Tinsdale

Meaning: (Tin: A Great Thinker, the Latin name stannum originally meant an alloy of silver
and lead Dale: Little Valley, From an English surname which originally belonged to a person who lived near a dale or valley.)

Origin: (Croatian, Latin, Old English, Middle English, Gaelic)

Pronunciation: (Tin: teen, ten Dale: DAY-əl, DAYL Tinsdale: teens-DAY-əl, teens-DAYL, tens- DAY-əl, tens-DAYL)

Gender: Uni-Sex

This is the last name of Christopher’s girlfriend on the TV series Gilmore Girls which I love watching re-runs of.  I had to break up the name to get meanings for them but all the meanings are really nice especially A Great Thinker. This would be interesting if used as a first name as maybe the character is named for a family last name. I can see a brainy book reader type with this name that then gets caught up in a wonderful adventure and falls for a bad boy type, lol.

Milorada

Meaning: (Milo "Gracious, Dear" and Rad "Work, Care, Joy, Happy, Willing".)

Origin: (Serbian, Slavic, Croatian)

Pronunciation: (MihLAOerAHDAH)

Gender: Female

This is the name of an outfit or commenter on I think either Pearson Renaissance Shoppe or Arm Street websites. This is a great feminine form for names like Milo and Miles. So if you love those names but want a female character this would be great. It seems a pretty cool name for a very ethereal divine character of outstanding grace and beauty. Also does seem like a name for an ancient race or something, so would be cool if used for that or maybe the name of an alien world or Medieval Kingdom or something.

Nickname Options: Milly, Millie, Milo, Rada (RAH-DAH not like RAD-ah), Radie (RAHD-ee), Lora, and Miles.

Edit January 24, 2016:

I forgot to add that I have used this as the name of the Kingdom in my Cinderella Retelling Long Short Story "Everly After" which is Retelling Book One in my Fairy Tales with a Twist Series (well maybe a Trilogy or well I'll see as I go). I am retelling Fairy Tales and giving them a delightful or often infuriating twist. I am also incorporating my own Fairy Tales. Milorada fit perfect as the name of the Kingdom in my Cinderella Retelling!

Anja

Meaning: (Grace of God, Gracious, Full of Grace, Diminutive of Anna.)

Origin: (Russian, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Croatian, Serbian, German, Portuguese)

Pronunciation: (AHN-yə, AHN-ya, AHN-yah, AHN-zha (Portuguese))

Gender: Female

I was either reading the yearbook published by Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Watchtower by Jehovah’s Witnesses and saw this name. The meanings are pretty and the name is unique. It was interesting to me that it is a derivative of Anna. It is a pretty name but I am afraid it may not be so memorable to me. If I saw this in a novel at least I know now how to pronounce it.

Dren

Meaning: (Deer, European Cornel, From Serbian дрен/dren meaning European Cornel (Cornus mas) (type of dogwood). The tree is a symbol of strength and health in Serbian culture, having an idiom "здрав к'о дрен/zdrav k'o dren" which equates to English "fit as a fiddle". Therefore, the name is meant to denote "a strong and healthy individual". The region of Drenica in Kosovo is named after it.

It is a unisex name in Albanian culture, particularly common for males in Kosovo. The origin of this name may be from the Albanian word dre for deer.)

Origin: (Albanian, Serbian, Croatian)

Pronunciation: (drin, D-REN)

Gender: Uni-Sex

I was watching the movie Splice and the human-animal hybrid that is genetically cloned is named Dren by the doctors. I didn’t see the whole movie but what I saw was creepy. However the name Dren is pretty cool. It is short and seemingly pronounceable. The meanings are strong and interesting. It would work on either gender or if you want female I suppose you can go with Drena, as I saw that spelling recently.

Elena / Eleena

Meaning: (Sun Ray, Shining Light, Bright One, Light Bearer, Wicker, Reed, Shoot, Torch, Basket, Cognate of HELEN, and a variant Russian transcription of YELENA. Elena variation of Helen dates back to the 12th century.)

Origin: (Greek, Italian, Spanish, Bulgarian, Romanian, Macedonian, Croatian, Slovene, Lithuanian, Russian, German, Medieval Slavic)

Pronunciation: (E-le-nah (Italian), e-LE-nah (Spanish), ye-LYE-nah (Russian), ee-LYE-nah (Russian), eh-LAY-nah, ah-lay-nah, eh-LAYN-ah, el-AY-na)

Gender: Female

I was watching the movie The Mask of Zorro a few weeks ago and there was a lady Elena played by Catherine Zeta-Zones in the film. So I thought to add this to my blog because a few years ago I used the name Eleena as a minor characters name in my trilogy. So hearing Elena in The Mask of Zorro it reminded me of Eleena and also reminded me I have yet to add this name to my blog. The meanings are pretty and the name it's self is very beautiful. It's got a great look and it easily pronounced.

Nikola or Nicola

Meaning: (Victory of the People)

Origin: (Greek, Croatian, Serbian)

Pronunciation: (NIK-oe-lah)

Gender: Uni-Sex

Again this is a name I like when I heard it on the T.V Series Sanctuary. The character was supposed to be Nikola Tesla the scientist. I really like the name. Pronunciation is a bit tricky and I always want to say it the wrong way.