Do your name have any meaning?

[Elanor]

Bolek is a character from a Polish cartoon called Bolek and Lolek.

Wow, and I've thought it's just a coincidence...

My Christian name, Dominika, derives from the Latin "of the Lord". No greater story behind it.

[Kubi]

Bolek is a character from a Polish cartoon called Bolek and Lolek.

Funny. It's known in Germany as well, but with the names in reverse order: Lolek und Bolek.

My first name is Christian - no mystery as to its significatian...


Family name is Witjes - it's said to be Frisian, meaning "little white", but I've never managed to confirm that origin. Anyway, it's a rare name in Germany.

[Mulder-21]

My name: Johan Petur Dam

Both my names' etymology has already been described, so I'm just making it short.

Johan is a short form of Johannes, which in turn derives from Hebrew: Jochanan means: "God had forgiven"

Petur comes Greek Petrus and means rock.

Dam is Scandinavian (or probably rather Low German) and means the same in English: Dam, like in Hoover Dam. I'm not exactly sure where my last name originates, but it's likely that it's Danish. I've only been able to trace it back to approx. 1660. If the name is a name of nobility, I'd have to go at least 100 years further back to find its origin. (Danish law changed the usage of nobility surname in the 16th century, before it was like in Iceland with patronyms)

[Martine]

Martina, my name is feminine form of Martinus or todays form- Martin. It's from the Roman name "Martinus" which was derived from Martis. It's the genitive case of Roman god Mars.
More information about meanings of names is here: http://www.behindthename.com/

[Gormur]

The boy's name Lance is of French origin. From Lanzo (Old German) "land". Nickname of Lancelot. Not related to the medieval jousting weapon. Lantz is a Yiddish name meaning "lancet." Cyclist Lance Armstrong; singer Lance Bass.

Lance has 3 variant forms: Lantz, Lanzo and Launce.

I hate my name, no one calls me by it if they know me. I wish I knew the meaning of my last name.

[Banazir.Galbasi]

Bolek is a character from a Polish cartoon called Bolek and Lolek.

Wow, and I've thought it's just a coincidence...

My Christian name, Dominika, derives from the Latin "of the Lord". No greater story behind it.

i love your nickname!

[Passe-Cale]

The boy's name Lance is of French origin. From Lanzo (Old German) "land". Nickname of Lancelot. Not related to the medieval jousting weapon. Lantz is a Yiddish name meaning "lancet." Cyclist Lance Armstrong; singer Lance Bass.

Lance has 3 variant forms: Lantz, Lanzo and Launce.

I hate my name, no one calls me by it if they know me. I wish I knew the meaning of my last name.

Lance is cute, why do you hate it?
And what is your last name?
I'm curious now!

[Nero]

My name is Thomas, and my parents only picked it because it didn't have a female form (Alex -> Alexandra, Carl -> Carla, Thomas -> ?)

[pastorant]

My name is Thomas, and my parents only picked it because it didn't have a female form (Alex -> Alexandra, Carl -> Carla, Thomas -> ?)

Thomasina! Why didn't your parents want a name with a female form? I think having an ambiguous name is worse. Like the name Robin. Or Pat.

I might name our next daughter Shaniqua

[nbkr]

My firstname Benjamin is hebrew and means "Son of Luck" or (another meaning) "the youngest". I don't think my parents chose the name because of its meaning.

The orgin of my lastname "Fleckenstein" ist quite interesting. There is a small mountain in France called "Fleckenstein". On top of it there is a castle and the noblemen that lived in that castle called themselves "von Fleckensten" (of Fleckenstein).

The people they ruled took the name as their own lastname but without the "von". Some of those people then moved to the place where I live at present. So I'm probably a descendant of those people (the "normal" ones, not the noblemen ).

The name Fleckenstein is quite common where I live, but it seems to be a local name and not common in the rest of the country.

[Nero]

My name is Thomas, and my parents only picked it because it didn't have a female form (Alex -> Alexandra, Carl -> Carla, Thomas -> ?)

Thomasina! Why didn't your parents want a name with a female form? I think having an ambiguous name is worse. Like the name Robin. Or Pat.

