Grimsley

Meaning: (From the Dark Meadow, from an English surname of unknown meaning (originally from the name of a lost or unidentified place in England, possibly in the Midlands, where it is now concentrated)

Recorded in several spelling forms including Grimcy, Grimsey, Grimsley, Grimsy and Grimsie, this is a surname which is generally accepted as being of English origins. It is clearly locational, although no such place appears to be recorded in any of the known (surname) spellings in England. The only near spelling is Grimsay, an island in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland. However if this island is the spiritual home of the surname, we have not been able to establish any conclusive Scottish recordings, all early recordings being found in England. In our opinion the surname is a development of the village name of Grimley, in Worcestershire, or it is from a now lost village. Grimley, recorded as "Grimanlea" in the famous Domesday Book of England for the year 1086, has the meaning of "Grima's farm", from Old English pre 7th century personal name "Grima", meaning a Mask or a Masked Person, or even a Ghost! As such it was originally a byname bestowed on male children to secure the protection of the gods at a time when the fear of the supernatural was at its height. The Old English word "Leah", can describe a Wood or a Clearing in a Wood, or even a farm, whilst the "eg" now "ey" in the modern surname, if it is not a development of "Leah", may refer to an Island. Early examples of the name recording taken from early surviving church registers of the post medieval period include: Frauncis, the daughter of John Grimesley, christened at Upton on Severn on September 27th 1563, Mary Grymsey who married Robert Bossock at St. James church, Clerkenwell, in the city of London, on June 7th 1612, and Robert Grimsey, who married Elizabeth Buffitt on November 11th 1759, at St Giles Cripplegate, also in the city of London.

Read more: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Grimsley#ixzz4HYkC5OXl)

Origin: (English)

Pronunciation: (GR
IHMZLiy)

Gender: Uni-Sex

I really like the meaning From the Dark Meadow as it gives it a bit of a creepy aspect at first but when you look at it closer it does seem very beautiful or strong depending on the gender you apply it to. I’ve been thinking of naming a quirky, eccentric, smart and sassy female character this if the right story comes about, its forming in my head but as of right now I’m already writing a novel so it will be on my to be written list if the story develops further in my brain. It has a very fairy-tale like quality which I like a lot as well. The 7^th century meanings too give it a darker vibe, but given that eras beliefs its not surprising, but that can be avoided or exploited by an author depending on if it matters to their story and their characters life. Also because it has such a long history of use it would fit in just about any era whether as a first name or a surname.

Duvessa

Meaning: (A Dark Beauty, Dark Haired Nurse, Dark One of the Waterfall)

Origin: (Irish, Gaelic)

Pronunciation: (Du-ve-ssa, DIV-yah-sa, DIV-ə-sə)

Gender: Female

So I was looking for a name for a Beastly Beauty in one of my soon to be written retellings of a fairy-tale, minus the magic elements. The retelling will be a Beauty and the Beast retelling with a few changes and surprises. So Duvessa is one of the main characters names and I love it a lot but I’m not surprised as I love a lot of Irish names but unlike most harder to pronounce Irish names this one is actually easy enough to pronounce.

The meanings are very beautiful but I think Dark One of the Waterfall was one I couldn’t quite validate as to if it really was a meaning or not but I thought it was so beautiful I just had to add it. Either way these meanings make me see a very dark vixen type character with flowering dark hair, dark eyes and figure to die for, hopefully not literally, lol!

Efah

Meaning: (Chastity, Modesty, Virtuous, Pious, God Fearing, Devoted to God, Darkness, Gloomy)

Origin: (Hebrew, Muslim, Islamic, Arabic)

Pronunciation: (EH-Faa)

Gender: Female

I was looking for names that mean darkness and saw this one but I went a different way entirely with the name however I liked Efah so I decided to add it to my blog list. The name looks and sounds a bit like Effie to me which isn’t a bad thing as I like and have used the name Effie before but as a nickname with the full name Euphemia *see on list of posts*.

I like the meanings but the last two meanings of Darkness and Gloomy seems completely different then the previous more light and airy glorious meanings. I think I prefer the meanings of Chastity, Modesty, Virtuous, Pious, God Fearing and Devoted to God which are all very beautiful meanings for a very interesting pretty name. The meanings relating to Virtue would fit well in my current novel in progress as Virtues are very important to that society.

Mirabai

Meaning: (Wealthy, High Born, Ocean, Limit, Boundary, Prosperous, 16th century Indian poet and singer, also called Meera.)

Origin: (Sanskrit, Hindu)

Pronunciation: (Meer-ah-bye, Mee-ra-BYE)

Gender: Female

I forget where I saw this name but when I did see it I really loved the foreign look. However the pronunciation throws me off as I want to pronounce it meer-ah-bay not meer-ah-bye. I love the meanings a lot and the whole look is divine and breathtakingly beautiful. If you do use it a good nickname option, for English speakers who might get a bit infuriated trying to say this name, could be Mira. It has wonderfully long history of use so it could fit just about any century going back to the 16^th Century and probably even before that. You could do some research and see if maybe it was used before then.

Madchen

Meaning: (Girl, Little Girl, Maiden, It is not used as a name in Germany itself.)

Origin: (German)

Pronunciation: (MEHD-ShehN, MaeD-CH-AHN)

Gender: Female, Possibly Uni-Sex

This is the name of the actress who played Sherry, the girlfriend of Christopher Lorelei’s ex and Roy’s dad, on Gilmore Girls. The look of the name is interesting and kind of reminds me of something from Alice in Wonderland but when you look at the meaning and realize it’s just a word in German and means just Girl it seems a bit silly but if you can ignore the meaning and it being a word it is a cool character name. Of course the meaning could be relevant at some point to an authors character so it might work.

