Once Upon a Time Baby Names

Locryn (LOK-rin) is the masculine Cornish variant of Locrinus, a Welsh name meaning “England.” Locrinus may seem familiar because it was the name of a legendary king of Britain whom Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote about, and in his writing, the place Locrinus was from in southeastern Britain was called Loegria. Locrinus was a descendant of Brutus and Aeneas, and his two brothers were named Albanactus, meaning “Scotland,” and Kamber, meaning “Wales.” The name may also seem familiar because Locrinus married Gwendolen, the daughter of the supposed founder of Cornwall, but Locrinus kept a lover - Estrildis, who gave birth to a daughter named Habren. this is where the story behind the name Sabrina  comes from. Gwendolen drowned her in the river Severn, which was Latinized in the 2nd century as Sabrina. Locryn ranks  mid-level in Cornwall as far as anyone can tell, but the data is from a few years ago and it’s not a top 100 name there. It is exceedingly rare in the U.S. with no data so...

www.culturespotmc.com Ruslan (ROOS-lahn) is a Slavic masculine name, and Ruslana is the feminine form. It is said this is the Russian form of the Turkic word arslan (and the Turkish name Aslan), meaning "lion." That may be true but there is also a possibility it comes from the Kievan Rus, called Rus, the Rusichan or Ruthenians, who came before Russia as we know it. If this is the case, Ruslan likely means "to row/rower," and shares an etymological root with Russia itself. Some of you may recognize Aslan as the name of the lion in the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. This is used in Russia and the surrounding area, and it's also a Circassian name. Eruslan, Yeruslan and Uruslan have been seen as variants. One of the oldest uses of the name is of a legendary hero from the Pushkin poem/epic fairytale  Ruslan and Ludmila  published in 1820. The majority of namesakes are from the 1900's and includes plenty of footballers, other athletes, and politicia...

Welles is an Old English surname meaning "spring of water." Wellesley is a variant, commonly found as a surname as well. As a surname Welles dates back to 1086 and is credited to a well (spring) in Lincolnshire. As far as Wellesley goes, there were 5 girls given the name in 2015, none in 2016, 5 in 2017and 6 boys in 1923, that is all. For Welles, there were 46 boys given the name in 2017 and no girls. There's really only one namesake with Welles as a first name - Welles Crowther, an American who died saving others during 9/11. Wellesley is perhaps more well known as the surname of the Dukes of Wellington and there are no well known namesakes with Wellesley as their given name. Welles is a decidedly nickname-free name, while Wellesley can be shortened to Welles.

Grecia (GRAY-see-uh is the most common pronunciation although some do say GRAY-shuh) is a Latin girl's name, variant of Grace, meaning "mercy; favour." Grecia is also the Italian and Spanish word for the country Greece. As far as anyone can tell, Grecia is bestowed as both a variant of Grace and as a place name. Grecia was given to 139 girls in 2017, so it is rare but not unheard of. There aren't many namesakes, but one is Venezuelan-Argentine actress Grecia Colmenares. One of the oldest known persons was Grecia de Briwere (Groecia de Bruere), daughter of Lord Horsley, born about 1176.

Bex can be a nickname for Rebecca and Beckett, but Bex, which happens to be a municipality in Switzerland, could be a name of its own. Some of you might recognize Bex Taylor-Klaus who has starred in the TV shows Arrow , House of Lies , Scream , and The Killing . However, Bex can be short for Bexley, which happens to be a place in east London and in Ohio. That's two-for-one in the place names department. Bexley, which means "boxtree meadow," ranked #970 in 2016 for girls (275 girls total), while it was only given to 13 boys that year. Bex was not used at all. As far as namesakes go, Bexley was the surname of actor Donald Thomas "Bubba" Bexley. Bexley is sometimes said to mean "pasture by the stream," and as  this article  claims, it was recorded as Bix, later Bixle, in the Domesday Book . But that might not be entirely accurate, and it seems Bex was recorded in the book itself.  This source  tells us it actually means "box tree meadow," from t...

