uncommon) A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.


Skolt

A member of a small ethnic Sami fraction living in northern Finland and nearby areas of Russia. The Skolts have their own language, Skolt Sami.


Winnifred

A female given name from Welsh, variant of Winifred.


Tamera

A female given name from Hebrew, a rare nonstandard spelling of Tamara. Popularized by actress Tamera Mowry in the 1990s


Gwendolyn

Faith read the name of the addressee, "Gwendolyn Zabel. That's a lovely old name."

2009, Karin Slaughter, Genesis, Century, →ISBN, page 108:

A female given name from Welsh, variant of Gwendolen.


Billie

A male or female given name from the Germanic languages derived from Bill, the diminutive of William.


Vivienne

A female given name from Latin borrowed from French, a variant of Vivian.


Diviya

From Sanskrit दिव्या (divyā́), feminine of दिव्य (divyá, “divine, heavenly”).


Wilf

A male given name, diminutive of Wilfred.


Patrice

20th century variant of Patricia, probably borrowed from the French male given name Patrice.


Martine

A female given name, equivalent to English Martina, feminine form of Martin


Jeffery

A male given name from the Germanic languages, variant of Geoffrey.


Debra

A spelling variant of Deborah first used in the 20th century.

"She's Debra Jean," the children shouted in chorus. "We decided last night with Daddy." - - - So her name is Debbie, I thought to myself. With a pretty name and a family to love her this baby has to make it.

1966, Marilyn M. Segal, Run Away, Little Girl, Random House, page 6:

A female given name from Hebrew popular in the 1950s and the 1960s.


Carolyn

He never called me "Carolyn" until long after I'd stopped studying with him. It was always "Caroline", as in his Jardin aux Lilas. When at Juilliard he first learned my name, he snorted "How affected!" I was surprised. "Carolyn" affected? "Caroline" not? I'd always thought it was the other way around.

2007, Carolyn Brown, Chance and Circumstance: Twenty Years with Cage and Cunningham, →ISBN, page 101:

A female given name from the Germanic languages, a variant of Caroline used since the 19th century.


Fannie

A diminutive of Frances, also used as a formal female given name.


Sadie

We are some of the sales-ladies -
Minnies, Mamies, Susies, Sadies -
From the famous house whose trade is
The distinction and the glory
Of all modern retail story.

1888, William Dean Howells, A Sea-change, Ticknor and company, published 1888, page 34:

A diminutive of the female given name Sarah. Also a popular formal given name in the 19th century.


Cindy

Shortened from Lucinda and Cinderella. In the 20th century adopted as a pet form of Cynthia.

Cindy came in lugging my trunk, assisted by an elderly servant-woman - - - ["]You may go, Tabitha, to your spinning, and you, Lucinda, bring up a pitcher of water for Miss Mary," said Mrs. Hardinge.

1849, Godey's Magazine, volume 39, page 55:

Now, you must know that Cinderella had a godmother, - - - . The little old lady sat down upon a small log of wood on the opposite side, and said ,― "Why, Cindy, my darling, you have been crying?"

1870, George Cruikshank, George Cruikshank's Fairy Library, page 10:

Her twin daughters were on the playground equipment. Cynthia and Melinda, reduced to Cindy and Mindy, as Carella had dreaded would happen from the moment she named them.

1999, Ed McBain, The Big Bad City, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 139:

'Cindy sounds nice.' 'She is.' 'Is that her real name? Like the doll?' 'Aye, but with a C. C-I-N-D-Y.' 'Isn't that how the doll's spelled?' 'No, the doll has an S.'

2010, James Robertson, And the Land Lay Still, Hamish Hamilton, →ISBN, page 95:

A diminutive of the female given name Cynthia and Lucinda; also used as a formal female given name.


Sarai

From Hebrew שרי (Saráy), from the plural form of שר (“master, chief”).

And Abram tooke Sarai his wife, and Lot his brothers sonne, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the soules that they had gotten in Haran, and they went foorth to goe into the land of Canaan: and into the land of Canaan they came.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 12:5:

A female given name from Hebrew, most famously borne by Sarah, the wife of Abram and mother of Isaac in the Bible, prior to her name change.


Penutian

A proposed grouping of language families that includes many Native American languages of western North America, predominantly spoken at one time in Washington, Oregon, and California.


Yolanda

From Spanish Yolanda, the form of a medieval royal name of obscure, probably Germanic, origin. It has been identified with Latin Violante and Ancient Greek ἴον (íon, “violet”) + ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”).

I chose the name Yolanda Denise, but my husband had reservations about it. He questioned whether people would call her Yolanda or mispronounce the name. He was right. Her name is so frequently mispronounced that it bothers her. There is a tendency among middle-class Negroes to give their children unusual names. Perhaps they are seeking elegance or some special identification. I fell victim to this custom, rather than following the sensible practice of naming the baby after a member of the family.

1969, Coretta Scott King, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, page 107:


Tabitha

From Aramaic טביתא (Ṭabītā’, “doe, roe, gazelle”), translated as Dorcas in the Bible.

uder

A female given name from Aramaic of biblical origin.


Yvette

Borrowed from French Yvette. The politics sense is a reference to the name of a docile young girl in a school textbook, and was popularized by separatist politician Lise Payette (1931–2018).

A female given name from French borrowed from French in the nineteenth century.


Neale

A male given name transferred from the surname.

A male given name transferred from the surname, of rare usage, variant of Neil.


Enoch

From Late Latin Enoch, from Ancient Greek Ἑνώχ (Henṓkh), from Hebrew חֲנוֹךְ (Ḥănôḵ).

der

Hebrew חֲנוֹךְ (Ḥănôḵ)

There Enoch spoke no word to any one,
 But homeward—home—what home? had he a home?
 His home, he walk'd.

1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Enoch Arden”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 36–37:

A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.


Lake Miwok

A division of the Miwok people, who resided in the Clear Lake basin, California.

The Utian (Penutian) language spoken by this people.


Valley Miwok

The eastern Miwok groups of people native to the Sacramento Valley, comprising the Plains Miwok, Bay Miwok, and Sierra Miwok.


Plains Miwok

A division of the Miwok people, who resided in the general area of modern San Joaquin County and parts of Sacramento Valley, California.


Karkin

One of eight divisions of the Ohlone Native American people of northern California.

The spoken language by this people, an Ohlone dialect in the Utian family.


