70 + 7

As of yesterday I've introduced you to 70 new names in 2014. Here are 7 more. If you're keeping track, that means that there are still 1,937 names to go over the rest of the year.

Girls

Sayard - a Teutonic personal name, derived from the Anglo Saxon 'sae' meaning "sea" and 'weard' meaning "keeper"  so the meaning of Sayard would be "keeper of the sea" or "guardian of the sea". The earlier form of Sayard would have been Sayward or Saward and pronounced by Anglo Saxons as something like "soward". However I encountered the name in a movie and it was pronounced 'saird', and one character in the movie, more educated, corrects the backwoods girl with this name telling her it should be Sayward and pronounces it "say ward". Seward is another form of the same name. I found a reference that says that the high admiral of the Saxons was called a saward or sayward (or seward). I think of it as 'sea warden'.

Talitha - Aramaic, meaning "little girl". It is part of what Jesus says when he brings a little girl back to life in the Bible. There is also an Arabic word which it may be derived from. I came across two different pronunciations for this, 'tal ih tha' and 'tuh lee tha'. I like both.

Undine - a word invented by Paracelsus in the middle ages to describe female water spirits. It comes from the Latin word 'unda' which means 'wave'.

Viridiana - Latin, meaning "green".


Boys 

Wendell -Germanic, derived from the name Wendelin, meaning "wanderer". Wendelin comes from the name of an ancient Slavonic tribe called the Wends, who lived among German settlements and were associated with the Vandals. Wendelin became a first name by first becoming a nickname for names beginning with Wendel--.

Xerxes - Persian, meaning "ruling over heroes"

Yaegar - German, meaning "hunter".

7 more names, no wait, 28 more names!

You've met 42 new names so far this year. Let's up that. Here are 28 new names for  you to consider (42 + 28 = 70 new names total this year!)

Girls

Quintessa - Latin, meaning "fifth born daughter".

Raisa - Old Greek, meaning "adaptable" or "easy-going" from the word 'rhadios'. It could also be used as a variant of Rachel or Rose.

Sigrid - Old Norse, meaning "victory" and "peace" or "beautiful" or "fair" (from sigr and fridr).

Tawny - English, meaning "tawny" or "tanned", originally from French "tane' " meaning someone with a tan complexion or tan-color hair. English 'gypsies' (Romany) use this to mean "small" or "tiny".


Uma - Sanskrit, meaning "flax".

Valda - Old Norse, meaning "ruler" or "governor".

Willabelle - a variation on the name Wilhelmina. Wil is a Germanic root meaning "will" or "desire" and belle is a Latin root meaning "beautiful".

Xenia - Greek, meaning "hospitable".

 
Ya - African-Twi, meaning "girl born on a Thursday"

Zaida - Arabic, meaning "to increase" or "lucky one", coming from the word 'zada' 'to increase'. In Spanish this is pronounced 'saw ee tha'.

Aberdeen - Gaelic, meaning "at the mouth of two rivers" - the two rivers being the river Dee and the river Don in Scotland. Aberdeen is the name of a city, a settlement that has existed for at least 8,000 years.

Bashabee - I'm not entirely certain what the origin is of this as a personal name. I did find that there was an Eastern Abenaki leader named Bashabes who led his people at the time of the first contact with Europeans. One source on the origin or meaning of Bashabes as an Abenaki name suggested that it might be a name or a title. There seems to be a strong argument that Bashabes is a personal name, however. This source also had the name written as 'Betsabes'. The Indian leader was male but I have listed Bashabee under female names, as that is how I have encountered it before. As a female personal name it might have a different origin.

Circe - Latin, from the Greek name Kirke - may mean 'bird'. Circe was a witch and in The Odyssey she imprisons Odysseus and his men for 5 years by enchantment. Pronounced 'sur see' (the Greek Kirke would be pronounced 'ker kee'). Game of Thrones fans should notice many similarities between the Circe of the Odyssey and Queen Cersei of Westeros.

Dagmar - Old Norse, meaning "day" and "maid" (such as young girl, unmarried, virgin).