Tana River, Kenya  (source) Tana can be pronounced TAH-nah or TAN-uh, whichever you prefer. It can be a short form of Tanya or Tatiana in Russian, which comes from the Roman cognomen Tatius and is assumed to mean "from the house of Tatius," however  could mean  "I arrange" or "founder." It is also an Anglicized spelling of Arabic Thana, meaning "praise." It can even be a nickname for Tiziana, from Titus, Latin meaning "honored." In the arts Tana is a character in The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, a reporter in the Superboy comics, and a video game character in Fire Emblem . In real life there is Cayetana "Tana" Ramsey, wife of Gordon Ramsey, Czech actress Tana Ficherova, Thai footballers Tana Sripandum and Tana Chanabut, children's book author Tana Hoban, and Irish novelist Tana French. There's also a Gujarati (Indian) legend about twins Tana and Riri, born around 1564, who commited suicide in refus...

Knights of the Round Table Lucan (LUU-kahn) is a boy's baby name from Arthurian legend. Sir Lucan was a Knight of the Round Table, son of Duke Corneus, brother of Sir Bedivere and cousin of Sir Griflet. He was in charge of the royal court as part of his duties in Camelot. In these stories, Lucan stays by Arthur's side until the very end of their lives, and he was consider endlessly loyal and reliable. Ironically, Arthur Lucan was an English actor (1885 - 1954). Another namesake was known as Lucan in English, but his full name was Marcus Annaeus Lucanus, grandson of Seneca the Elder. In Latin, Lucan is simply a version of Luke and Lucas, from the Roman cognomen Lucanus. Lucanus means "from Lucania," an ancient Roman city, the name of which derived from Greek loukas , meaning "white," cognate with the Latin word lux , meaning "light."  Lucania itself has been used a few times as a girl's baby name, as have the personal names Lucano and L...

This Anglo-Saxon place name would also work quite well as a baby name for girls. The English kingdom of Mercia, which was part of a heptarchy during the 8th century, derived from the Old English word merce , meaning "border people," also found as mryce and mierce . It is ultimately from a root word meaning "boundary." The kingdom was independent from the 6th century to the 9th century. Mercia is typically pronounced mer-SEE-uh. Sometimes this name is found as a variant of Mercy and pronounced mer-SEE-uh, but it may have also been a variant of Marsha and pronounced MER-sha. As for namesakes, Mercia MacDermott was a writer of Bulgarian history, and Mercia Deane-Johns is an Australian actress. Mercia is a very rare baby name in the U.S. In 2016 it was only given to 5 girls, and although it has been used every now and again since 1918, it has never been given more than 9 times in a year.

Rochester Castle in Kent Place-name meets preppy bookworm, the Old English name Rochester is a bit of Chester and a bit of a handsome classic like Robert, Rockwell or Roderick. In England, -chester/cester is a suffix meaning "fort, soldier camp." It comes from Latin castrum , dating back to ancient Roman times. Therefore the boy's name Chester means "soldier camp," and Rochester means "stone fortress." It seems like using Rochester is a perfect way to honor a Chester in the family tree, or Chester or Chet could be Rochester's nickname. Most are familiar with the city of Rochester, NY or Rochester, MI, but there are several more place names in the U.S. and abroad. Namesakes include Rochester Van Jones in "The Jack Benny Program," Rochester Neal of "The Dixie Nightingales" band, musician Rochester Fosgate, and four songs with Rochester in the title. As a surname it is not uncommon. There are also the titles Baron and Earl ...

Sveva della Gherardesca With Italy releasing some name popularity  statistics recently, I couldn't help but notice a girl's name that looks very Scandinavian, but isn't. Unique to Italy's top 100 and unheard of in the U.S., Sveva (SVAY-vah) could be a German import, meaning "Swabian," from the archaic word S vebia and referring to a historical region in southwestern Germany, but the modern Italian word for Swabian is 'sveva,' at least according to Google translate. You can trace Swabia to Suebi, all the way back to Proto-Slavic or Indo-European swe , meaning "one's own [people]." It is a very ancient people (with the coolest coat of arms). This name reminds me of other place/people names, such as Sabine, Roxelana and Sarazine , which I recently researched. Sveva ranked #61 in Italy in 2015 with the name given to 659 girls total, and that number dropped a bit to 546 girls in 2016. The only use it ever saw in the U.S. was 5 times i...

