The Name Scrolls

Air > Names

Here are records of a private passion of mine: the passion for first names. I collect them from around the world and I find very stimulating to discover their meanings and, sometimes, their stories. Read on if you are looking for name listings; if you are interested in their historical and sociological aspect, here is a series of articles I wrote about issues of names and naming.

You'll notice some letters of the alphabet are still missing: it takes a lot of time to type my research, and I do it in the rare moments that I can. In the listings I use a series of symbols and abbreviations explained further down the page.

Name lists and how to use them
In the following files, names are grouped according to language families. Close or overlapping tongues are grouped in the same document. Names are placed according to their origin, not their present use. For instance, Eleanor may be very English, but it comes from an Arabic expression and is therefore placed with Arabic names. For this reason, if you're looking for the meaning of a particular name, I highly recommend using the search box rather than going into the language you expect it to originate from. You can also use the search box to find names with a particular meaning (like names that mean "emerald"), or open the language of your choice and find the word within it using your browser's find-in-page command. Finally, you can simply browse the names.

Arabic, Turkish and Persian names
Names of Hebrew, Phoenician and Aramaic origin
Names of Greek origin
Names of Latin origin
Names of French origin
Names of Spanish, Basque and Portuguese origins
Names of Italian origin
Names of Germanic, Old English, Saxon origins
Names of Celtic, Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish origin
Scandinavian names
Slavic and East European names
Western names coined from or based on words
American Indian names
Hawaiian names
Japanese names
Chinese Names
Indian names (Hindi, Sanskrit, Tamil...)
Nigeria names (Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Benin)
Ghana names (Twi, Fante, Ewe, Akan)
Bantu names (Swahili, Zulu...)
Other names from Africa

(M), (F), (M, F) refer to the gender of the name (Male, Female, Both). If it's not specified, it means I don't know.

-> indicates derivatives from the header name. Sometimes I split this into Female and Male derivatives. Example:

Dorothy
-> Dotty

Antoine
-> M: Tonin
-> F: Antoinette, Toinette

= indicates equivalents of the header name in other parts of the world, with the countries or languages between brackets. Sometimes I split this into Female and Male equivalents too. Example:

Alphonse
= M: Alfonso, Alonzo, Alonso (sp), Alphonsus (irel)
= F: Alphonsine (fra), Alfonsa, Alonza (sp)

/ indicates alternate meanings. When a name's origins are unclear and several theories exist, I use this to mean "or". Sometimes however I use it in the header: for instance Jamil/Jamila, Aimé/Aimée. This means that the name came into existence as a Male/Female pair, unlike names where the Female version was derived from the Male later on. Arabic names among others are filled with such pairs, because adding an -a at the end of the adjective changes its gender.

Language and country abbreviations: (I made them as intuitive as possible)

ar: Arabic
celt: Celtic
corn: Cornish
den: Denmark
eng: English-speaking countries
est: Estonia, Estonian
fin: Finland
fr: French, France, French-speaking countries
fris: Friesian
gael: Gaelic
germ: Germanic, Germany
gr: Greek, Greece
heb: Hebrew
ir: Irish
irel: Ireland
isr: Israel
latv: Latvia
lith: Lithuania
ned: Netherlands
o.n.: Old Norse
norw: Norway
o.e: Old english
oz: Australia
pers: Persian (Farsi)
sans: Sanskrit
scot: Scottish, Scotland
slav: Slavic Language and Countries
sw: Sweden
switz: Switzerland
rus: Russian
turk: Turkish, Turkey
US: American, USA
wel: Welsh

Feel free to contribute names to my collection. I'd be greatful for anything you can send me, especially non-Western names.
Finally, please drop by the Unidentified page if you like this idea. It contains lists of names, arranged by country, on which I have no information. I would love to see these lists shrinks!

Name links
. IrishGen.com: A Dublin based Irish Genealogy company who have recently launched a website dedicated to Irish genealogy.

. Irish Genealogy Centre: Specialist genealogical and historical research company, providing a range of services to those researching Irish ancestry.

. Joyce van der Ent's names site: Site in Dutch!

. Your Irish Roots: Irish Genealogy, Irish Surname & Irish Coat of Arms (Irish Genealogy research- Irish surname history and Irish Coat of Arms,Ancestor Reports, plus information on tracing your Irish Ancestors)

. Tamil Baby Names

. Ayperi's Book of Names has an incredible number of names, categorized by meaning.

. Calendrier des fêtes: un prénom pour la vie

. Can You Suggest A Chinese Name?

. India Baby Names