Every name has a story. Find yours.
Real origins, original meanings, and the stories behind names, from baby names to mythology.
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Every name here comes with real documented etymology: the language it comes from, its original root word, and what that word actually meant before it became a name. Draw a random name above, narrow it down by origin, gender, starting letter, or length, or search directly if you already have a name in mind.
The archive currently holds 1,228 entries across Baby Names, Animal Names, Pet Names, Place Names, Cute Names, Plant & Flower Names, Color Names, Gemstone Names, Mythology Names, Mythical Creatures, and Star Names. Entries are compiled from reference works and reviewed for accuracy, and where historians and linguists disagree on a name's exact origin, that disagreement is noted directly on the entry instead of presenting one guess as settled fact.
Read more about how entries are made and checked, or browse a full category instead of drawing at random.
Where historians and linguists disagree on an origin, the entry says so instead of picking a side.