Sierra Miwok

The linguistic divisions of Miwok people who resided in the western foothills Sierra Nevada Mountains, California (often sub-divided on maps as Northern Sierra Miwok, Central Sierra Miwok, and Southern Sierra Miwok).


Marin Miwok

A subdivision of the Coast Miwok people, who resided in present-day Marin County, California.


Marin Miwok

The dialect of Coast Miwok language spoken by this people.


Bodega Miwok

A subdivision of the Coast Miwok people, who resided at Bodega Bay, California.


Awaswas

The spoken language of this people, an Ohlone dialect in the Utian family.


Hephzibah

From Biblical Hebrew חֶפְצִי־בָהּ (ḥep̄ṣî-ḇāh, “my delight is in her”).

Thou shalt no more bee termed, Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed, Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land, Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shalbe maried.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 62:4:

"My mother's name was Hephzibah," said Silas, "and my little sister was named after her."

1861, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XIV, in Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, part I, page 250:

"Well, anyhow," she chuckled, "you can be glad it isn't Hephzibah." "Hephzibah!" "Yes. Mrs White's name is that. Her husband calls her 'Hep', and she doesn't like it. She says when he calls out 'Hep - Hep!' she feels as if the next minute he was going to yell,'Hurrah!'"

1913, Eleanor H. Porter, chapter 7, in Pollyanna, L.C. Page, →OCLC:

(now rare) A female given name from Hebrew of Biblical origin. Used by Puritans in the 17th and 18th century.


Bay Miwok

A division of the Miwok people, who resided east of the San Francisco Bay.


Coast Miwok

A division of the Miwok people, who resided north of the San Francisco Bay.


Chalon

One of eight divisions of the Ohlone Native American people of northern California native to the Salinas Valley.


Ramaytush

From Northern Ohlone Rammay-tuš (“people from the west”), used by the Chochenyo people of the East Bay.


Chochenyo

The language of this people, an Ohlone dialect in the Utian family.


Santa Clara

The Spanish named a California Mission Santa Clara de Asís after Saint Clare of Assisi in the late 18th century. Eventually the name was extended by linguists to mean the native Tamyen people gathered at the mission and their primary language.

Santa Clara County
Santa Clara County#English

A city in Santa Clara County, California, United States.


Teuton

PIE word
 *tewtéh₂
Attested since 1720, from Latin Teutonēs, Teutonī (“the Teutons”) (cf. Ancient Greek Τεύτονες (Teútones)), a Germanic or Celtic tribe that inhabited a coastal area in today's Germany and devastated Gaul between 113 and 101 BCE. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂ (“people”), from which come:
* Proto-Germanic *þeudō (“people”)
** Old English þēod (“nation, people, country, language”), Middle English thede
** Proto-Germanic *þeudanaz (“ruler, leader of the people”)
*** Gothic 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰𐌽𐍃 (þiudans, “king”)
*** Old Norse þjóðann (“prince, king”)
*** Old Saxon þiudan (“lord of the people, ruler”)
*** Old English þēoden (“king, lord”)
** Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz (“of the people or tribe”)
*** English Dutch
*** German deutsch
* Proto-Celtic *toutā
** Old Irish túath)
* Persian توده (tôda, tude, “heap, masses, people, folk”)
* Proto-Slavic *ťuďь (“foreign, strange”)
** Russian чужо́й (čužój, “stranger”), чудно (čudno, “strange”), чу́до (čúdo, “miracle”)

cog

The difference between the Clergy and the Teuton conquerors was more than a difference of creed, or of civilization. It was an actual difference of race. They were Romans, to whom the Teuton was a savage, speaking a different tongue, obeying different laws, his whole theory of the universe different from the Roman.

1864, Charles Kingsley, The Roman and the Teuton: A Series of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge, page 220:

We have noted that the Teutonic layer of European barbarians, unlike the Celtic layer, resisted the disintegrating action of Hellenism to such effect that the Teutons were able to take their place in the external proletariat of the Hellenic World and to dispatch the Hellenic Society in its death agonies with the coup de grâce.

1946, Arnold Joseph Toynbee, A Study of History, volume 1, page 153:

Some fifteen hundred years ago, the Teuton tribes of Northern Europe held an annual ceremony.[…]We can't presume to understand all that this specific ritual meant to the Teutons nor precisely what their expectations might have been.

2007, Judika Illes, Pure Magic: A Complete Course in Spellcasting, page 8:

What he imagined the social order and the experience of the Teutons actually to have been, and why this lost world should represent an ideal, is, it must be said, hard to discover. His pronouncements on the Teutons of the Dark Ages are decidedly sparse.

2012, Peter Longerich, Heinrich Himmler: A Life, page 271:

(historical) A member of an early Germanic tribe living in Jutland noted in historical writings by Greek and Roman authors.

The third threat, from the Teutonic Knights of Germany, was the worst, because the Crusader Teutons wanted not only Russian land but also to kill off the people of Russia because they were a different kind of Christian from them!

2008, K. M. Lucchese, Folk Like Me: The Read-Aloud Book of Saints, page 51:

Its garrison consisted of the Templars and Hospitalliers, the knights of Cyprus, Teutons, French, English, Pizzan, Venetian, and Genoan mercenaries.[…]On the following day the New Tower of the city, which was defended by the Teuton knights, was taken by assault.

2009, Kadir I. Natho, Circassian History, page 177:

(historical) A member of the Teutonic Order.

In the first place, a prolonged struggle in the North Temperate Zone, with a harsh, though not a depressing, natural environment, endows the Teuton with unusual energy and initiative. Then centuries of wanderings in which the strong set forth and the weak and timid stay behind, brings the Teuton to the west of Europe, to the British Isles, and to America, with a courage, enterprise, and self-assertion rare in the history of man. The Teuton becomes the Anglo-Saxon, and therewith less apt for the gregarious life.

1901, Edward Alsworth Ross, Social Control: A Survey of the Foundations of Order, published 2009, page 16:

Every Teuton must fall on his face before an inferior Teuton; until they all find, in the foul marshes towards the Baltic, the very lowest of all possible Teutons, and worship him--and find he is a Slav. So much for Pan-Germanism.

1915, G. K. Chesterton, The Crimes of England, published 2008, unnumbered page:

The history of the Teutons, or Germans, as they are more commonly called, is very much like that of the Bantu in central Africa.

