Various Names

These names do not "belong" to any one culture. They are put here because they cannot be categorized anywhere else.
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ALLEGRIA f Various
Means "cheerfulness, joy" in Italian.
ALTA f Various
Possibly from Latin altus or Italian/Spanish alto meaning "high".
From the name of the amaranth flower, which is derived from Greek αμαραντος (amarantos) meaning "unfading". Αμαραντος (Amarantos) was also an Ancient Greek given name.
ANOUSKA f Various
Variant of ANNUSHKA.
APHRA f Various
Meaning uncertain; possibly a variant of AFRA (1), or possibly a variant of Aphrah, a biblical place name meaning "dust". This name was born by the English writer Aphra Behn (1640-1689).
ARCADIA f Various
Feminine form of ARCADIUS. This is the name of a region on the Greek Peloponnese, long idealized for its natural beauty.
ASHANTI f & m Various
AYN f Various
This name was assumed by Ayn Rand (1905-1982), originally named Alice Rosenbaum, a Russian-American writer and philosopher. She apparently based it on a Finnish name she had heard, but never seen written.
BERLIN f Various
From the name of the city in Germany, which is of uncertain meaning.
BIJOU f Various
Means "jewel" in French.
CAMBRIA f Various
CAPRINA f Various
From the name of the Italian island of Capri.
CARAMIA f Various
From the Italian phrase cara mia meaning "my beloved".
CHARITA f Various
Latinate form of CHARITY.
CIEL f & m Various
COCO f Various
In the case of American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice it is derived from the Italian musical term con dolcezza meaning "with sweetness".
DAGNEY f Various
Variant of DAGNY.
DEJA f Various
Means "already" from the French phrase deja vu meaning "already seen".
DIAMANDA f Various
Variant of DIAMOND.
EDSEL m Various
ELIÁN m Various
ELIDI f Various
ELYSIA f Various
FERRER m Various
FIRENZE f Various
From the name of an Italian city, commonly called Florence in English.
GENEVRA f Various
Variant of GINEVRA.
GENISTA f Various
From the Latin name of the broom plant.
From a biblical place name, the garden where Jesus was arrested, located on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem. It is derived from Γεθσημανι (Gethsemani), the Greek form of an Aramaic name meaning "oil vat". It is very rarely used as a given name.
GORETTI f Various
From the surname of Maria Goretti, a 20th-century Italian saint who forgave her murderer on her deathbed. Her surname was derived from the given name GREGORIO.
HALCYON f Various
From the name of a genus of kingfisher birds, derived from Greek αλκυων (from the same source as ALCYONE).
HERK m Various
Short form of HERCULES.
IANTHA f Various
Variant of IANTHE.
IOLANTHE f Various
JEUNESSE f Various
Means "youth" in French. It is not used as a given name in France itself.
JUNÍPERO m Various
This was the name assumed by the 18th-century Spanish Franciscan monk Miguel José Serra, a missionary to California. He named himself after one of Saint Francis's companions, who was named from Latin iuniperus "juniper".
KAISER m Various
German form of the Roman title Caesar (see CAESAR). It is not used as a given name in Germany itself.
KOBE (2) m Various
KOHINOOR f Various
From Koh-i-noor, the name of a famous gemstone, meaning "mountain of light" in Persian.
LUX f & m Various
Derived from Latin lux meaning "light".
MÄDCHEN f Various
MELIORA f Various
Derived from Latin melior meaning "better".
MELITA f Various
In the case of Queen Victoria's granddaughter Princess Victoria Melita (1876-1936) it was derived from Melita, the Latin name of the island country of Malta, where she was born.
MONET f & m Various
From a French surname that was derived from either HAMON or EDMOND. This was the surname of the French impressionist painter Claude Monet (1840-1926).
NEO (2) m Various
NUBIA f Various
NYALA f Various
NYSSA f Various
ODESSA f Various
From the name of a Ukrainian city that sits on the north coast of the Black Sea. This name can also be used as a feminine form of ODYSSEUS.
OMEGA m & f Various
OPRAH f Various
In the case of television personality Oprah Winfrey, it was a childhood mispronunciation of her real name ORPAH that became permanent.
OUIDA f Various
PARIS (2) f Various
From the name of the capital city of France, which got its name from the ancient Celtic tribe known as the Parisii.
RIO (1) m Various
Means "river" in Spanish or Portuguese. A city in Brazil bears this name. Its full name is Rio de Janeiro, which means "river of January", so named because the first explorers came to the harbour in January and mistakenly thought it was a river mouth.
ROMA (2) f Various
From the name of the Italian city, commonly called Rome in English.
SARAVA m Various
From a phrase used by members of the Candomblé religion (an African religion that was taken to Brazil by African slaves), which means "good luck".
SHEKINAH f Various
From the Hebrew word שׁכִינה (shekhinah) meaning "God's manifested glory" or "God's presence". This word does not appear in the Bible, but later Jewish scholars used it to refer to the dwelling place of God, especially the Temple in Jerusalem.
SOLEIL f Various
SYLVANA f Various
Variant of SILVANA.
Latinized form of Tielo (see TILO). A famous bearer was jazz musician Thelonious Monk (1917-1982).
TIERRA f Various
Means "earth" in Spanish.
TIVOLI m & f Various
VALENCIA f Various
From the name of cities in Spain and Venezuela, both derived from Latin valentia meaning "strength, vigour".
VALKYRIE f Various
Means "chooser of the slain", derived from Old Norse valr "the slain" and kyrja "chooser". In Norse myth the Valkyries were maidens who led heroes killed in battle to Valhalla.
VERONA f Various
From the name of the city in Italy, which is itself of unknown meaning.
ZONA f Various
Means "girdle, belt" in Greek. This name was made popular by the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and poet Zona Gale.