Fatima, also spelled Fatimah, is a feminine given name of Arabic origin used throughout the Muslim world. Several relatives of the Islamic prophet Muhammad had the name, including his daughter Fatima as the most famous one. The literal meaning of the name is one who weans an infant or one who abstains.
Fanny is a feminine given name. Its origins include diminutives of the French name Frances meaning "free one", and of the name "Estefanía", a Spanish version of Stephanie, meaning "crown".
Fiona is a feminine given name of Gaelic origins. It means white or fair, the Irish name Fíona means vine. It was coined by Scottish writer William Sharp. Sharp may have drawn inspiration from Celtic variations of the name Catherine. Initially, the name was confined to Scotland but later it gained popularity in other countries, such as Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Australia, Germany and Canada.
Agnes is a feminine given name derived from the Greek Ἁγνή Hagnḗ, meaning 'pure' or 'holy'. The name passed to Italian as Agnese, to French as Agnès, to Portuguese as Inês, and to Spanish as Inés. It is also written as Agness. The name is descended from the Proto-Indo-European *h₁yaǵ-, meaning 'to sacrifice; to worship,' from which is also the Vedic term yajña. It is mostly used in Greece and countries that speak Germanic languages.
Pamela is a feminine given name, often abbreviated to Pam. Pamela is also infrequently used as a surname.
Patricia is a feminine given name of Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word patrician, meaning 'noble', it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick. Another well-known variant is Patrice.
Florence is usually a feminine given name. It is derived from the French version of (Saint) Florentia, a Roman martyr under Diocletian. The Latin florens, florentius means "blossoming", verb floreo, meaning "I blossom / I flower / I flourish". Florence was in the past also used as a translation of the Latin version Florentius, and may be used in this context as a masculine given name.
Bridget is an Irish female name derived from the Gaelic noun brígh, meaning "power, strength, vigor, virtue". An alternative meaning of the name is "exalted one". Its popularity, especially in Ireland, is largely related to the popularity of Saint Brigid of Kildare, who was so popular in Ireland she was known as "Mary of the Gael". This saint took on many of the characteristics of the early Celtic goddess Brigid, who was the goddess of agriculture and healing and possibly also of poetry and fire. One of her epithets was "Brigid of the Holy Fire". In German and Scandinavian countries, the popularity of the name spread due to Saint Bridget of Sweden.
Jennifer, also spelled Jenifer or Jenefer, is a feminine given name, the Cornish form of Guinevere, that became popular in the English-speaking world in the 20th century.
Molly is a diminutive of the feminine name Mary that, like other English diminutives in use since the Middle Ages, substituted l for r. English surnames such as Moll, Mollett, and Mollison are derived from Molly. Molly has also been used as a diminutive of Margaret and Martha since the 1700s and as an independent name since at least 1720. The name was more popular in the United States than elsewhere in the Anglosphere in the 1800s due to usage by Irish-American families and by Jewish American families who used Molly as an English version of Hebrew names such as Miriam and Malka. Its popularity with Americans was also influenced by stories about Molly Pitcher, a heroine of the American Revolutionary War.
Lily is a feminine given name usually derived from lily, the flower. The name became particularly popular along with other flower names for girls during the 1800s and early 1900s. The lily also has associations with and has been symbolic of innocence and purity in Christian art. Names beginning with or containing the letter L have also been particularly fashionable for girls. It is also occasionally used as a diminutive for other names such as Elizabeth.
Emily is a feminine given name derived from the Roman family name "Aemilius", and is the feminine form of the name Emil.
Elizabeth is a feminine given name, a variation of the Hebrew name Elisheva (אֱלִישֶׁבַע), meaning "My God is an oath" or "My God is abundance", as rendered in the Septuagint.
Ruth is a common female given name, noted from Ruth, the eponymous heroine of the eighth book of the Old Testament.
Ada is a feminine given name. One origin is the Germanic element "adel-" meaning "nobility", for example as part of the names Adelaide and Adeline. The name can also trace to a Hebrew origin, sometimes spelled Adah עָדָה, meaning "adornment". Ada means "first daughter" among the Igbo People. Its equivalent for "first son" in the same clan is Tahitii and Okpara across all Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria. The Igbo people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Ada means "island" in Turkish, and it was the 35th most popular girls' name in Turkey in 2016. Finally, the name occurs in Greek mythology and was in use in Ancient Greece.
Ursula is a feminine given name in several languages. The name is derived from a diminutive of the Latin ursa, which means "bear". The name was best used in the Anglosphere in the 16th century but has since been rather uncommon in English-speaking countries, although its use has been influenced since the twentieth century by the Swiss-born actress Ursula Andress. It was among the most popular names for newborn girls in Germany from the 1920s to the 1950s. Ulla, Ursel, and Uschi are German short forms of the name.
Flora is a feminine given name of Latin origin meaning flower, ultimately derived from the Latin word flos, which had the genitive florus. Flora was a fertility goddess of flowers and springtime in Ancient Rome.
Daphne is a feminine given name of Greek origin meaning laurel. It originates from Greek mythology, where Daphne was a naiad, a variety of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. The name came into popular use in the Anglosphere in the late 1800s along with other flower, tree, and plant names that were in vogue at the time. In the United States, the name was in use for enslaved African-born women named by enslavers who used names from the Ancient Greek and Roman classics for the enslaved population in order to display their education to their contemporaries. United States census records from the 1800s show a majority of the women bearing the name in the pre-Civil War era there were Black. The name was also in rare use in the United Kingdom in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, where a working class mother and daughter in Scotland were both named Daphne. The name became fashionable for daughters born to aristocratic families in Britain in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The name increased in use in the Anglosphere after author Daphne du Maurier rose to prominence in the 1940s and 1950s. Usage also increased after the name was used for characters in novels or television productions such as the popular 1960s American television series Surfside 6 in which Diane McBain played socialite Daphne Dutton, who had her own yacht called the Daffy II. After the show first aired, the name Daphne tripled in use for newborn American girls between 1960 and 1962. In recent years, the name has increased in usage due to the aristocratic character Daphne Bridgerton on the 2020s Netflix streaming television series Bridgerton.
Deirdre is a feminine given name of Celtic origin and of unknown meaning. Deirdre is the name of a tragic heroine of Irish mythology. More attention was drawn to the name during the early 20th Century in Ireland and throughout the Anglosphere after W. B. Yeats published his poem Deirdre in 1907 and playwright J.M. Synge published his play Deirdre of the Sorrows in 1910. There are a number of spelling variants and pronunciations of the name in use.