1976, Harry R. Boer, A Short History of the Early Church, page 122:

A member of any Germanic-language-speaking people, especially a German.


Teuton

en-adj

Teuton (comparative more Teuton, superlative most Teuton)

more Teuton (comparative)
most Teuton (superlative)

While some families of the oldest Welsh stocks talk English only, a large number, whose forefathers were Teuton, Norse, or Irish, now converse in Cymraeg.

1881, James Bonwick, “Preface”, in Who Are the Welsh? (Our Nationalities; III), London: David Bogue, […], pages iii–iv:

Had the Jews been so fixed a type, by this time their offspring would have been more numerous than the Chinese. The reverse, however, is the case; and therefore, we may suppose they must have become extinct, had it not been for fresh supplies of Saxon, Teuton, Spanish, and Italian blood.

1886 December 18, Richard Jefferies, “Just Before Winter”, in R[obert] Chambers (Secundus), editor, Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, fifth series, volume III, number 155, London, Edinburgh: W[illiam] & R[obert] Chambers, page 803, column 2:

While the social system could thus be improved, [G. Stanley] Hall knew that heredity was more important. He argued that a pound of heredity was “worth a hundredweight of education.” It was necessary to pay attention to better breeding: “The nation that breeds best, be it Mongol, Slav, Teuton or Saxon, will rule the world in the future.”

1986, Clarence J. Karier, Scientists of the Mind: Intellectual Founders of Modern Psychology, Urbana, Ill., Chicago, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 183:


aq

(physical chemistry) Abbreviation of aqueous solution.


Bernice

Biblical form of Berenice, from Ancient Greek Βερενίκη (Bereníkē).

And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea to salute Festus.

Later Martin said, "If we ever have another baby girl, I'm going to give her a simple name like Mary Jane." When we did have another daughter, we called her Bernice Albertine, after her two grandmothers. Not quite Mary Jane, but at least named for members of the family. In any case, she is known as Bunny,

1969, Coretta Scott King, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr, Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, page 107:


Soledad

A city in Monterey County, California, United States.


Brenda

Possibly from Old Norse brandr (“sword”); by folk etymology seen as a feminine form of Brendan. Its use as a nickname for Queen Elizabeth II originated in Private Eye in reaction to a perceived attempt by the royals to appear less distant and upper class.

We have already mentioned Minna and Brenda, the daughters of Magnus Troil. Their mother had been dead for many years, and they were now two beautiful girls

1821, Walter Scott, chapter III, in The Pirate:

'Brandi's father owns a number of radio stations across the country.' He smiled. 'Beware of women whose first names are potable.'
'I'll keep it in mind.'
'Actually, her real name is Brenda. She was named after Brenda Marshall, who was an actress in the forties. Apparently, my father-in-law was a huge fan.'

1997, Joy Fielding, Missing Pieces, page 85:

There is a widespread belief that Brenda plays no part in politics. This is not entirely true. For instance, she has very strong feelings on Rhodesia.

1977, “Loyal News”, in Private Eye, numbers 393-418, page 23:

Windsor, I was always led to believe. But--as with license plates--they don't ever have to use it. Brenda just signs herself Elizabeth R (Regina).

1993 August 10, Jonathan Beasley Murray, “Re: Royal Family's last name?”, in soc.culture.british (Usenet):

That is something that can never be removed entirely from anyone, the cold aloofness that is seen in the royal family is something that has been bred into them, but it doesn't take away their humanity at all. You only had to see the pictures of Brenda visiting the homeless hostel to know that she was bottling back tears.

2002 February 13, Heretic, “Re: Old Gin Slugger is dead.”, in uk.current-events.n-ireland (Usenet):

The problem isn't just Brenda, it is that there will never be agreement on what to replace her with. viz. the House of Lords debacle, the Australian Republican referendum.

2002 November 6, Tom, “Re: "Be careful, Paul..."”, in uk.politics.misc (Usenet):


San Juan Bautista

The Spanish named a California mission San Juan Bautista meaning Saint John the Baptist, when they founded it in the late 18th century. The name was expanded by linguists to mean the natives of the region gathered at the mission, and their primary language.

The native language spoken in this region.


Alger

(rare) A male given name from the Germanic languages, variant of Elgar.


San Carlos

San Mateo County
San Mateo County#English

A city in San Mateo County, California, United States.

A town in Gila County, Arizona, United States.

One name for the mission located in Monterey County, California

A native people of the Monterey County region.

The native language spoken in the Monterey County region.


Berenice

/ˌbɛɹəˈniːs/

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Βερενίκη (Bereníkē, “bringer of victory”), itself a borrowing from Ancient Macedonian (compare the native word Φερενίκη (Phereníkē)), from φέρω (phérō, “to bear, to carry, to bring”) + νίκη (níkē, “victory”). Doublet of Veronica.

bor

A female given name from Ancient Greek, notably of ancient queens of Egypt.


Selma

en-proper noun

Selma (countable and uncountable, plural Selmas)

Taken to use in the 19th century when similar-sounding names, Elma, Thelma, Alma, Wilma, etc. were in vogue. Perhaps a shortening of Anselma, or from the name of a place in the James Macpherson's Ossian cycle of epic poems, itself from Scottish Gaelic sealladh + math (“good vision”). In some cases perhaps borrowed from Turkish Selma, from Arabic سَلْمَى (salmā).


Jeanette

From Jean + -ette or misspelling of French Jeannette, from Jeanne + -ette, q.v. Originally chiefly Scottish.
Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jenny, Jessie, Jo, Jody, Juanita, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna.


Carmel

From Hebrew כַּרְמֶל (karmél, “vineyard of El/God”).

bor

A female given name from Hebrew from the Roman Catholic epithet of Virgin Mary at Mount Carmel.

A city, valley, and river in Monterey County, California, United States. The full name of the city is Carmel-by-the-Sea.

One name for the mission located in Monterey County, California.

Penobscot County
Penobscot County#English

Other places in the United States:
A town in Penobscot County, Maine.

An unincorporated community in Waupaca County, Wisconsin.


Parnika

From a Sanskrit word which means "with leaves".

A female given name from India, of Indian usage.


Della

Possibly a variant of Adela or Delia. First appeared in the 19th century.

He was afraid that Delia or Della might mention a cousin named Dahlia, and he would laugh. Sweet Jesus, do not let me laugh inappropriately.