Boys

Elian Welsh, meaning "fawn" or "hind" (deer). Or a Hebrew variant of Elijah, meaning "my god is Yahweh". Or from Latin, coming from Aelianus, Elianus, or Helianus, all of which come from the Greek 'helios' "sun". Elian Gonzalez, a 6 year old boy rescued from the sea but then sent back to Cuba, was named for his parents, Elizabeth and Juan. Elizabeth means "consecrated to God" and Juan "Yahweh is gracious" or "Yahweh is merciful. Yahweh is the Hebrew name for God. Elian in Spanish is pronounced 'ell ee ahn'. In reading up on Elian Gonzalez on Wikipedia I was rather amazed that they have part of a museum dedicated to him, a statue of the boy, and have preserved the home he had first returned to after his stay in Florida. Wow. I remember how emotional the ordeal was - or at least, how emotional people became about it. It's the sort of thing you have strong feelings about, you know, whether a child should be returned to his father or 'given' to his extended relatives because they live in the U.S. and not Cuba. I was appalled that it would even be considered to not send the boy back to his father immediately. I'm sad if the Cuban government has become even more invasive in his life, but maybe he has received privileges as well. In any case, it seems much more important to me that he have that time with his father. Freedom and personal liberty are a great thing we offer here in the U.S. I would not choose it, though, over being raised by my parents.
 
Fallamhan - Gaelic, meaning "superiority" or "mastery".

Garnaliel - also written as Gamaliel, Hebrew, meaning "reward of God". Gamaliel is pronounced 'gam uh lee el" so I assume that Garnaliel is similar, perhaps "gar nuh lee el". I think Garnaliel is rather fabulous, personally. I don't know why, but Gamaliel does not have the same appeal. Maybe it sounds too much like camel. If I stop and think about it, and forget about Garnaliel, I do like it though, in comparison to many other names, it still has a 'fabulous' factor. Which might mean it's not remotely practical. Though I don't expect to post too many of those types of names for this series of posts.

The meaning makes sense, if you think about it, to an English speaker, anyhow, as 'garner' is another way of saying someone gains, earns, or is rewarded, like 'garnering favor'. Hmm. Maybe gain comes from the same origin?

Habakkuk - possibly Hebrew with a meaning related to a word which means "embrace, or related to the Akkadian word 'khabbaququ' - which was a fragrant plant.I also found a source that says rabbinic tradition sees this name as related to the root "habbac" which means "to enhance" and can mean "to wrestle with God" or "a comforter of people" or "one beloved of God". It also said that Martin Luther saw the name as meaning "hartener" or "one who takes another to his heart and arms as one who soothes a poor weeping child, telling it to be quiet".

Ivor - English, from the Old Norse name Ívarr, which came from the roots 'yr' meaning "yew" or "bow" and 'arr' meaning "warrior". LOVE the image here, of an archer (oh, notice the similar sound between archer and Ivor - which can be pronounced either 'eye vahr' or "ee vahr"). Though I want to say something more like 'eye vor' or "eye-ver", rather than 'eye-vahr')..

Jair - Hebrew, meaning "he enlightens" or "he shines", coming from the root "owr" which means 'to enlighten' and also 'to shine'. In English this would be pronounced as 'jay ahr'. In Spanish, though, this is said "yah ear', the y sound has a slight 'j' sound mixed with it. I am not sure why, but in 2003 the popularity of this name shot up. It had only been ranked in the top 1,000 names for boys in the U.S. once before 2001, and in 2001 it reappeared for the second time, this time a bit higher than before, at #735 (there were 734 names more popular than Jair that year for boys. But within 2 years it rose to 506. It was not a steady trend though, as with some names that continue to increase in popularity. Since 2006 it has been at #727 or lower (less popular). So I am curious why it was so popular in 2003 and also, what brought it to the charts in 1996 in the first place? I've only known one Jair, and he was Hispanic, so perhaps its appearance might relate to increasing births for Hispanic males. But why so popular for one year and then dropping back down quite low?


Kanye - Igbo, meaning "let's give".

Lamwell - an English form of the name Lanval, the name of a knight of the Round Table - it also appears as Launfal and Landeval. Lambewell is another English version of the same name. I have not had a lot of luck figuring out its meaning, however.

Mallion - possibly from French 'maille' which comes from the Latin 'macula' meaning "a net" or "a mesh" or "a coat of mail".

Naaman - a variant of the Hebrew name Noam which means "sweetness" or "pleasantness" or "my delight".

Oberon - Germanic, meaning "noble bear" or "elf ruler" or "supernaturally powerful". It may come from the root "adal" meaning "noble" or "honorable" or from the root 'alf' meaning "elf" or "supernatural being" and the root 'ber'. Oberon is the name of the king of the fairies in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare.

