Using This Reference

The main feature of this website is a listing ofgiven names and their meanings. Entries are displayed in the following manner:

Not all names have usages, other scripts or pronunciations.

In many cases a name is a form of another name. For example:Mike is ashort form ofMichael. Another example:Varvara is theRussian cognate ofBarbara. In these cases the meaning will be listed at the other name, so follow the link provided to go to that other name.

(There are many different types of relationships between names - seeshort form,diminutive,cognate andvariant)

Terminology and Symbols

"cognate" - Two words (or names) are cognates if they are from different languages but derived from the same root.

"diminutive" - This describes a name that is a short and/or affectionate form of a more formal name.

"usage" - A name's usage describes who uses it. It can be a language, a nationality, a culture, or something else. It is NOT necessarily the language of origin.

"alternate transcription" or"variant transcription" - This indicates an alternate spelling in the Latin alphabet (the A-Z) for a name which is written in another alphabet (e.g. Arabic). For example, the Russian name Юрий may be writtenYuriy orYuri in Latin characters, so they are variant transcriptions of one another.

ə - In pronunciations, this indicates a reduced vowel, like the sound of thea inabout. In English, vowels in unstressed syllables often take this sound. The symbol is called "schwa".

Ð / ð andÞ / þ - These characters (called "eth" and "thorn") appear in Old English, Old Norse and modern Icelandic names. They represent the fricativeth sound heard in English.

Searching

You can initiate a search from thesearch page. Once you search, you can further refine your search by clicking the "More Filters" button on the results page.

Other Features

Besides themain name database, there are several other features on this website.

• Themost popular names provide lists of the given names used most frequently in many parts of the world.
• Thenamesakes provide many different lists of famous people, organized by given name.
• Thename days provide lists of given names which are associated with the days of the year in many parts of the world.
• Thecomments are a collection of comments about names left by users of this website.
• Themessage boards are a good place to ask and answer questions about names.
• Thesubmit-a-name page is the place to add names that are missing from the main database. These names end up in the supplementarysubmitted name database, which is curated by a number of volunteer editors.
• By signing up for a freeuser account, you get complete access to themessage boards andpolls, as well as the ability to create a profile and customized lists of names.

Behind the Surname is a sister site, dealing with surnames instead of given names.