2020, Marilynne Robinson, Jack, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

A female given name originating as a coinage.


Cora

Apparently brought up in English literature by James Fenimore Cooper in The Last of the Mohicans (1826), but compare a female heroine of this name in Jean-François Marmontel's Les Incas (1777) and the Ancient Greek epithet Κόρη (Kórē) for Περσεφόνη (Persephónē). It could also refer directly to κόρη (kórē, “maiden”).

The youth had turned to speak to the dark-eyed Cora, when the distant sound of horses hoofs, clattering over the roots of the broken way in his rear, caused him to check his charger;

1826, James Fenimore Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans/Chapter 2:

"Where are you from originally, Coral?" "Indiana." "Lots of Corals out there, I bet." She hesitated, seemed about to flare, and then smiled instead, showing a little gap between two front teeth. "Well, it was Cora Lucille, I guess, " she said, still smiling, looking very much like a Cora Lucille in that moment. Hawes imagined pigtails tied with polka-dot rags.

1990, Ed McBain, Vespers, Mandarin, published 1991, →ISBN, page 78:


Tagesa

A male given name from Nigeria. A name given to people who are perceived to have a strong sense of competition as means of personal achievement for community development.


Attashin

Derives from Persian آتشین (âtašin, literally “fiery”), derived from آتش (âtaš, “fire”).

آتشین آتشین#Persian

A transliteration of the Persian female given name آتشین (âtašin).


Anastasi

Romanization of Russian Анаста́сий (Anastásij), cognate with English and Latin Anastasius, ultimately from Ancient Greek.

A male given name from the Slavic languages.


Winnie

Ŭinjo

A diminutive of the female given name Winifred.

Minnie and Winnie
Slept in a shell.
Sleep, little ladies!
And they slept well.

1880, Alfred Tennyson, Minnie and Winnie:

And I became Winnie, which Jimmy Louie said was a lively and lucky-sounding name. "Win, win, win," he said.

1991, Amy Tan, The Kitchen God's Wife, Vintage Books, →ISBN:

Mrs Conchita Warren is an unusual name, I thought as I cycled towards Limehouse. Most local women were Doris, Winnie, Ethel (pronounced Eff) or Gertie.

2002, Jennifer Worth, Call the Midwife, Phoenix, →ISBN, page 127:

A diminutive of the female given name Winifred or, less often, of Winona.

A diminutive of the male given name Winston.

Ŭinĉjo

census-designated place
census-designated place

A census-designated place in Chambers County, Texas, United States, named after Fox Winnie, a railroad contractor.

An unincorporated community in Nottoway County, Virginia, United States.


Dolores

/dəˈlɔː.ɹɪz/


Stelios

From Greek Στέλιος (Stélios), diminutive of Στυλιανός (Stylianós), from Ancient Greek Στυλιανός (Stulianós, literally “someone firm”), from στῦλος (stûlos, “pole”).

der

Στέλιος Στέλιος#Greek

A transliteration of the Greek male given name diminutive Στέλιος (Stélios), used in Greece.


Stylianos

From Greek Στυλιανός (Stylianós), from Ancient Greek Στυλιανός (Stulianós, literally “someone firm”), from στῦλος (stûlos, “pole”).

Στυλιανός Στυλιανός#Greek

A transliteration of the Greek male given name Στυλιανός (Stylianós), used in Greece.


Olympian

From Late Latin Olympianus (“Olympic”) + English -an (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘of or pertaining to’, or forming agent nouns). Olympianus is derived from Latin Olympia (“town in Elis, Greece, where the ancient Olympic Games were held”) + -ānus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’); and Olympia is from Ancient Greek Ὀλυμπῐ́ᾱ (Olumpíā, “Olympia”), from Ὀλῠ́μπῐος (Olúmpios, “of or pertaining to Mount Olympus; living on Mount Olympus, Olympian; (specifically) Zeus”) or Ὄλῠμπος (Ólumpos, “Mount Olympus”) (see further at etymology 1) + -ῐ́ᾱ (-íā, suffix forming feminine abstract nouns).
As regards noun sense 1 (“inhabitant of the city of Olympia, Washington, United States”), the city was named after the Olympic Mountains which are visible to the northwest, which in turn were named after Mount Olympus in Greece.

олимпиец

sportsperson competing in the ancient or modern Olympic Games

олимпи́йка

rare; generally used to mean a sports sweatshirt with a zip

An inhabitant of the city of Olympia, the capital of Washington, United States.


pondian

From The Pond, in reference to the Atlantic Ocean, which separates the United States and Canada from the United Kingdom, + -ian.

(linguistics) Pertaining to differences between English as spoken in the United Kingdom and the United States and or Canada.


Connor

The first name is from Irish Conchúr, Conchobhar, from Old Irish Conchobar (“lover of hounds”). The surname is from Irish Ó Conchúir (“descendant of Conchúr”).


Zulgo-Gemzek

A Chadic language of northern Cameroon, spoken by about 26,000 people.


Branson

en-proper noun

Branson (countable and uncountable, plural Bransons)

(countable) A male given name transferred from the surname.


Haley

Haley (countable and uncountable, plural Haleys)

Variant of Hayley, from Old English. Literally, “hay field”

A unisex given name transferred from the surname, variant of Hayley

A female given name transferred from the surname, variant of Hayley, popular in the US in the 1990s and the 2000s.

A male given name transferred from the surname, variant of Hayley.


Hailey

From Old English hīeġ (“hay”) + lēah (“clearing”).

en:Hailey (given name)
en:Hailey (surname)

A unisex given name transferred from the surname.


Hattie

But Harriet Fuller sounds like a school-teacher, doesn't it? And Hattie Fuller makes me think, somehow, of a burlesque actress. You know. 'Hattie Fuller and Her Bouncing Belles'.

1922, Edna Ferber, Gigolo, Plain Label Books, page 103:

A diminutive of the female given name Harriet.


Kari

From Norwegian Kari, diminutive of Katrine.

A female given name from Norwegian, of recent usage, equivalent to English Carrie or Cary.