Parthalón -an Irish variant of the Aramaic name Bartholomew which means  "son of Talmai" or "son of the one who abounds in furrows". Parthalon is the name of the man in Irish myth that was the first to come to Ireland after the Biblical flood.

Quanah - means "good smelling". Quanah Parker was one of the last Comanche chiefs. He was chief of the Quahadi (or Kwahadi) band of Comanches. Quanah is pronounced 'kway nah''.

Rainier- French form of the name Rayner, which comes from the Germanic name Raganhar, which comes from 'ragin' which means "advice" and 'hari' which means "army", or "wise army". It can be pronounced 'ray NEER' or 'ren YEH'.

35 down, 1, 979 names to go!

You've met 35 new names so far this year. Here are the next 7.


Girls

Jacintha - Latinate form of Jacinthe which is a French form of Hyacinth which was originally 'hyakintos'. Pronounced 'yah sin tah' in Dutch. Just looking at it as an American, however, I say 'jah sin thah'. The hyacinth is a flower named after a boy in Greek legend. Hyacinth, the boy, was loved by the god Apollo and when he died the god turned him into a flower. There was a festival celebrated by ancient Greeks called the Hyacinthia which honored the boy in the legend. According to Wikipedia he may have been a god before the 'Hellenic' period in Greece, meaning a god worshiped there before Apollo was revered.

Keturah - Hebrew, meaning "incense".

Lancelotte - a medieval queen named Hildegarde, whose father's name was Lancelin, was also known as Lancelotte. If you know your Arthurian legend, then you know that Lancelot was the knight of the Round Table who loved Queen Guinevere. Hildegarde, however, lived in the 11th century and Lancelot does not appear in Arthurian romance til the 12th century. But, Hildegarde was French, Lancelot is supposed to have come from France, so it seems reasonable to see the name as French. Possibly associated with the word lance, but the name Lanzo was a short form used for names beginning with the root 'land'. Remember that the word 'lot' also refers to a specific plot of land. I could see Lancelot meaning 'land' of a particular 'lot' of land. Or, as land can also mean a country or particular region or type of land, perhaps it meant something like land of lots (as in a country or area that was claimed and developed, partitioned or divided among people or groups) or maybe it meant land of lots in the sense of  'country to be divided by lot' - where lot is by chance, or lottery (the concept of a lottery being quite ancient). Although in Hildegarde's case, it would seem that Lancelotte is just a way of feminizing her father's name for her (Lancelin > Lancelotte).

A little examination of word origins seems appropriate. Lance, as in the weapon used by knights in jousts, comes from the word lancea, which is Latin, and especially seems to refer to a 'light spear' or 'Spanish lance'.  The Latin word seems to come from a Celt-Iberian word (Celt-Iberians were the people of Spain that Rome eventually conquered). Lance can be a verb, 'to lance' is to pierce something lightly. A lance also referred to the squires who surrounded the knight and provided him service. Lancelin meant 'servant' in old French. So perhaps Hildegarde's name, Lancelotte, would just mean 'servant'. Though I wonder why it wasn't Lanceline or Lancelina, etc. In any case, the word for lance was older than Hildegarde and had been around for some time. So, if Lancelin meant servant, did it mean a particular type of servant? One who served a knight carrying a lance? If you gave that name to your daughter, does it mean she is the daughter of someone who served a knight carrying a lance? Seems reasonable to me, as I know that Germans (maybe not as long ago as Hildegarde, but at some point) added 'tin' or 'ton' to a man's name to indicate that a woman was his wife or unmarried daughter. So perhaps in the part of France Hildegarde was from something similar was a custom, and so Hildegarde Lancelotte would be Hildegarde daughter of Lancel (or in this case, Lancelin - though who knows, perhaps he had Lancel as a nickname?).

I'm reminded of the word 'allot' which means to set aside or assign or allow something for some person or purpose, time, etc. Could Lancelotte mean land set aside for a servant?   Or maybe the opposite - a servant set aside for a piece of land.

