Snejana

Gender: Feminine

Origin: Slavic

Meaning: “Snowy.”

Pronunciation: (sney-ZHAH-nah)

Nicknames: Sne, Snea, Jana

Detail: Derived from the Slavic word snežan meaning “snowy”.

Variations:

• Snezana
• Snezhana
• Snjezana

Vlada

Gender: Feminine

Origin: Slavic

Meaning: “Rule.”

Pronunciation: (VLAH-duh)

Details: Old short form of Slavic names beginning with the element volod meaning “rule”.

Vlad Dracula, a 15th-century prince of Wallachia, was Bram Stoker’s inspiration for the name of his vampire, Count Dracula.

Nimue

Gender: Feminine

Origin: Welsh

Pronunciation: (NIM-oo-ay)

Nicknames: Nim, Moon

Detail: A moon goddess who was sometimes called Lady of the Lake. The Lady of the Lake is usually referred to by various spellings of the names Nimue or Vivienne.

Nimue is thought to be related to Mneme, the shortened form of Mnemosyne, one of the nine water-nymph Muses of Roman and Greek Mythology who gave weapons, not unlike Arthur‘s sword, to the heroic Perseus.

Nootka

Gender: Feminine

Origin: Native American

Meaning: “Circling around.”

Pronunciation: (NOOT-kah)

Nicknames: Noot, Nutella

Detail: When James Cook (British explorer) first encountered the villagers at Yuquot in 1778, they directed him to “come around” (in their language “nootka”) with his ship to the harbour. Cook interpreted this as the name of their tribe. In 1981 the term Nuu-Chah-Nulth (meaning “all along the mountains”) was chosen as the new name of the tribe.

Miranda

Gender: Feminine

Origin: Latin

Meaning: “Adorable.”

Pronunciation: (mih-RAN-da)

Nicknames: Mira, Miri, Mia,

Detail: The name is derived from the root word mirari “to admire; to wonder at”; it was invented by Shakespeare for the daughter of Prospero in his play The Tempest.

Miranda is the smallest and innermost of Uranus’ five major moons.

Yfke

Yfke Sturm

Gender: Feminine

Origin: Frisian

Meaning: “Bow; Yew.”

Pronunciation: (EEF-keh)

Nicknames: Yffy, Effy

Detail: Possibly derived from the French name Yves, which originated as a shortened form of any Germanic name containing ‘iv’ (‘yew’).

Yfke Sturm is a Dutch supermodel.

Imogen

Imogen Morris-Clarke

Gender: Feminine

Origin: Gaelic

Meaning: “Maiden; Innocent.”

Pronunciation: (IM-oh-jen)

Nicknames: Immy, Immo, Imzy

Detail: Imogen was the daughter of King Cymbeline, in Shakespeare’s play, Cymbeline.