Sharon, also spelled Saron, is a given name as well as an Israeli surname.
Amy is an English feminine given name, the English version of the French Aimée, which means beloved. It was used as a diminutive of the Latin name Amata, a name derived from the passive participle of amare, “to love”. The name has been in use in the Anglosphere since the Middle Ages. It was among the 50 most popular names for girls in England between 1538 and 1700. It was popularized in the 19th century in the Anglosphere by a character in Sir Walter Scott's 1821 novel Kenilworth, which was based on the story of Amy Robsart. Enslaved Black women in the United States prior to the American Civil War were more likely to bear the name than white American women because slave masters often chose their names from literary sources. The name declined in use after 1880 but was revived due to the hit song Once in Love with Amy from the 1948 Broadway musical Where's Charley?. The name peaked in usage in the United States between 1973 and 1976, when it was among the five most popular names for American girls. It remained among the top 250 names for American girls in the early 2020s.
Melanie is a feminine given name derived from the Greek μελανία (melania), "blackness" and that from μέλας (melas), meaning "dark". Borne in its Latin form by two saints, Melania the Elder and her granddaughter Melania the Younger, the name was introduced to England by the Normans in its French form Melanie. However, the name only became common in English usage in the 1930s because of the popularity of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and its 1939 film adaptation, as one of the novel's main characters was named Melanie Hamilton. The name's popularity increased until the 1970s, since remaining constant. Melanie was the 80th most popular name for girls born in the United States in 1957 and, as Mélanie, it was the 86th most popular name for girls born in France in 2004.
Bonnie is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie", or the French bonne (good). That is in turn derived from the Latin word "bonus" (good). The name can also be used as a pet form of Bonita.
Samantha is a feminine given name.
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.
Pamela is a feminine given name, often abbreviated to Pam. Pamela is also infrequently used as a surname.
Pippa is a feminine given name and a short form, usually of Philippa. It came into greater use as an independent name in the Anglosphere following the publication of the 1841 verse drama Pippa Passes by English poet Robert Browning with the well-known lines "God's in his heaven— / All's right with the world!" The character was an innocent Italian girl, though the name is not in common use as a given name in Italy.
Miranda is a feminine given name of Latin origin, meaning "worthy of admiration". William Shakespeare invented the name for a character in his play The Tempest, deriving the feminine name from the Latin word mirandus. In the play, the character is addressed as “Admired Miranda! Indeed the top of admiration! Worth what’s dearest to the world!” People named their daughters after the Shakespearean character beginning in the 1700s. The name was more popular in the United States than elsewhere in the Anglosphere, possibly due to its similarity in sound to Amanda, a name also more common for American girls by the 1800s. The name declined in use after 1900 but was revived in the United Kingdom due to the popularity of the 1948 British fantasy film Miranda about a mermaid named Miranda. The name also increased in usage in the United States when the film began airing on television there in the 1950s. Other media influences also increased usage of the name through the early 2000s. The name has recently declined in usage in the United States due to negative associations with the satirical character Miranda Sings.
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.
Scarlett is a feminine given name. The color scarlet symbolizes courage, passion, force, joy and heat. The cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church wear scarlet as a color of the blood of Christ and the Christian martyrs. It gained popularity due to the character Scarlett O'Hara in Margaret Mitchell's best-selling novel Gone with the Wind and the film adaptation. The name has been well used in recent years for girls in the United Kingdom and in the United States.
Tammy is a feminine given name. It can be a short form of the names Tamsin, Thomasina, Thomasin, or Tamar, Tamara or other names starting with Tam. Tamsin, Thomasina, and Thomasin are feminine versions of the name Thomas, a Greek form of the Aramaic name Te'oma, meaning twin. Tamara is a Russian form of the Hebrew name Tamar, which means "palm tree". In Israel "Tami" (תמי) is commonly used as an abbreviation of the original Hebrew name.
Shirley is a given name and a surname originating from the English place-name Shirley, which is derived from the Old English elements scire ("shire") or scīr and lēah. The name makes reference to the open space where the moot was held. The surname Shirley became established as a female given name in 1849 due to its use in Charlotte Brontë's novel Shirley, in which the character explains that her parents had intended the family surname for a son. It was further popularized in 1851–52 by its pseudonymous use by California Gold Rush writer Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe. It was eventually brought to its highest popularity, in the 1930s, by the fame of child star Shirley Temple.
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.
Crystal is a common English language female given name. Variant forms of the name include Kristal, Krystal, Cristal, Kristel, Krystle and Kristol.
Brandy is a given name sometimes given in reference to the alcoholic beverage or used as a feminine form of Brandon. It is also an English surname likely derived from the Germanic word element brand, meaning sword. Related surnames with the same meaning are the Italian Brandi and Brando. Usage of the name as a first name for boys has likely been a transferred use of the surname. Census records show that Brandy was in use as a masculine name in the United States, primarily for Black men, in the mid 19th century. Brandy was occasionally used as a hypocorism for women and girls for various names such as Brandina, Brenda, or Maranda, but was not widely used as a formal name for girls until the 1940s. Usage for girls might have been inspired by usage of the name Sherry, also the name of an alcoholic beverage, for girls in the 1940s. Further usage was inspired by use of the name for film characters: the attractive con woman character Brandy Kirby played by Lizabeth Scott in the 1951 film Two of a Kind, the saloon girl Brandy played by Mari Blanchard in the 1954 western Destry, and Brandy de la Court, played by Michele Girardon in the 1962 film Hatari! Spelling variant Brandi first appeared among the 1,000 most popular names for American girls in 1966. Brandy also appeared among the top 1,000 names in 1967. The name came into greater use in the Anglosphere following the release of the hit 1972 song Brandy by Looking Glass. The name peaked in usage in 1978 in the United States when it was the 37th most popular name for American girls. It has since declined in usage. Spelling variants include Brandee, Brandi, Brandie, and Brandye.
Penelope, often used in reference to Homer's character, is a female first name of Greek origin. It is of uncertain meaning but may be derived from the Greek word penelops, which means duck or refers to another water fowl sacred to the Ancient Greeks. The name might also be derived from the Greek pene meaning web and either ops meaning eye or lepo, meaning unraveled, implying the meaning weaver. The name was revived in the Anglosphere by the mid-16th Century and has since been in occasional use.
Dulcie is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin dulcis, meaning sweet. It has been in use in the Anglosphere since the 1800s. It was a recreation in a new form of Duce, Douce, or Dowse, an older English name in use since the Middle Ages that was derived from the same Latin source word. Dulcia was a form of the name in use in the Later Roman Empire. Dulcis and Dulceta were both in use in records recorded in Latin in medieval France, where the name came from the Old French words dolz or dous and Middle French words doux and douce, all also from the Latin dulcis. The names Dolcis and Dulcis are found in Latin records in medieval Italy; Dulcia and Dulciae in Latin records in medieval Portugal. Dowsabel or Dousabel, or Dulcibel or Dulcibella in modern English, was derived from the Latin dulcis in combination with bellus, or beautiful, and also had the connotation of sweetheart.
Phyllis or Phillis is a feminine given name of Greek origin meaning foliage. Phyllis is a minor figure in Greek mythology who killed herself in despair when Demophon of Athens did not return to her and who was transformed into an almond tree by the gods. Phillida, Phyllicia, and Phyllida are all variants of the name.
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.
