The Os of Estonian names

Female:

Õie means “flower.” In Estonian, Õ is its own separate letter, not just an O with a tilde.

Oktjabrina is borrowed from the Russian name Oktyabrina, which was most popular in the early decades of the the USSR. It means “October.”

Oksana is borrowed from Ukrainian. It’s a form of Xenia (hospitality). In 2019, it was Estonia’s 74th most popular female name.

Olesja is borrowed from the Ukrainian name Olesya, which is a diminutive of Oleksandra (defending humanity). This name is fairly popular in Estonia.

Õnne means “happiness; luck.” The longer form is Õnnela. The male Finnish form is Onni.

Õnneleid means “good luck.”

Male:

Odart is an archaic name borrowed from Old High German and Old Saxon, meaning “strong riches/wealth.”

Oleg is adopted from Russian, and ultimately derives from Old Norse name Helgi (blessed; holy). In 2018, this was Estonia’s 15th most popular male name.

Õnnepäev means “day of luck.”

Oskar is borrowed from German and the Scandinavian languages. It may mean “deer friend” or “God’s spear.”

Osvald is borrowed from the Scandinavian languages, and means “God’s power.”

Ott may be an Estonian form of Otto (fortune; wealth), or taken from an Old Estonian word meaning “bear.”

Happy Halloween!—Orange names

Happy Halloween! Here’s a list of names whose meanings relate to the word “orange” (the colour). In some languages, the word for the fruit and colour are identical, while in others they’re different. As always, some of these names might sound much better on pets, stuffed animals, dolls, or fictional characters. I obviously wouldn’t recommend using some of these word names on real people in countries where that language is spoken.

Alani is Hawaiian, and refers to the colour, fruit, and flower.

Arancia is Italian.

Aranciu is Corsican.

Kamala is Bengali.

Karaka is Maori.

Kesari is Marathi.

Lalanje is Nyanja, a Bantu language primarily spoken in Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Laranja is Basque and Portuguese.

Laranxa is Galician.

Namunu is Southern Sotho.

Naranja is Spanish.

Narıncı is Azeri.

Narinja is Telugu.

Oren is Malaysian and Welsh. This has a completely different etymology from the Hebrew name meaning “pine tree.”

Orenji is Japanese. I’m 99% sure this is a very modern, unusual name inspired by the English word, not a historic, native Japanese name.

Porteqalî is Kurdish.

Portokalea, or Portokali, is Greek.

Portokhali is Georgian.

Santara is Hindi.

Satara is Punjabi.

Sienna is a modern English name meaning “orange-red,” derived from the Italian city Siena. The city’s clay is sienna in colour.

Suntala is Nepali.

Taronja is Catalan.

Male names of literary origin, N–Z

American aviation pioneer Orville Wright, 1871–1948

Nemo means “nobody” in Latin. Jules Verne created it for the captain of Nautilus in his 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

Nerle is a character in L. Frank Baum’s 1903 novel The Enchanted Island of Yew. It may be based on Merle, a variant of Merrill or Muriel (“pleasant hill” or “bright sea”).

Oberon is the King of the Fairies in Shakespeare’s 1595 play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It’s based on Norman French name Auberon, which in turn derives from Ancient Germanic Alberich (elf power).

Orville was coined by 18th century writer Fanny Burney, who may have meant it to mean “golden city” in French.

Othello may be a diminutive of Italian name Otho, of unknown etymology. Shakespeare famously used it as the title character of his 1603 tragedy.

Pantagruel is one of the title characters of 16th century French writer François Rabelais’s The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel series. It derives from Greek pantes (all) and Hagarene gruel (thirsty). Pantagruel was born during a great drought. Rabelais invented hundreds of new words in these novels, based on Ancient Greek. Some of them became part of the French language.

Percival was created by 12th century French poet Chrétien de Troyes for Perceval, the Story of the Grail, which follows a Knight of the Round Table. It was probably based on Welsh name Peredur, which may mean “hard spears.” The spelling was possibly changed to resemble Old French percer val (to pierce the valley).

Pirkka was created by Finnish poet Eino Leino for “Orjan Poka.“ It derives from pirkkalaiset (a Medieval Finnish group who controlled taxation in Lapland).

Radames is a character in the 1871 opera Aida. Since it’s set in Ancient Egypt, librettist Antonio Ghislanzoni may have included the element Ra (Sun) to sound plausibly Egyptian.

Radúz is a rare Czech name which was created by writer Julius Zeyer for his 1898 play Radúz and Mahulena. It derives from rád (glad, happy).

Ruslan is Russian, Chechen, Ingush, Avar, Tatar, Circassian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Bashkir, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Uzbek, Armenian, and Ossetian. It was used by great Russian poet Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin for his 1820 work Ruslan and Lyudmila, based on the name of Tatar and Russian folk hero Yeruslan Lazarevich. Its ultimate origin is Tatar name Uruslan, possibly from Turkic arslan (lion).