To save other people trouble when they try to figure out if I was a male or female by looking at my name. Ambiguous names do suck

[Sergei]

Sergei is a very popular name in all Russian'speaking countries. It has Roman background, originally meaning something like "high"

Bolek and Lolek, yeah, I remember that cartoon from childhood! But Bolek, I never met a Russian whose name would be Bojan.

[kibo]

I didn't say it was common, especially not in the 20th century. It is predominantly a South-Slavic name.

[Hunef]

There is no sure evidence of the origin of the name Bojan. It's a name used mostly in South Slavic countries, though I read that it is also present among Russians and Czechs.

It is also present in Sweden as a female name, a diminutive form of names ending with -borg (Old Norse -björg), e.g. Ingeborg (ON Ingibjörg). For example, the actress Bojan Westin [ˈbɔjːan ˌʋɛstˈiːn] (1926-) is the mother of the Swedish comedian Suzanne Reuter (1952-):

Suzanne Reuter,
daughter of
Swedish actress
Bojan Westin

[kibo]

So I would be a woman in Sweden?

[Hunef]

So I would be a woman in Sweden?

There are many yugoslavs in Sweden with the name Bojan and of course, people assume they are women until they meet them. In Sweden Bojan is a female name, and it's always really hilarious to see that a man has this name (though he's always from former Yugoslavia).

Almost all in Sweden ending with -an are female. The corresponding male ending is -e. At the moment, I can only think of Staffan/Stefan and Stellan which contradict this fact. A famous Stellan:

Stellan Skarsgård (to the right)

Where do you buy this outfit?

[North]

My name is Anina Skeel Holbek Thomsen

"Anina" is one of many variations of the name "Anna", Someone told me, that Anna means "gracious", but I don't remember in wich language.

"Skeel", I don't think it means anything, but it is a Danish, old name of a noble family. (if you find that interesting, take a look at the family tree here)

"Holbek" is the name of a city in Denmark (actually the city name is spelled "Holbæk"), and I've got that name from an ancestor from that area

"Thomsen" means "Tom's son" - I hate that name, because I'm a female, so I'm not a son of anybody, and my fathers name was not Tom.. but the -sen names are very common in Denmark, and no one think of these names as I do.

[Hunef]

My name is Anina Skeel Holbek Thomsen

Oh, you've got one first name and three (3!) last names!
Very interesting genealogy tree your father (I assume) has compiled.

But the disappearance and reappearance of the surname Skeel is a bit confusing...

"Thomsen" means "Tom's son" - I hate that name, because I'm a female, so I'm not a son of anybody, and my fathers name was not Tom.. but the -sen names are very common in Denmark, and no one think of these names as I do.

The same here. But my last name Xsson at least gives me the info about the first name of my mother's father's father's father, namely "X".
Note that after Iceland, Jämtland is the region in Scandinavia which employs patronyms to the highest degree. (Though the patronyms are officially middle names so typically you don't see them in e.g. media.)

[Dminor]

Yes, it means "wreath".

[Guillem]

My name is Guillem... which is incidentally the same as my username these days I was forced to change it all of a sudden last year because it consisted of numbers only and after some update the forum layout didn't support it anymore... or something like that. Needless to say I ran out of imagination at the time I had to choose a new one.
So my name's equivalent in English is obviously William (some people in England call me Bill, which I find a bit irritating). I'll let Wikipedia elaborate.

William is derived from the Norman language, and of Germanic origin: "wil" = will, desire; "helm" = helmet, protection. The Old German name Wilhelm and the Old Norse name Vilhjálmr have the same roots. The Belgian name "Guildhelm" means "harnessed with a gilded helmet".

The oldest known famous bearer of the name was Saint William of Gellone; his cult spread the name throughout Europe.

I personally like it. I have three names though: Guillem Antoni Eric, but I've dropped the latter two from my ID cards because they led to so much confusion... I still keep getting letters with the wrong name, and it's awful to get calls like this:
- Good morning. Eric G.S.?
- Hmm I think you must have a wrong number.
- Oh I see, I'm sorry.
- Oh no! Wait, that's me... Eric is one of my three first names.



I think we've discussed the etimology of all these earlier in this thread

My full name is Светлана (Svetlana) which comes from Slavic "светлая" (light/clear) and so it means "light". I think the English equivalent for my name is Claire, but I don't like it

I've always thought Svetlana is a really beautiful name