Janice

Variant of Jane under apparent influence from Alice, Bernice, Eunice, etc., from French Jeanne, from Middle French Jehanne, from Medieval Latin Johanna, variant of Latin Ioanna under influence from Latin Iōhannēs, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννα (Iōánna), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָה (Yôḥānāh, literally “God is gracious”), the feminized form of יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān) which produced John and its many doublets. As a placeholder name, cf. similar use of John and Jack and earlier use of Joan in the same role.
Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joan, Joanna, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Sian, Siobhan, Shane, Shaun, Shauna, and Sheena.

doublet

"Yes, Mommy," answered Janice. Then she turned to her friend and asked, "Shall I wear my light chintz and kenton kerchief, or my purple and white striped Persian?"
"Sufficiently smart for a country lass, Jan," cried her friend.

1899, Paul Leicester Ford, chapter I, in Janice Meredith:

"Now class," she said, "my name is Mrs. Chubbie. I know how most of you would like to pronounce it, but the correct pronunciation is Mrs. Shew-bay."
"It's Jan-eece," the goth-girl says.
"Pardon me?" Mrs Shew-bay asks very properly.
"My name is pronounced Jan-eece. Not Janice." The whole class tries to stop from laughing out loud at this. "I've changed since last year. Janice is the name of some average, boring student. Do I look average to you?"

1999, Peter McPhee, Runner, →ISBN, pages 37–8:


Evangeline

Invented by the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow when he began research on his epic poem Evangeline about Acadian lovers deported from French-Canada. From Ancient Greek εὐαγγέλιον (euangélion, “good news”).

der

Half-way down the shore Evangeline waited in silence,
Not overcome with grief, but strong in the hour of affliction.

1847 November 1, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline, a Tale of Acadie, Boston, Mass.: William D. Ticknor & Company, →OCLC, (please specify either |part=I or II):

"What's the little missy's name?" said Tom, at last, when he thought matters were ripe to push such an inquiry.
"Evangeline St. Clare," said the little one, "though papa and everybody else call me Eva."

1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, chapter 14, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC:

A female given name originating as a coinage.


Jacqui

The second woman was older but not at all wiser. Her name was Jacqui and she spelled it twice in case there should be any misunderstanding.

2008, Maeve Binchy, Heart and Soul, Anchor, published 2009, →ISBN, page 27:

A diminutive of the female given name Jacqueline.


Mallory

From an Anglo-Norman nickname for an unfortunate person, from Old French maleure, malheure (“unhappy, unlucky”) (whence French malheur), from mal (“bad”) + eur (“fortune”).


Luca

A male given name from Italian, borrowed in the 2000s.


Carey

en-proper noun

Carey (countable and uncountable, plural Careys)

* As a German surname, Americanized from Gehrig, Gehring.
* As a Welsh surname, variant of Carew.
* As an English surname, from placenames derived from Proto-Brythonic *karɨd (“to love”).
* As an Irish surname, from mac Fhiachra (“descendant of Fiachra”), from préachán (“crow”).
* Also as an Irish surname, from the root of the name Kerry.

A male given name transferred from the surname.

(countable) A unisex given name
A female given name, variant of Cary.


Jarrick

(rare) A male given name of modern usage.


Rahim

Borrowed from Arabic رَحِيم (raḥīm, “kind, compassionate”). The surname is predominantly found in Bangladesh.


Jersey Legal French

A dialect of French used historically by the parliament of Jersey.


Ida

Short form of obsolete names beginning with Germanic īd "work", used for both sexes in medieval England. It was revived in the 19th century, partly mistaken for a Greek name, for the Mount Ida of classical mythology.

"Ida!!!"
"It is not a common, but an ancient name in Greece", said the diako,"and was borne by the wife of Lycastus and the mother of the Cretan Minos."
Osmyn blushed to have been over-heard, and suffered his heart alone to repeat again the sweet and simple name of "Ida".

1809, Sydney Owenson, Woman, or, Ida of Athens, page 127:

That's what they called me," she said. "My real name's Ida." The old and vulgarised Grecian name recovered a little dignity

1938, Graham Greene, Brighton Rock, Compact Books, published 1993, →ISBN, page 16:

"Ida" - the name was magical to me. In whispers, in the dark. Beneath bedcovers. Forehead pressed to a windowpane coated with frost. "Ida". What a strange, beautiful name: I could not say it often enough: it was easy to confuse "Ida" with "I" - - -

2002, Joyce Carol Oates, I'l Take You There, Fourth Estate, published 2003, →ISBN, page 18:

A female given name from the Germanic languages.


Virgin Islander

en-noun

Virgin Islander (plural Virgin Islanders)


Mandingo

From Mandinka Mandinka. Compare French mandingue, from the same source.

A macrolanguage spoken primarily in West Africa, with seven individual languages: Mandinka, Eastern Maninkakan, Forest Maninka, Kita Maninkakan, Konyanka Maninka, Sankaran Maninka, Western Maninkakan.


Mandingo

Mandingo (plural Mandingos or Mandingoes)


Mangarevan

The Polynesian language of the Gambier Islands in French Polynesia.


Eli

From Hebrew עֵלִי (“ascent”); cognate to the Arabic-derived Ali.

A male given name from Hebrew of Biblical origin.


milab

1996, Helmut Lammer Ph.D. Preliminary Findings Of Project MILAB: Evidence For Military Kidnappings Of Alleged UFO Abductees published at The Alien Jigsaw, Mind Control Forums and on many other web sites.
Recently, some UFO abductees have reported that they have also been kidnapped by military intelligence personnel (MILAB) and taken to hospitals and/or military facilities, some of which are described as being underground.

1999, A letter from Dr. Helmut Lammer of the Austrian Space Agency to Dr. Steven Greer of the Disclosure Project, published in Greer, Steven M. Extraterrestrial Contact: The Evidence and Implications. Crossing Point Inc, →ISBN, page 8.
I will send you today a copy of the MILAB (Military Abductions) manuscript for review.

Military Abductions (MILABS)
Abductions conducted by members of the U.S. military for the purposes of either learning what happened to real alien abductees or as part of a military or CIA "mind control" program.

2004, Encyclopedic entry in William J. Birnes The UFO Magazine UFO Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Single-Volume UFO Reference in Print, Pocket Books, page 215

Whatever the answer might be, the idea of military involvement in abductions became a standard feature of the abduction scenario by the mid-1990s and, like the subject of implants, became a specialized focus for an on-going study by a small group of ufologists who formed Project MILAB.