In the book "From Scythia to Camelot: A Radical Reassessment of the Legends of King Arthur" a few theories are suggested for the origin of Lancelot (which does come later than Hildegarde Lancelotte, but the theory might still apply to the name). One is that the first part of the name refers to Alans, a group of Sarmatian tribes from the time period. (for those of us who did not know it, Alans are the same as Aryans and originated in Iran).  The authors of this book point out that 'lans', a reference to the Alans, is a part of various place names where those people settled. In the case of place names that were a phrase, they sometimes become one word, with the 'a' dropped, so that Alans d'Riano becomes Landriano, for instance. It is possible that the 'lan' part of such a place name just refers to the Celtic word for land, but it might be that it referred instead to the Alans of that place. In which case, Lancelotte might indicate Hildegarde's ancestry. About 500 years before the Alans came to France. Many settled in the north, including Loiret - Beaugency is in Loiret - and Loiret is thought to be related to the Alan people. The authors of the book points out that a hero's name and a place could be the same - for instance, Lancarote - in their argument that Lancelot refers to the hero and the place he is from. If that is so, and if the same applies to Hildegarde, isn't it possible that 'Lancelotte" was not necessarily 'one' place but a more generic term used for anyone from an Alan settlement?

Enough theories to ponder, I think! It would be great to figure out if just one applies.



Boys

Moloch - Semitic, meaning "king". Moloch was an ancient god. Terrifying if you ask me. It was just about unbearable to read about the human sacrifices he was offered. He certainly wasn't the only god who demanded them (or was offered them, however you look at it). He seems to have been worshiped by the Phoenicians, Ammonites, and Canaanites and the ancient Hebrews were expressly forbidden by their God to worship the god Moloch - though that does not seem to have worked entirely as they are often chastised for permitting such worship to occur.

Nestor - Greek, meaning "return"

Otto - a German form of Odo or Audo, which was a short form of names beginning with 'od' which means "wealth, fortune".

Pavel - Latin, meaning "little" or "humble". Mainly used in Slavic languages.

2, 014 Names - Names #29-35

7 More Names

Girls




St. Clotilde holding a model of a cathedral

Clotilde (or Clothilde, or Clotild, or even Clotilda) -Germanic, meaning "famous in battle". Pronounced 'klo tild". In Spanish it is pronounced 'klo till day". A fun character in an Argentine mystery novel "Rosaura a las diez". I can't remember for sure, but I think the author is Marco Denevi. I believe he also co-authored some detective fiction with Jorge Luis Borges. Clotilde is actually a medieval name, which just made me love it more. It comes from the German "hlod" which means "fame" and "hild" which means "battle". It is a feminine version of the name Clovis (yes, Clovis is a masculine name). She's a rather cool historical figure. And a saint (that's always neat. I think.). She lived at the beginning of the so-called "Dark Ages". Her uncle killed her father and her mother was drowned. Her sister became a nun and Clotilde fled into exile. (she was French, by the way, though it wasn't called France then. She was from Lyon and when she married the king of the Franks, she became queen in the north of France). That whole thing the Duggar family has done with their 19 children, of naming each with the same letter -- she got into that trend 1500 years earlier. Each of her 4 children's names begins 'chlod' or 'chlot' or 'clot' (long o sound). She is famous for convincing her husband to become Catholic and building a church in Paris, which is where she is buried.

If being Catholic was mainly about saints, or naming your child after one, I think I could be Catholic. It seems to have a few more details, so it's a no-go for me. But I love the stories of the saints.



Dacian warrior on horseback  from a blog dedicated to Romania (Dacia)

Dacia - Pronounced "day sha". Dacia was an ancient empire in what is now called Romania. Ancient Greek writers say that the Dacians were mounted archers. And one had a theory that the name for the Dacians had originally been 'daoi' - supported by the fact that their flag had a picture of a wolf's head and was called the Dacian Draco. Daos was the name of the ancient wolf god. The name Dacia, therefore, means 'from Dacia'. I just picture  Nadia Komeniche on horseback, aiming her arrow at you and thinking your skull will make a good drinking cup.  I loved this name the first time I encountered it (in a mystery novel - she was the first murder victim - but wait - the character was vivid and this buoyant British girl with short red hair and wearing a 'hunter green' jacket - that was the name of the novel, by the way, Hunter's Green. Set in the 1960s I could just imagine her perfectly. Oh, the author of the book is Phyllis Whitney - I recommend it. It was the first book by her I read and got me to read
several more of her novels, which I liked a lot.)


Ermengarde -German, meaning from the German words "ermen," meaning "whole, universal" and "gard" meaning "enclosure, protection". In searching about for information on this name I found that, though Ermengarde is definitely a medieval name, there was an actual Princess Ermengarde that lived in the 20th century, and only just recently died.  (3 cheers!  Not that she died, but that she lived so long.) And also a novel, called "The Suspicions of Ermengarde" available on google books. I read a few pages and I'm intrigued. Though I'd prefer a hardcover version. I hate reading online.