1887 illustration of Ruslan and Lyudmila

Saridan is a king in the 12th century Georgian epic poem The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, by Shota Rustaveli. It’s unclear which Persian root he based it off of, but possible candidates include srudan (to sing, to recite) and srayidan (to protect). Unlike many other names in the poem, Saridan has never been very common.

Sémaphore means “semaphore” (a visual signalling system) in French, ultimately derived from Ancient Greek roots sema (sign, token, mark) and phero (to carry, to bear). Thus, it roughly means “sign-bearer.” This is the name of a character in Franco–Belgian comic Cubitus. Sémaphore owns canine protagonist Cubitus.

Siyavash is a prince in 11th century Persian epic The Shahnameh. The name means “possessing black stallions” in Avestan.

Tuovi (a unisex name) was invented by Finnish writer Yrjö Sakari Yrjö-Koskinen for his 1859 novel Pohjan-Piltti. It derives from village Tuovila (village of Tove).

Urizen was created by English poet William Blake for the personification of conventional reason and law. It’s a play on “your reason,” and possibly also derived from Greek horizein (horizon).

Vahur means “brave” in Estonian. The name was invented by writer Edward Börnhohe for his 1880 novel Tasuja. I have a character by this name.

Vambola is the title character of a novel by Estonian writer Andres Saal. It may be derived from Varbola Castle or the Old Estonian word vambas (mace).

Siyavash, Copyright Aryzad at Wiki Commons

Winnetou is an Apache chief in several of German novelist Karl May’s books. It may mean “burning water.”

Ylermi is another name created by Eino Leino, for the protagonist of his poem Helkavirsiä I.

Yorick is derived from Danish and Norwegian nickname Jørg (i.e., George). Shakespeare used it for a dead court jester in Hamlet (1600).

Yvain is another creation of Chrétien de Troyes, based on Welsh name Owain (possibly a form of Eugene, “well-born”).

Zalán was created by Hungarian writer Mihály Vörösmarty for his 1823 epic Zalán Futása. The name may come from Hungary’s Zala region, which in turn takes its name from the Zala River.

Zorro means “fox” in Spanish, and became famous as the name of a character created by Johnston McCulley.

Female names of literary origin, N-Z

U.S. actor Norma Shearer, 1902–1983

Nélida was created by French writer Marie d’Agoult for her semi-autobiographical 1846 novel of the same name, which she wrote under the pseudonym Daniel Stern. It’s probably an anagram of the pen name Daniel.

Nestan-Darejan was created by great Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli for the famous 12th century national epic The Knight in the Panther’s Skin (lit. One with the Skin of a Tiger). He coined it from Persian phrase nist andar jahan, “unlike any other in the world.” Nestan-Darejan is a princess.

Norma is the protagonist of Italian writer Felice Romani’s 1831 opera of the same name, possibly based on Latin norma (rule). It may also have been intended as a feminine form of Ancient Germanic name Norman (northman; i.e., Viking).

Nydia is a blind flower seller in British writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1834 novel The Last Days of Pompeii, which was later made into an Italian silent film. It may be based on Latin nidus (nest).

Ophelia as depicted inThe girlhood of Shakespeare’s heroines in a series of tales, 1881

Ophelia was probably created by 15th century Italian poet Jacopo Sannazaro for a character in his poem Arcadia, then later used by Shakespeare in 1600’s Hamlet. It derives from Greek ophelos (help).

Ornella was created by Italian writer Gabriele d’Annunzio for the 1904 novel La Figlia di Jorio (The Daughter of Jorio), derived from Tuscan ornello (flowering ash tree).

Pamela was created by English poet Sir Philip Sydney for the 16th century long pastoral romance poem The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, possibly intended to mean “all sweetness,” from Greek pan (all) and meli (honey). This name exploded in popularity during the 1940s and stayed on the U.S. Top 100 till 1976.

Perdita was created by Shakespeare for his 1610 play A Winter’s Tale, from Latin perditus (lost).

Pippi was created by Karin Lindgren, daughter of Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, for the title character of the Pippi Longstocking series. The first book was published in 1945. Her full name is Pippilotta.

Ronja was created by Astrid Lindgren for Ronja the Robber’s Daughter (1981), derived from Juronjaure, a Swedish lake.

Sandra was introduced to the Anglophone world by English writer George Meredith, who used it on the protagonist of his 1864 novel Emilia in England, reissued in 1887 as Sandra Belloni.

Scarlett, from a surname originally bestowed upon sellers or makers of scarlet cloth, possibly derives from Persian saghrilat. Just about everyone knows Scarlett came to attention as a forename thanks to the protagonist of Margaret Mitchell’s historical saga Gone with the Wind (1936).