2003, Brenda Denzler, The Lure of the Edge: Scientific Passions, Religious Beliefs, and the Pursuit of UFOs, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 62:

A deceitful military operation performed to convince the targets of the operation that they have had an encounter with extraterrestrial beings, though it is actually a staged ploy.


military abduction

military abduction (plural military abductions)

1996 Helmut Lammer Ph.D. Preliminary Findings Of Project MILAB: Evidence For Military Kidnappings Of Alleged UFO Abductees published at The Alien Jigsaw, Mind Control Forums and on many other web sites.
Recently, some UFO abductees have reported that they have also been kidnapped by military intelligence personnel (MILAB) and taken to hospitals and/or military facilities, some of which are described as being underground.

1999 A letter from Dr. Helmut Lammer of the Austrian Space Agency to Dr. Steven Greer of the Disclosure Project, published in Greer, Steven M. Extraterrestrial Contact: The Evidence and Implications. Crossing Point Inc, →ISBN, page 8.
I will send you today a copy of the MILAB (Military Abductions) manuscript for review.

2004 Encyclopedic entry in William J. Birnes The UFO Magazine UFO Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Single-Volume UFO Reference in Print, Pocket Books, page 215

A deceitful military operation performed to convince the targets of the operation that they have had an encounter with extraterrestrial beings which is actually a staged ploy


Kaitlyn

A female given name from Irish, one of the modern spelling variants of Caitlin.


Katelyn

A female given name from Irish, variant of Caitlin


Kayla

A modern invention possibly based on Kay or Michaela; possibly formed on the pattern of Layla.

Kayla's look tended to change with the seasons; at the moment it was less Goth than paramilitary, with laced jump boots.

2003, Mercedes Lackey, Rosemary Edghill, James P. Baen, Mad Maudlin:


Juanita

From Spanish Juanita, from Juana + -ita (“-ette”), from Old Spanish Johanna, from Medieval Latin Johanna, variant of Joanna, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννα (Iōánna), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָה (Yôḥānāh, literally “God is gracious”), the feminized form of יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān) which produced John and its many doublets.
Doublet of Ivanka, Jan, Janelle, Janet, Janey, Janine, Jeanette, Jeanie, Jeannette, Jeannine, Jen, Jenna, Jenny, Jessie, Jo, Jody, Shanae, Sinead, and Vanna.


Flossy

A female given name, diminutive of Florence.


Hassaniya

A group of Arabic dialects spoken primarily in Mauritania, a portion of southern Morocco, and Western Sahara.


Kelsey

en-proper noun

Kelsey (countable and uncountable, plural Kelseys)

From Old English cēol (“ship”) + siġe (“victory”).

A unisex given name transferred from the surname

A female given name transferred from the surname, popular in the 1990s.

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Amorite

/ˈæ.məˌɹaɪt/

[ˈɛə̯mɚ.ʌɪ̯t̚]

From Biblical Hebrew אֲמֹרִי (ʾĂmōrî) + -ite, of uncertain origin; compare Akkadian 𒈥𒌅 (Amurrum).


Kristen

A spelling variant of Kristin, from Christina, fairly popular in the latter half of the twentieth century.


Ariane

From French Ariane, from Ancient Greek Ἀριάδνη (Ariádnē).

A female given name from Ancient Greek or French.


Lillie

A female given name, a variant of Lily or a pet form of Lillian


Majorcan

en-adj

Majorcan (comparative more Majorcan, superlative most Majorcan)

more Majorcan (comparative)
most Majorcan (superlative)


Lindsey

en-proper noun

Lindsey (countable and uncountable, plural Lindseys)

From Old English Lindesege, ultimately from Proto-Brythonic *llɨnn (“pool”), from Proto-Celtic *lindos (“lake, liquid”) (as in Lincoln) + Old English ēġ (“island (of land)”).

A unisex given name transferred from the surname.


Murcian

A dialect of the Spanish language spoken in Murcia.


Lucille

"My name is Lucille." The man sat down heavily, crowding the girl's body against Mr. Munn. "You call her Sukie like I said," he ordered. "Now, Mr. Munn," the girl asked, leaning back so she could look up at him from under the brim of her large straw hat with its blue ribbons, " do you see how he can make Sukie out of a name like Lucille?"

1939, Robert Penn Warren, Night Rider, Random House, published 1939, page 4:

A female given name from French Lucille [in turn from Latin Lucilla], of 1910s US usage.


Yakova

From the Hebrew masculine form "Ya'akov" or "Yakov" which originally refers to the Biblical character, Jacob.


Navarrese

/ˌnævəˈɹiːz/


Laurie

Laurie (countable and uncountable, plural Lauries)

"I’m not Mr. Laurence, I’m only Laurie."
"Laurie Laurence, what an odd name."
"My first name is Theodore, but I don’t like it, for the fellows called me Dora, so I made them say Laurie instead."

1868, Louisa May Alcott, chapter 3, in Little Women:

A diminutive of the male given name Laurence; alternative form of Lawrie; a pet form of the male given name Laurence.

Maxwelton braes are bonnie
Where early fa's the dew;
An' it's there that Annie Laurie
Gi'ed me her promise true.

A surname transferred from the given name.


Ugaritic

From Ugarit + -ic, via a Semitic medium from Sumerian 𒀀𒃼 (a-gar₃ /agar/, “arable land”).

uder

The Northwest Semitic language of the ancient city of Ugarit in Syria. Extinct since 1100 B.C.E., it was written in cuneiform.


Lois

From Ancient Greek Λωΐς (Lōḯs), of obscure meaning. Unrelated to Louise or Louisa.

Modernity might also lie in a name like Lois - pronounced Loys in Trinidad - which came to the island in the 1940s through Lois Lane, the heroine of the American Superman comic strip.

1962, V.S.Naipaul, The Middle Passage, page 48:

A female given name from Ancient Greek of biblical origin.


Leonese

A Romance language spoken in the northwest of Spain, closely related to Asturian and Mirandese.


Lori

In some cases, a 20th century spelling variant of Laurie, from Laura. In other cases, a diminutive form of names such as Loretta and Lorraine.

There was Lori - Lori - Lori no longer daft - Lori who could fight like the very devil of a Scotswoman at the side of her man - Lori would pull Mary Ruadh back from the brink of the grave, and perhaps himself too. His spirits began to lift. His whole being sang with the name of Lori.