Fortuna - Latin "fortune, luck". She was the Roman goddess of fortune. Her name comes from Vortumna "she who revolves the year".

Boys

Gad - Hebrew, meaning "fortune". Now, is that a coincidence? I did not know the meaning of Gad when I decided to include it in today's grouping. Some things are uncanny and can make you start to notice or expect all sorts of things! Maybe we are just naturally superstitious creatures.

Hiram - Phoenician or Hebrew, meaning "exalted brother"

Iben -Frisian variant of Ivo or a short form of Ibenhard. Ibenhard is a Norwegian surname (who knows what it means?!) And Ivo is German coming from 'iwa' meaning 'yew tree'. The yew tree was sacred to ancient Europeans.

2, 014 Names 21 + 7 = 28

7 more names for you to meet. That will make 28 names so far, of our 2,014.

Roman woman
 

Valeria - the feminine form of Valerius, which was a Roman surname. It came from the Latin word 'valere' "to be strong". Pronounced 'vuh lair ee uh' in English.

Wilhelmine - The feminine form of the German name Wilhelm, which came from the name Willahelm. Wil meaning "will, desire" and helm meaning "helmet, protection". Pronounced "wil hel meen".

Ximena -Spanish or Basque, feminine form of Ximeno, which is possibly a form of Simon or may come from the Basque word 'seme' which means "son". Simon is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Shim'on which means "he has heard". In Spanish this is pronounced 'hee may nuh'. It can also be spelled Jimena.

Yaroslav -the Russian form of Jaroslaw. It is pronounced 'yah roe slahf'. Jaroslaw  is Polish and comes from the Slavic roots 'jary' which means 'fierce' or 'strong' and 'slawa' which means 'glory'.

Zephaniah- this comes from the Hebrew name Tzefanyah, which means "Yahweh has hidden". In English Zephaniah is pronounced 'zef uh nye uh' where 'nye' sounds like the word 'nigh' in English (long i sound).

Abdiel - a Hebrew name which means "servant of God", coming from the roots 'ebed' 'servant' and 'el' 'god'.

Bartolo - Spanish form of the Greek name Bartholomeos, which came from an Aramaic name that meant 'son of Talmai'.

2, 014 Names in 2014 - 7 more!

The previous post was supposed to get posted on Wednesday, but I could not find information on the two names I had wanted to post (Harmar and Landred - when I can tell you more about them than I currently know, I'll post them) so it got posted January 2nd. Still a day behind, this post is for yesterday, January 2nd.

Girls

Ocean - this is a nature name whose meaning is obvious. But what is the origin of the word ocean? Ever wondered? Okeanos, in Greek mythology, was a great stream that encircled the earth's disk (remember, the earth was supposed to be flat! We get our English word ocean from the French word occean which comes from the Latin oceanus. Which is just a form of Okeanos.

Pomelline -  a French form of the Italian name Pomellina which comes from the Italian word 'pomella' which comes from the word 'poma' which means "apple". The word 'pomme' in French also means apple, but the use of Pomelline appears to be related to a saint named Pome.

Queenie -  Not a name anyone is likely to use nowadays. It has been used as a given name in the past, though. It comes from the English word 'queen' which means 'ruler'.

Renate - Latin meaning "reborn", a form of the name Renata.


Boys



Stavros - Greek, meaning "cross".

Tavish - anglicized form of Thamais, which is a form of Tamhas, which is the Scottish form of the name Thomas. Thomas is the Greek form of the Aramaic name Ta'oma', which means 'twin'. tah vish', where the 'ah' is the same as the a sound in father.
Tavish is pronounced '

Urias - Latin form of the Hebrew name 'Uriyah, which means "Yahweh is my light"  (remember, Yahweh is the name used for the Hebrew god).

2014

I've decided to introduce you, over the next year, to 2,014 names you might not know. Here are 14 to start.

Girl Names

Aase  -  Norwegian, pronounced 'oh sah'   -- it's the only time the long o sound looks like an a in my mind!
Meaning - 'god'

Berengaria was also called Berenguela

Berengaria - Spanish - name of a medieval queen. Looking for someone more admirable than Eleanor of Aquitaine? Someone who sounds like she came from a fairy tale, or lived one? Replete with all the scheming of a Shakespearean drama? Read about Berengaria. Her son, Fernando III, el Santo, reconquered some important parts of Spain from the Moors and he would never have become king if not for her. And probably not such a successful one. Her name is long and a bit unwieldy, even in Spanish, if you ask me. But 'she' was definitely cool. It seems to be a feminine form of Berengar - a Germanic name coming from roots that mean "bear" and "spear".

