Beauty

Beauty comes from an English word referring to someone or something that is attractive or pleasing to look at. It comes from Anglo-Norman beauté (beauty) via Latin bellus (beautiful, pretty, handsome; pleasant, agreeable, charming) via duenos/duonos (good) which is the diminutive of *dew- (to show favor, revere). In some versions of the fairytale “Beauty and the Beast”, the character Belle (which is…

Homer

Homer comes from a Greek name meaning “hostage, pledge” which seems to be derived from Ancient Greek homeros, however it’s also possible that the name means “blind” in some dialects, or at least was used to denote a blind person. Homer is the name of an Ancient Greek poet who is supposed to be the author of…

Isaura

Isaura is a Spanish and Portuguese female name which comes from Late Latin meaning “from Isauria”, a region in Asia Minor that gets its name from the Isaurian tribe, who seemed to be a very fierce and warlike people. Origin: Late Latin Variants: Isaure (French) Isauria (Latin)   Male forms: Isaurus (Latin) Isauro (Spanish)  

Pierre

Pierre is the French form of Peter, the English form of Ancient Greek Petros meaning “stone, rock” derived from an unknown source, perhaps pre-Greek in origin. Pierre is also a surname originating from the given name. Origin: Ancient Greek Male forms: Peter (English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Slovene, Slovak) Petros (Greek, Armenian) Petrus (German, Dutch) Pieter (Dutch) Pier…

Azucena

Azucena is a Spanish female given name meaning “lily” or “Madonna lily”. The origin of the word seems to derive from Arabic sawsan سُوسَن meaning “lily” (making it a cognate of Hebrew shoshan from which the name Susannah/Susan derives from) which is ultimately derived from Egyptian sšn (lotus). Azucena is also a surname originating from the given name. Lirio is also another word for…

Soren

Soren is an anglicized spelling of Søren (Danish, Norwegian) or Sören(Swedish, German), the Scandinavian form of Severinus, an Ancient Roman cognomen, a derivative of Severus meaning “stern, serious, grave”, which comes from the Latin word severus, a word of uncertain origin though linked to PIE root *seǵʰ-(to hold; to overpower). Severus likely originated as a…

Greta

Greta is a female given name, originating as a nickname for Margareta, a variant of Margaret which comes from Ancient Greek margarítēs meaning “pearl” ultimately derived from Sanskrit manyari.  Origin: Sanskrit Variants: Gretta (English) Grete (German, Norwegian, Danish) Gretchen (English, German) Gretel (German diminutive of Grete)  

Reynard

Reynard is the English form of Germanic Reginhard meaning “brave counsel” from ragin (advice, counsel) and hard (brave, hardy). Reynard features heavily in medieval English, French, Dutch, and German fables as an anthropomorphic red fox who is a trickster figure. Because of the popularity of Reynard the fox, renard became a word in French meaning “fox”. Reynard is also an English and French surname originating…

Giselle

Giselle is a French female given name which comes from Germanic word gisil meaning “hostage” or “pledge”, possibly originating as a nickname for a royal child pledged to a foreign court. Origin: Proto-Indo-European Variants: Gisella (Italian) Gisela (Spanish, Portuguese) Gisèle (Grench) Gizella Ghislaine (French) Ghyslaine (French) Gisila (Ancient Germanic) Male forms: Ghislain (French) Ghyslain (French) Gislin…

Dae

Dae is a Korean name element used in conjunction with another name element and only used for men. It’s used as a prefix meaning “great, big, vast, large” written with the Korean Hangul 대 (大). Baekdudaegan or Baekdu Daegan is the name of a mountain range that runs through the Korean peninsula meaning “white-head great-ridge”. Dae could also be a variant…

Arcadie

Arcadie is the French form of Arcadia, the feminine form of Arcadius which is the Latinized form of Arkadios meaning “of Arcadia”, referring to someone who came from a region in Greece called Arcadia and came to represent the idea of an unspoiled, pastoral wilderness. It seems to derive its name from Ancient Greek arktos meaning “bear” derived from a PIE root ….

Damir

Damir is a Slavic male name made up of Slavic elements dan (given) and miru (peace; world) essentially meaning “to give peace”. It’s also possible that Damir is a variant form of Demir, a Turkish male name meaning “iron”. Origin: Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Turkic Variants: Demir (Bosnian, Turkish) Timur (Tatar, Chechen, Kazakh, Uzbek, Russian) Temir (Kazakh) Timour Temur (Georgian) Temuri (Georgian)…

Kyra

Kyra is a female given name with several possible meanings depending on where it derives from. It could be a variant spelling of Kira, which is a variant spelling of Irish Ciara, the feminine form of Ciar meaning “black, dark” derived from a PIE root word; Kira is also the Russian feminine form of Cyrus, the Latinized form of Ancient Greek Kyros,…

Amadeus

Amadeus comes from Latin meaning “love of God” or “to love God” made up from amare (love, like) and deus (God, deity) both of which derive from a PIE source. Origin: Proto-Indo-European Variants: Amédée (French) Amedeo (Italian) Amadeo (Italian) Amadej (Slovene)   Female forms: Amadea (Late Roman, Italian, German) Amadia (Italian)