1957, Paul Gallico, Thomasina: The Cat who Thought She was God, Doubleday, page 243:

While she continued to cling to his arm, Lorraine pouted again. " Running away changed a lot of things, but it didn't change your name. Nobody's called me Lori for ages, but while you're here, we'll just have to put up with each other."

2006, Christine W. Murphy, Through Iowa Glass, Hard Shell Word Factory, published 2006, →ISBN, page 23:

A female given name, popular in the US in the 1960s.


Nico

Considering the stressed vowel (not found in Nicholas, nor Nick, etc.), presumably borrowed from one or more mainland European languages.

A male given name, nickname for Nicholas.


Valencian

One of the standard varieties of the Catalan language spoken primarily in Valencia.


Andalusian

(uncountable) The dialect (or varieties) of Spanish spoken in Andalusia; Andalusian Spanish.


Lula

19th-century variant of Lulu, nickname of Louisa and Lucy. In rare cases, shortened from Tallulah.

But Lula Ann Bridewell is no longer available and she was never a woman. Lula Ann was a sixteen-year-old-me who dropped that dumb countrified name as soon as I left high school. I was Ann Bride for two years until I interviewed for a sales job at Sylvia, Inc., and, on a hunch, shortened my name to Bride, with nothing anybody needs to say before or after that memorable syllable.

2015, Toni Morrison, God Help the Child, Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 11:


Mikayla

A female given name from Hebrew, of modern usage, variant of Michaela.


Makayla

A female given name from Hebrew, of modern usage, variant of Michaela


Mamie

When they are used to express the affectionate regard of near friends and relatives they also may be pretty and appropriate, but they look very silly in a formal signature, and surely do not befit the dignity of womanhood. We had, for instance, among these 800 names scores of Minnies, Mamies, and only here and there a Mary, a much more euphonious as well as a dignified name.

1880 Emily Faithfull, The Victoria Magazine, v.36 (July-Dec 1880), page 264

(dated) A diminutive of Mary or Mavis, also used as a formal female given name.


Mattie

A diminutive of the female given name Matilda, also used as a formal given name

A diminutive of the female given name Martha, also used as a formal given name


Nettie

A diminutive of the female given names Annette and Jeannette.


Myrtle

After the plant, myrtle; used since the end of the 19th century.

Myrtle Hazard Lindsay walked up to the bust, and kissed its marble forehead, saying, "This is the face of my Guardian Angel!"

1867, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr, chapter XXXIV, in The Guardian Angel:

"My husband used to say that girls with flower names fade fast." It was Myrtle who said this one day, out of the blue, and for some reason it made them all go weak with laughter.

1993, Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries, page 318:


Mae

A female given name; popular as a middle name.


Dipu

A male given name from India, a nickname in India.


Marilyn

A twentieth-century blend of Mary and Lynn.

Maybe you know my grand-daughter, the one with the non-Somali name - Marilyn. You won't believe it, but she was named for me, and my own is Maryam. She tells me that Marilyn is the name of a famous actress who's now dead. You know the young these days, bringing mysteries and foreign ways into our lives.

1993, Nuruddin Farah, Gifts, Arcade Publishing, published 1999, →ISBN, page 71:

A female given name originating as a coinage.


Michaela

From Michael + -a. Latinate feminine form of Michael, first appearing as an anglicisation of the Portuguese ("Micaela") and Spanish ("Micaela"). Doublet of Michelle.

Do you remember at Holmwood I called you Michaela, because you were so fair, like the girl in the opera? Now, this type-writer girl is dark, and she has been playing Carmen to you - stealing your love away from you by her clever ways.

1897, Clarissa Joy Suraji (=Grant Allen), The Type-writer Girl, Street & Smith, published 1900, page 227:

Edward had asked about her name. What was the origin and the meaning? "Unusual, but it has a nice sound. Kind of like Mahalia."
Michaela had lifted her shoulders, helplessly. "I have no idea. My mother said she read it somewhere and liked the sound. And she didn't want me to have a name like everyone else. She said she thought I was going to be special."

2008, Sandra Kitt, For All We Know, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 176:


Arunim

From Sanskrit अरुणिमन् (aruṇiman, “redness, red color”), referring to the reddish glow of the sun, which could be easily seen on the early morning sky.

bor

A male given name from Hindi used in India.


Robyn

A female given name from the Germanic languages, variant of Robin


Traci

A female given name transferred from the surname, variant of Tracy.


Rhonda

Modern coinage explained as Welsh rhon (“pike, lance”) + da (“good”)

Well, Rhonda, you caught my eye / And I can give you lots of reasons why / You gotta help me, Rhonda

1965, Mike Love, Brian Wilson (lyrics and music), “Help Me, Rhonda”, performed by The Beach Boys:


Cheri

A variant of Sherry or coined from French chéri, chérie (“darling”), not used as a given name in France.


Tonya

Phonetic rendering of Russian То́ня (Tónja), an informal pet form of Антони́на (Antonína, “Antonina”).

A female given name from Russian, diminutive of Antonina or Antonia


full name

The complete name of a person, including first name, any middle names, and surname.


Lü

A Tai-Kadai language spoken in Yunnan province of China, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.


Shelby

From a medieval name, of obscure origin, yet likely an alteration of Middle English Selby, Salibi (“dweller of the willow place”), from salwe (“willow, sallow”) + -by (“settlement, farm”).

unk

obscure

As they walked, Shelby reached down and gently took Alan's hand to hold. They warmly exchanged a smile with each other just before Shelby looked down and Alan blushed. Whenever she was with Alan he made her feel like an innocent girl again.

2008, Raymond Smith II, An American Odyssey, →ISBN, page 70:

A unisex given name transferred from the surname.

A female given name transferred from the surname.

A male given name transferred from the surname.

A city, the county seat of Toole County, Montana, United States.


Tracy

en-proper noun

Tracy (countable and uncountable, plural Tracys or Tracies)

A Norman baronial surname from places in France, derived from a Gallo-Roman given name Thracius which referred to Thrace + the Celtic suffix *-āko (place, property). As a female given name, it is also known as a diminutive of Theresa.

A male given name transferred from the surname, of occasional 19th century and later usage.

"That's her real name, you know. I mean, a lot of girls working the topless joints, they take exotic, sexy names...well, Tiffany Carter, for example...but that was the name Tracy was born with."

1985, Ed McBain, Snow White and Rose Red, page 130:

Her name was Theresa (often Tracy) Oldenburg and she had eyes only for another young man, Richard Puls.