Stella means “star” in Latin. This name was created by Sir Philip Sidney for the protagonist of his 1580s sonnet collection Astrophel and Stella.

Tímea was created by Hungarian writer Mór Jókai for his 1873 novel The Golden Man, probably derived from Greek euthymia (good spirits, cheerfulness).

Tinatin was created by aforementioned Georgian poet Shota Rustaveli for The Knight in the Panther’s Skin, possibly derived from Georgian word sinatle (light). Tinatin is the Queen of Arabia, and inherits the throne as the sole child of King Rostevan.

Titania was possibly created by Shakespeare for his 1595 play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, in which Titania is Queen of the Fairies. It may derive from Latin name Titanius (of the Titans).

Tünde was created by Hungarian writer Mihály Vörösmarty for his 1830 play Csongor és Tünde, derived from tündér (fairy).

Undine was created by Medieval writer Paracelsus, derived from Latin unda (wave). He used it to refer to female water spirits.

Detail of The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania, Joseph Noel Patton, 1849

Valmai means “like May” in Welsh. It was created by Welsh writer Allen Raine for her 1899 romance novel By Berwen Banks. Allen Raine was the understandable pseudonym of Anne Adalisa Beynon Puddicombe.

Vanessa was created by British writer Jonathan Swift for his 1726 poem Cadenus and Vanessa, derived from rearranging the first syllables of the name of his friend Esther Vanhomrigh.

Veslemøy means “little girl” in Norwegian. It was created by writer Arne Garborg for the title character of his 1895 poem Haugtussa.

Viviette was created by British writer William John Locke for the title character of his 1910 novel. It’s a diminutive of Vivienne (alive).

Wendy was created by Scottish writer J.M. Barrie for his famous 1904 play Peter Pan, derived from his nickname Fwendy (i.e., Friend). Prior to Peter Pan, it was rarely used as a possible nickname for Welsh names starting with Gwen (blessed, fair, white).

Zerbinette was created by French writer Molière for his 1671 play Les Fourberies de Scapin (The Deceits of Scapin).

Birth order names

I’ve always loved birth order names like Quintina and Octavia, though most people no longer have such large families, nor do they use birth order names very often in most cultures. For whatever reason, Quint- names seem the most common.

Unless otherwise noted, names ending in A and E are feminine; names ending in O, U, and consonants are masculine. U means “unisex.”

First:

Abaka means “firstborn” in Akan.

Adi (M) is Indonesian.

Baako (U) means “firstborn child” in Akan.

Berko means “firstborn” in Akan.

Eka (U) means “first, one” in Indonesian.

Ensio is Finnish.

İlkın is Azeri and Turkish.

Mosi (M) is Swahili.

Parvan is Bulgarian.

Prim is Russian, Bulgarian, and Macedonian.

Prima is Italian and Latin.

Primiano is Italian and Spanish.

Primien is French.

Primo is Italian.

Primož is Slovenian.

Primula means “very first” in Latin.

Primus is Latin.

Proteus is Greek.

Una is Latin. I love this name for an only child.

Second:

Duri (U) means “two” in Korean.

Dwi (U) means “two, second” in Indonesian.

Secunda/Secundus is Latin.

Segunda/Segundo is Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician.

Third:

Fereydoun is Persian.

Kunto (F) means “third child” in Akan. For obvious reasons, I would NOT recommend this in an Anglophone country!

Tercera/Tercero is Spanish.

Tércia/Tércio is Portuguese.

Tertia/Tertius is Latin.

Terza/Terzo is Italian.

Tri (U) means “three, third” in Indonesian.

Fourth:

Anan (U) means “fourth-born child” in Akan.

Catur means “fourth child” in Indonesian.

Raabi’a is Arabic.

Pompey is Latin, probably derived from a Sabellic word meaning “four.”

Quadrado is Portuguese.

Quadrat is French.

Quadrato is Italian.

Quadressa may very well be my own invention!

Quarta is Latin.

Quartilla is Latin.

Quartino is Italian.

Quarto is Italian.

Quartus is Latin.

Fifth:

Enu (U) means “fifth-born child” in Akan.

Quentin is English and French.

Quincia is Spanish and English. The alternate form Quincià is Catalan.

Quinciana/Quinciano is Spanish.

Quincio is Spanish. The alternate form Quíncio is Portuguese.

Quinta is Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, Dutch, and English.

Quintana is English.

Quintavia might be my own invention too!

Quintessa is English.

Quintí (M) is Catalan.

Quintia is Latin and Dutch.

Quintiaan is Dutch.

Quintian is German and English.

Quintien/Quintienne is French.

Quintil is Occitan, French, and Catalan.