Callirhoe - Greek,  meaning "beautifully flowing", it was the name of a naiad (my favorite kind of nymph!), a daughter of the river god Achelous. There is a hot springs with curative powers near the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, also associated with Callirhoe. Pronunciation is 'kah lear oh ee". Callirhoe is also the name of an ancient Greek novel, the oldest novel there is a copy of still in existence. And it sounds like the ultimate adventure/romance novel. I think it is next on my list of books to read! Callirhoe also is the name of a species of plant, with pretty delicate flowers. I think of how they blow in the wind and that this beautiful, fluid motion must have inspired the scientific designation, given the ancient meaning and associations of the name.

Dellitt - for anyone new to my blog -  usually a surname, my grandmother and I have both had it as first names. My theory on its origin is that it relates to being from the city Delle in Alsace, France. I'll let you know when I can prove it more, but here's my argument so far. I know my Dellitt ancestors came here from France. I know that Germans would add certain endings to a surname to indicate if a woman was married to or the daughter of someone (Wingerter could become Wingerterton  - showing that it was a woman or the unmarried daughter of a man with the last name of Dellitt). I know that the origin of Dulles and Dallas as surnames relates to the name Delles which means someone from the city Delle in France - happens to be in Alsace. A partially German-speaking part of France that has at times, NOT been part of France.

Pronunciation - 'dell it'   short e, short i, like Dell computers and the word it. It's not complicated but it's more rare for someone to know to say that instead of something else. So I guess it is complicated.

Eponine - French. If you have read Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo, or seen the play or one of the many movie versions, then you already know the name. Eponine is my favorite character in this story. It comes from the old language of Gaul (which is where France is now) and the name in that language was Epponina. Epona was a Celtic horse goddess. I have heard Eponine pronounced 'ep oh neen', but correct me if I'm wrong on that!

Fallon - Celtic, meaning 'descendant of Fallamhan' which comes from 'follamhnus' which seems to mean 'leader'.

Gwenllian - Welsh, pronunciation, 'gwen hthlee un' (yes, complicated pronunciation is why many Welsh names are not popular here nowadays). Also the name of several medieval princesses. One such princess, after her father was killed and the English king assumed control, was imprisoned in a convent far from Wales (England, I think) where she lived the rest of her life, til age 52, never knowing she was a princess, heir to the throne in her home country. (she was taken to the convent when she was just 2 years old).

Boys

Hamish - a Scottish name that is anglicized from the name Sheumais which is a version of the Scottish name Seumas which comes from the English and Hebrew James which originates from the Hebrew name Jacob which means "supplanter" or "holder of the heel" or possibly "Yahweh may protect"  (Yahweh is the name written for the Hebrew god). I discovered that I've been pronouncing this name wrong! Its correct pronunciation is 'hay mish', which makes perfect sense since it is a form of James.

Iago - Spanish - form of the name James and Jacob. Pronounced 'ee ah go'. Famous villain in Shakespeare's Othello.

Janos- Hungarian form of John, which means "gift". Pronounced 'yah nosh'. I have also seen Janosh - pronounced 'jah nosh'. I suppose it's a form of Janos but I'm not sure where the different pronunciation comes from. Seems the spelling is to just make it easy on folks, as Janos' pronunciation is not easy to guess.


Kal'el- name given to Superman by his parents on Krypton. Not sure where the creators of Superman got the idea for the name, but 'el' in Hebrew means 'god' and 'ka' in ancient Egypt referred to one's soul. So perhaps it could be translated as meaning 'soul of god' or 'the soul is god' or even 'god is the soul'.

Lycurgus - Latin form of the Greek name Lykourgos which means "deed of a wolf"  - from 'lycou' 'of a wolf' and 'ergon' 'deed or work'. He was a mythological king who the gods drove mad due to his impiety. I think it's an odd name, with a really awesome meaning. I want to figure out a way to make this name cool. ....

Manfred-Germanic meaning "man of peace" or "strong peace" or "much peace".

Nicanor- Greek, comes from the word 'nike' which means 'victory' - Nike was the goddess of victory.