Gender: Masculine
Origin: Old English
Meaning: “Blessed spear.”
Pronunciation: (ED-gahr)
Nicknames: Ed, Eddy
Detail: Derived from the Old English elements ead “rich, blessed” and gar “spear”.
This was the name of a 10th-century English king who is regarded as a saint.
Famous bearers include author and poet Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “The highest.”
Pronunciation: (soh-PRAT-uh)
Nicknames: So, Sopi, Sopa,
Possibly derived from the Latin supra meaning “high”.
Little is known of Soprata and her sister Eustolia, however they were revered as saints since the 7th century.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “Good harvest.”
Pronunciation: (yoo-STOH-lee-uh)
Nicknames: Euli, Eulia, Eusie, Sto, Stolie, Story, Lottie, Lia
From the Greek name Eustachys meaning “good harvest”. Male version is Eustolios. This is related to the name Eustace.
Little is known of Eustolia and her sister Soprata, however they were revered as saints since the 7th century.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “Hospitality.”
Pronunciation: (ahks-AH-nah)
Nicknames: Ox, Oxi, Oka, Xana, Xani
Ukrainian form of the Greek Xenia, meaning “hospitality “.
Xenia was a 5th century saint.
Female Variations:
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Norse
Meaning: “Holy, blessed.”
Pronunciation: (OL-gah); (AWL-gah)
Nicknames: Oli, Ola, Olgi, Olya
Details: Russian form of Helga. From the from Old Norse name Helgi, derived from heilagr meaning “holy, blessed”.
The 10th-century Saint Olga was the wife of Igor I.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “Little bear.”
Pronunciation: (UR-suh-lah)
Nicknames: Ursa, Sula, Ulla
Deatail: Saint Ursula is a Chistian saint.
In Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, Ursula is a waiting-gentlewoman attendant on Leonato’s daughter, Hero.
In the Harry Potter series, Ursula Black is the wife of Phineas Nigellus Black, a former Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “Religious.”
Pronunciation: (soh-LEHM-nee-ah)
Nicknames: Sol, Solle, Soli, Sola, Soleil (soh-LAY, French for “sun”)
Detail: Derived from the Latin sollemnis “religious”.
This was the name of a French shepherdess who became a saint after she was killed by her master.
Variations:
Gender: Masculine
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “Able to survive.”
Pronunciation: (ZOH-suh-muhs) Listen
Nicknames: Zo, Zosi
Detail: A Greek name derived from zosimos meaning “viable” or “likely to survive”.
This was the name of several early saints and a pope.
Male Variations:
Female Variations:
Gender: Masculine
Origin: Italian
Meaning: “One from Ephesus.”
Pronunciation: (eh-FEE-zee-oh); (eh-FEE-zhoh)
Nicknames: Fiso, Efo
Detail: From the Latin byname Ephesius, which originally belonged to a person who was from the city of Ephesus, in Ionia.
This was the name of a saint martyred on Sardinia in the 4th century
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “Honor.”
Pronunciation: (ON-er)
Nicknames: Nonie, Noor, Nora, Nori
From the Latin Honorius which meant “honor”.
Names of several saints, Honorina and Honorius.
Female Variations:
Male Variations:
Gender: Masculine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “Greatest.”
Pronunciation: (MAKS-ih-muss)
Nicknames: Max, Maxime, Maxus
Detail: From the Roman byname derived from the Latin maximus, “greatest”.
This was the name of a 7th century monk and theologian from Constantinople, Saint Maximus.
Male Variations:
Female Variations:
Heading East by sagetopaz
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Gaulish
Meaning: “Horse Goddess.”
Pronunciation: (EP-oh-neen)
Nicknames: Eppie, Poe, Poni, Nina
Detail: The name Epona, “Horse Goddess” is from the Gaulish language; it is derived from the inferred proto-Celtic ekwos ‘horse’ (Compare Latin equus)
In Gallo-Roman religion, Epona was a protector of horses, donkeys, and mules.
Variations:
Gender: Masculine
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “Rich of corn, fruitful; steadfast.”
Pronunciation: (YOO-stus)
Nicknames: Euso, Eui, Eusie
Detail: Saint Eustace was a 2nd-century martyr, a Roman general who became a Christian after seeing a vision of a cross between the antlers of a stag he was hunting. He was burned to death for refusing to worship the Roman gods and is now regarded as the patron saint of hunters. Due to him, this name was common in England during the Middle Ages, though it is presently rare.
Feminine form is Eustacia (yoo-STAY-shah).
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “Voyager, traveller.”
Pronunciation: (VEE-ah-triks); (VAHY-ah-triks)
Nicknames: Vi, Via
Detail: Earlier form of Beatrix.
Viatrix is a feminine form of the Late Latin name Viator (VAHY-ah-tor) which meant “voyager, traveller”.
Viatrix or Beatrix was a 4th-century saint who was strangled to death during the persecutions of Diocletian.
Gender: Masculine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “Falcon.”
Pronunciation: (FAL-koh)
Nicknames: Fal
Detail: Saint Falco of Maastricht, bishop of Maastricht at the turn of the 6th century.
In the Harry Potter series Falco Aesalon was an Ancient Greek wizard, first known Animagus.
Gender: Masculine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “Ancestral.”
Pronunciation: (ah-VEE-tus)
Nicknames: Avo, Vito
Detail: From a Roman family name which meant “ancestral” in Latin. This was the name of an emperor who briefly reigned over the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century.
It was also the name of several saints, including a 6th-century bishop of Vienne.
Gender: Masculine; Feminine
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “Earth worker.”
Pronunciation: (JORJ); (JOR-juh)
Nicknames: Georgie, Gia, Gee
Detail: This state was named in honor of King George II of England.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “to speak well.”
Pronunciation: (yoo-FEE-mee-uh) Euphemia
Nicknames: Effy, Effie, Ephie, Euphie, Phemi
Detail: Derived from Greek eu “good” and phemi “to speak”.
Saint Euphemia was an early martyred virgin of Chalcedon. The traditions surrounding her death state that she was tortured and then slain by a wild bear because she refused to attend a pagan ceremony.
Gender: Feminine
Origin: Greek
Meaning: “Eloquent; well-spoken.”
Pronunciation: (yoo-LAY-lee-uh)
Nicknames: Eula, Eulie, Lali
Detail: Eulalie is the French feminine form of Latin Eulalius, meaning “well-spoken.”
“Eulalie” is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe. The poem is a bridal song about a man who overcomes his sadness by marrying the beautiful Eulalie. The woman’s love has a transformative effect on the narrator, taking him from a “world of moan” to one of happiness.
Variations:
The short forms:
Gender: Masculine
Origin: Latin
Meaning: “Man from Laurentum.”
Pronunciation: (loh-REN-zoh)
Nicknames: Lozo, Enzo, Renzo, Lenzo
Detail: Italian and Spanish form of Laurentius, which meant “from Laurentum”, its name probably deriving from Latin laurus “laurel”.
Saint Laurence was a 3rd-century deacon and martyr from Rome.
In the Middle Ages this name was common in England (in a variety of spellings), partly because of a second saint by this name, a 7th-century archbishop of Canterbury.
The Character of Names 