Quintila/Quintilo is Spanish and Portuguese.

Quintilio is Spanish and Italian.

Quintilla is Italian, English, Dutch, Afrikaans, and Latin.

Quintillia is English.

Quintillo is Italian.

Quintillu is Sardinian.

Quintijn is Dutch.

Quintina is Latin and English.

Quintinien is French.

Quintinu is Corsican.

Quinto is Italian.

Quintu is Corsican and Sicilian.

Quintus is Latin.

Quinzia/Quinzio is Italian.

Sixth:

Nsia (U) means “sixth-born child” in Akan.

Sesta/Sesto is Italian.

Sextus/Sixta is Latin.

Sixte (M) is French.

Sixtina is Latin, German, Dutch, and Latin American–Spanish.

Sixtine is French.

Sixto is Spanish.

Sixtus is Latin, though it’s truly derived from the Greek name Xystos (polished, scraped). It’s additionally considered to mean “sixth” because it was borne by the sixth pope after St. Peter.

Seventh:

Nsonowa (U) means “seventh-born child” in Akan.

Septima is Latin. The rare alternate form Septíma is Icelandic.

Septime is French.

Septimia is Romanian.

Septimio is Spanish and Portuguese.

Septimus is Latin.

Settima/Settimo is Italian.

Eighth:

Awotwi (U) means “eighth-born child” in Akan.

Octaaf is Dutch and Flemish.

Octave (M) is French.

Octavi (M) is Catalan.

Octavia is Latin, Spanish, and English. The alternate form Octávia is Portuguese, and Octàvia is Catalan and Occitan. I adore this name!

Octavian is Romanian.

Octaviana is Latin and Spanish.

Octaviano is Spanish.

Octavianus is Latin.

Octavie is French and Luxembourgish.

Octavien/Octavienne is French.

Octavio is Spanish. The alternate form Octávio is Portuguese.

Octavius is Latin.

Oktáv is Hungarian.

Oktavia is German. The alternate form Oktávia is Hungarian, and Oktavía is Icelandic.

Oktávián is Hungarian.

Oktavianas is Lithuanian.

Oktavijan is Croatian.

Oktavije is Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian.

Oktavijus is Lithuanian.

Oktavíus is Icelandic.

Oktaviy is Russian, Bulgarian, and Ukrainian.

Oktaviya is Russian, Bulgarian, and Ukrainian.

Oktawia/Oktawius is Polish.

Otávia/Otávio is Brazilian–Portuguese.

Ottavia, Ottaviana, Ottaviano, and Ottavio are Italian.

Ninth:

Nkruma (U) means “ninth-born child” in Akan.

Nona is Latin and English.

Nonius/Nonia is Latin.

Noniana/Noniano is Italian.

Nonio is Spanish and Italian.

Nonus is Latin.

Novena is Spanish.

Nuno is Portuguese and Spanish. The alternate form Nuño is Medieval Spanish.

Tenth:

Decia is Italian.

Decima is Latin. If you’re wondering, the word “decimate” indeed comes from the Latin word for “ten.” When Romans killed their enemies, they put them in a line and beheaded every tenth one.

Decimo is Italian. The alternate form Décimo is Spanish and Portuguese.

Decimus is Latin.

Décio is Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.

Eleventh:

Dubaku (U) means “eleventh-born child” in Akan.

Duku (U) means “eleventh-born” in Akan.

Miscellaneous:

Achan means “female child in the first pair of twins” in Dinka.

Afafa means “the first child of the second husband” in Ewe.

Aino (F) means “the only one” in Finnish.

Akpan means “firstborn son” in Ibibio.

Alaba means “second child after twins” in Yoruba.

Babirye (F) means “first of twins” in Luganda.

Buyon is the traditional Batonu name for a fourth-born daughter.

Gorou means “five son” in Japanese, traditionally given to fifth sons.

Hachirou means “eight son” in Japanese, traditionally given to eighth sons.

Ichirou means “one son” in Japanese, traditionally given to firstborn sons.

Isingoma (M) means “first of twins” in Luganda.

Jirou means “two son” in Japanese, traditionally given to secondborn sons.

Juurou means “ten son” in Japanese, traditionally given to tenth sons.

Kato (M) means “second of twins” in Luganda.

Kurou means “nine son” in Japanese, traditionally given to ninth sons.

Nakato (M) means “second of twins” in Luganda.

Prvul means “firstborn son” in Vlach.

Rokurou means “six son” in Japanese, traditionally given to sixth sons.

Saburo means “three son” in Japanese, traditionally given to third sons.

Shirou means “four son” in Japanese, traditionally given to fourth sons.

Wasswa (M) means “first of twins” in Luganda.

Winona means “firstborn daughter” in Dakota.

Xwm (SIM) means “second son” in Hmong.