Carew Castle This Welsh boy's name meaning "fort near/on a slope" or "fort on the water" came from a place name  in Wales which later became a castle. Locally it is pronounced the same as Carey, but others do pronounce it CAYR-ew.  It is cognate with the Cornish word kerrow, meaning "fort" as well, but it is also listed as meaning "chariot" or "run" in Latin. Crew seems to be a variant of this origin. Carew as a surname has famous namesakes that include Nobel prize winner John Carew Eccles, Baseball Hall of Fame member Rod Carew, and poet/author and diplomat Thomas Carew. In literature there is the character Mad Carew in The Green Eye of the Yellow God by Milton Hayes. I find this an interesting surname alternative for Andrew, which is eternally popular (#34 last year). It could honor an Andrew in the family tree with its spelling, or a Carey. It has no U.S. data, making it extremely rare.

This boy's name is of Old English origin, pronounced RAM-zee, has a few possible meanings. One is the seemingly obvious "ram island," while another is "raven island." In Old English ,  hræm was raven, and ramm was ram. In Old Norse, rammr was strong, giving this a third meaning of "strong island." The name comes from the Clan Ramsay, dating back to the 11th century, beginning with Symon de Ramesie. As a surname there are dozens of namesakes, but the spelling Ramsey is more popular for namesakes as a first name. The Baron de Ramsey is also a title in the Peerage of the UK. It seems that the spelling Ramsey comes as a toponymic surname. The spelling Ramsay was given to only 7 boys in 2016, hinting that it is still primarily a surname, while Ramsey was chosen for 150 boys, definitely falling in the category of place-name turned baby name. Perhaps the only well-known literary & TV character is Ramsay Snow (aka Ramsay Bolton) from the Game of Thro...

Lyle is a very familiar boys name that is not heard often today, providing a nice alternative to Kyle, which is becoming outdated.  It was given to 183 boys in 2015, increasing to 207 and a tank of #981 in 2016.  From Norman French l'isle , meaning "the island," it can be grouped with other "island" names like Isla, Avalon and Isola. There's no shortage of Lyle namesakes, both given and surnames. In other uses, there's a children's book by Bernard Water called Lyle , Lyle , Crocodile , a Lyle gun which shoots out a rescue rope, and Lyle guitars. As a title, there is Lord Lyle, an extinct lordship from Scotland, and the Lyle Baronets which existed in England.

You're probably thinking, "Take Lauren, create the nickname Laurie, change the spelling to Lori, then make a full name out of that nickname and you get Loria." Really, though, it is the elaborate Latin version of Lora, which came as a pet name for Eleanor in Italian, and also a short form of Dolores in Spanish. Whichever you prefer, Eleanor means "sun, bright," and Dolores "pain, sorrow." In modern times, however, Loria came about in English as a frilly version of Laura, which means "laurel" in Latin. Although this is a rare name, it has been used since at least 1907 and it ranked in 1961 and 1962, the height of its popularity overall. However, it should be noted that it was only given to 132 girls in 1961 - the population was smaller so it took less to make it on the top 1000. In 2009 it was given to a mere 5 girls, and we haven't seen it since. Loriana, however, was given to 17 girls in 2016, and Lorianna to 7. It might be brought off...

Oslo is a place name, the capital of Norway since about 1300 AD, but place names on kids are nothing new for American parents. Oslo is on-trend with other names that end in O, such as Otto and Arlo. In Norway this name is not used, but in the U.S. it has been used since about 2006, and was given to 16 boys in 2015. Founded in 1049 by Harald Hardrada, the city Oslo had burned down in a fire in 1624, so the people moved it close to Akershus Fortress to rebuild. This was during the reign of Christian IV of Denmark, and then the city was renamed Christiania in honor of him. After 1925 the original Norwegian name was restored. It is currently a "global city" with a population estimated at 658,390.