1993, Wayne C. Lee, Bad Men and Bad Towns, Caxton Press, →ISBN, page 144:

A female given name transferred from the surname, popular in the 1960s and 1970s.


Antonia

Audio

From Spanish Antonia. The feminine equivalent of Anthony.

Mom, I ask, will you call me Ant.
"Oh, Antonia," my mother sighs. Her face looks pained. She is quiet for a few moments and then she says, "Antonia is such a lovely name. When I named you, you were the sweetest, most perfect little baby. - - - "

2001, Gennifer Choldenko, Notes from a Liar and her Dog, Scholastic, published 2002, →ISBN, page 212:


Dylan

From Welsh mythology; possibly from Celtic for "son of the sea" or "born from the ocean." Unrelated to the name Dillon, although the homophony may result in the two being considered variant spellings of the same name.


izhitsa

The obsolete Cyrillic letter Ѵ, ѵ, formerly used in Russian to represent upsilon in borrowed words.


Great North Road

Upon the very same night when Nancy, having lulled Mr. Sikes to sleep, hurried on her self-imposed mission to Rose Maylie, there advanced towards London by the Great North Road two persons, upon whom it is expedient that this history should bestow some attention.

(British) The A1 (partially the A1(M)) road from London to Edinburgh


Mazanderani

The Mazanderani language, a northwestern Iranian language closely related to Persian.


Denys

(rare) A male given name from Ancient Greek, an alternative spelling of Denis


Naphtali

From Biblical Hebrew נַפְתָּלִי (naftalí), a son of Jacob. Compare Arabic نافس (“to compete with”).


Edomite

[ˈiɾɪ̈mʌɪ̯t̚]

A Canaanite Semitic language spoken by the Edomites in southwestern Jordan in the first millennium BCE, extinct from the 6th century BCE.


Laban

From Middle English Laban, from Latin Laban, from Koine Greek Λάβαν (Lában), from Biblical Hebrew לָבָן (Lāḇān).

A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.


Asher

Pottawatomie County
Pottawatomie County#English

A town in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States.


Bilhah

A female given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.


Zebulun

Old Testament Hebrew זְבֻלוּן (zebulun), a son of Jacob.


Melvin

Variant of the Scottish surname Melville, from a place name Malleville in Normandy, from Latin mala (“bad”) + Old French ville (“settlement”).
* Used to Anglicize Mac Gille Beathain in Scotland and Ó Maoil Mhín in Ireland.

And for some reason, they called me Pete. My mother, who probably dug up the name Melvin from some romantic novel about Englishmen drinking tea, cringed at the "Pete".

1976, Melvin Belli, My Life on Trial: An Autobiography, Morrow, →ISBN, page 21:


Issachar

/ˈɪ.səˌkɑː(ɹ)/

From Biblical Hebrew יִשָּׂשׁכָר (“Issachar”), a son of Jacob.


Simeon

From Middle English Simeon, from Latin Simeon, from Ancient Greek Σῠμεών (Sumeṓn), from Biblical Hebrew שִׁמְעוֹן (šimʿôn, “hearkening, listening”), originally referring to Simeon, a son of Jacob. Doublet of Simon.


Lenore

[…] sorrow for the lost Lenore — / For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore — / Nameless here for evermore.

1845 February, — Quarles [pseudonym; Edgar Allan Poe], “The Raven”, in The American Review, volume I, number II, New York, N.Y., London: Wiley & Putnam, […], →OCLC:

A female given name, variant of Eleanor.


Corinne

From the French equivalent of Corinna, from Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl, maiden, daughter”).


Gilead

"That's Gil's name: Gilead Bryan. I'd been assuming it was Gilbert." Nandina stopped stirring the soup and said, "Gilead. Like the song?"

2012, Anne Tyler, The Beginner's Goodbye, Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, pages 92–93:

A male given name from Hebrew in occasional use.


Claud

en-proper noun

Claud (countable and uncountable, plural Clauds)


Andre

A male given name from French, an anglicized form of André.


Dwayne

A male given name transferred from the surname, variant of Duane.


Devin

* As an Irish, English, and French surname, spelling variant of Devine. Also see Devon.
* Also as a French surname, from devin (“fortuneteller”).
* As a Russian surname, from дева (deva, “maiden”).

A male given name transferred from the surname, of modern usage, or a variant of Devon.


Duane

Anglicized form of the Irish name Dubhán, from dubh (“black, dark”).

A male given name transferred from the surname.


Corey

An English surname from Old Norse from the Old Norse given name Kóri, itself perhaps from Old Irish Cuire, from cuire (“troop, host, company”), from Proto-Celtic *koryos (“army, tribe”), from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“army”).

Miss Carroll's popularity doesn't end with her on-screen performances in the show which co-stars young Marc Copage as her precocious six-year-old son, Corey Baker, whose father Capt. Baker was killed in Vietnam.

1968 October 17, Jet, volume 35, number 2, page 61:

"I'm Millicent Banning and —" she pushed Corey forward "— this is my daughter Catherine, but we all call her Corey."

1996, Barbara Bretton, Guilty Pleasures, Mira Books, →ISBN, page 156:

(rare) A female given name transferred from the surname, variant of Cori.


Bryce

A male given name from the Celtic languages, variant of Brice.


Brice

A male given name from the Celtic languages, a variant of Bryce.

A male given name from the Celtic languages transferred from the surname.

A male given name from French transferred from the surname.


Dillon

From the Irish surname, from Breton Leon and Norman Léon, named after Sir Henry de Leon of the Viscounty of Léon. Related to the surname Lyon. Unrelated to the name Dylan, although the homophony may result in the two being considered variant spellings of the same name.


Collin

Collin (countable and uncountable, plural Collins)

A male given name from Ancient Greek, variant of Colin.


Dwight

Probably from a Middle English female name Diot, a pet form of Dionysia, the feminine form of Dionysius.

(chiefly US) A male given name transferred from the surname.


Claus

From Dutch and German Claus, a contraction of Nicolaus (“Nicholas”). The spelling Klaus is from more modern German Klaus and other Germanic languages.


Dominic

From Late Latin Dominicus, derived from Dominus (“Lord”).

A male given name from Latin, best known for the Spanish saint who founded the Dominican order.


septal

(archaeology, of a stone or slab) Separating compartments in a burial chamber.