Galt is a boy's name meaning "wild boar" in Old Norse and Old English. Galton is a separate name, and the meaning "steep wooded land" is unsubstantiated. In Old Norse it began use as a nickname, a reference to someone who used the strength or ferocity of a wild boar in battle. The name also has a place in Old Gaelic - used to refer to someone from Gaul, meaning "foreigner," and therefore a surname of separate origins (but still one that started as a nickname). Gault is another form of the surname, which has a connection to the Norwegian word gald , meaning "hard/high ground," and it is the name of the archaeological clay formation Gault. If you follow little  breadcrumbs  there's a bit more interesting info connecting the Gaelic name with the Scandinavian one and adding in a possible Viking and Huguenot twist. As for namesakes, there may only be one with Galt as a given name: musician Galt MacDermot. But with the last name, there is Sir...

Carrick is an Anglicised spelling of creag (sometimes spelled carraig ), the Gaelic word for "rock." As a surname it is not that uncommon, but as a place name it is very common - over fifteen places in Ireland bear the name in some form. There's even a city named Carrick in both Cornwall and Scotland, and a couple in the U.S. and Australia. It can also be seen as a title: Earl of Carrick, from Scotland. Donnchadh (Duncan), Earl of Carrick was a prince and magnate who died in 1250. After being held prisoner by King Henry II of England for some ten years, he returned home with permission to rule over Carrick, but not all of Galloway. Marjorie of Carrick, who was likely Donnchadh's granddaughter, was born just three years after his death, and she was the mother of Robert the Bruce. In 2015 Carrick was given to 26 U.S. boys, which is a slight decrease from the past few years, but still a good rise in popularity from when it was just starting out in the 1970's. Ca...

Like yesterday's post on Yardley, Yarden is extremely similar in every way - nature name, place name, rare, but it seems to work as a boy's name just a tiny bit more than Yardley thanks to it's trending -n ending. However, the similarity in sound to "garden" makes it seem a bit whimsical-meets-tomboy for a girl. The perfect unisex name. The statistics say Yarden is for girls, though. While Yardley was given to 9 girls in 2014 and none in 2015, and not given to boys at all, the name Yarden was given to 7 girls in 2014, then 5 in 2011 and none between those dates. Yarden previously had a run between 2002 and 2008, missing some years between, and not given more than 11 times in a year. It started being used on girls in 1984 with 6 births (probably five and less than five births for any number of years beforehand) and started being used on boys in 1990 with 5 births. Interestingly, Yarden seems to switch sides: given to boys in the years it's not used on girls a...

Tamarix gallica Tamarix (TAM-ar-iks) would make for quite an unusual baby name, but the salt cedar plant, shrub, and small tree also known as tamarisk is no different than other flowering plants used as baby names, such as Rose, Magnolia, Petunia or Laurel. The only difference is that everyone knows what a rose looks like, while little Tamarix would have to say "Google it" with every introduction. She's also very similar to other familiar names like Tamar/a, Beatrix and Tamsin. This pretty namesake might just be worth the trouble. From Latin, the name may have originated from the Tamaris River in Spain, now know as the Tambre or Tamariz, because these plants grew along the river. Tamaris may have been directly connected to the Biblical names Tamara and Tamar, meaning "date palm tree," but more likely the ancient goddess Tamara of Britian, goddess of rivers and streams or at least specifically the Tamar River, which borders Cornwall and has a different me...

www.learnaboutbutterflies.com The girl's baby name Castalia  ( Κασταλια) is pronounced kah-STAH-lia, and/or KASS-tah-lee-uh. She  was a nymph, daughter of the river Achelous, who gave her name to the Castalian Spring near Delphi, Greece - home of the prophetic Oracle of Delphi. According to some legends she married the King of Delphi (possibly King Delphus who gave his name to the city) and had a son with him, who was named Castalius. According to other legends, she became the Castalian Spring itself by diving into the fountain at the foot of Mount Parnassus after being pursued romantically by the god Apollo. Now she is a muse who inspires poetic genius to those who touch her waters, and the other muses are sometimes called Castalides, or it is used as their surname or collective name, because they are associated with this spring. 'Castalian' is now a word, meaning "pertaining to Castalia, fountain of Parnassus." Virginia Woolf used this name for a char...