Some of the ways this can be pronounced almost sounds like you’re trying to say Madichen. I have a cousin named Madichen and I’ve never known the reason for her name and now I’m wondering if there’s perhaps a similarity between it and Madchen as they do sound a like and the only difference in spelling is the I. Cute Nickname Options: Mad, Maddy / Maddie, Mads, and Addy / Addie.   

Brandon

Meaning: (Derived from a surname and place name based on the Old English for 'Hill Covered with Broom'. Broom is a prolific weed, also 'From the Beacon Hill', Little Raven, Prince, and Brave.

This surname is a habitational name, derived from any of the numerous places in England called Brandon. Such places can include: Brandon, County Durham; Brandon, Northumbria; Brandon, Suffolk; Brandon, Warwickshire; and other locations. For the most part, the names of these places are derived from two Old English language elements: Brōm, meaning "Broom", "Gorse"; and Dūn, meaning Hill". However, one location, Brandon in Lincolnshire, may be connected to the River Brant, which runs close by. This river's name is derived from two Old English elements: Brant, meaning "Steep", "Deep"; and Dūn, meaning "Hill". The name of this location is probably in reference to the river's steep banks.

In some cases, it is also possible that the given name Brandon is a variant form of the Irish given name Brendan. This name is an Anglicized form of the old Gaelic language name, Bréanainn, which in turn is derived from a Celtic language element meaning "Prince".)

Origin: (Old English)

Pronunciation: (BRAN-dən)

Gender: Male

I had a friend some years back named Brandon. It is a pretty common name which doesn’t win me over as I am not a fan of really popular names but the plus for an author when it comes to popular names is it’s easily recognized, pronounced and easy on most anyone. Most of the meanings are really nice and strong sounding. It’s a nice English name as well. I am not in love with the name but I don’t hate it either. It seems more of a secondary character type name to me though. Many of the naming forums I visited however were quite disturbing as more people talked about the virility of men named Brandon verses actually talking about the name in general.

There are some nice nickname options and I wouldn’t mind seeing this name as it is easily recognized and pronounceable as I’ve said so it wouldn’t be hard to read if you had to keep seeing this name in a novel.

Jinjoo

Meaning: (Variant transcription of Jinju; Means "Pearl" in Korean. A famous bearer is South Korean golfer Hong Jin-joo (1983-).)

Origin: (Korean)

Pronunciation: (jeen-joo, JHihNJHUW)

Gender: Female

I was listening to music by the band DNCE and saw the female in the groups name is Jinjoo and I really came to like its unique to English speakers look. I don’t think I’ve put many Korean names on my blog so this is definitely new territory for me. The meaning is lovely and the look of the name is beautiful. Although I keep wanting to pronounce Jin as you would Jen but it’s really jeen as you would say like blue jeans. However when said by one familiar in Korean it may sound a tad different then even I am seeing it pronounced.

I think it has a very other worldly like look and would be cool on another planet or maybe a space opera novel or even just another outer space setting. Although it could be used on earth if used by a character with Korean parents and still be really pretty and I would love to see it.

Armando

Meaning: (Army Man, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese form of Herman.)

Origin: (German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese)

Pronunciation: (ahr-MAHN-do (Spanish, Italian), aaR-MAAN-Dow (Italian, Spanish))

Gender: Male

I have realized I haven’t really put a lot of Spanish names on here or at least not very many for males so I was listening to a music channel on my TV the other day and I was listening to a song and just like Enrique *see on list of posts* I saw the artist known as Pitbulls real first name is Armando. So I added Armando to my list as it is Spanish but also has other origins as well and the name is strong and brave as the meaning showcases. I would love to see this name used more often in literature as I do like the over all look and sound of the name. It’s strong and masculine and attractive but also respectable and regal in a way.

If you are looking for another variant of Herman which often feels old which it is you could go with Armin *see on list of posts*, its still has an old history of use as well but is unique.

Enrique

Meaning: (Rules an Estate, Head of the Household, Spanish form of Henry)

Origin: (Spanish)

Pronunciation: (en-REE-ke, ehn-REE-kay)

Gender: Male

I have realized I haven’t really put a lot of Spanish names on here or at least not very many for males so I was listening to a music channel on my TV the other day and I was listening to a song by Enrique Iglesias and I thought I do like the name and it is Spanish so I decided to add it to the list. A bonus to this name is I love the name Henry and have used many different spellings and forms of it as a secondary characters name in a few of my novels so this is just another foreign variant which I love.

The meanings are strong and masculine and the name itself has a very Latin sexy flare but it’s a respectable name as well. So I can see this on different types of characters and that’s a very good thing. I would love to see it used more often in literature.

Levada / Lavada

Meaning: (Levada is an irrigation channel or aqueduct specific to the Portuguese island of Madeira.)

Origin: (Portuguese, English (Rare))

Pronunciation: (leh-VAY'-duh, leh-vah-duh)

Gender: Uni-Sex

I was watching a TV show about islands of the world that are improving the world with green technologies and one of the islands I saw on the one show was about the Portuguese island of Madeira *see on list of posts*. On the island they have a series of irrigation canals called a Levada. I think they are not only ingenious but very pretty and seem to enhance the islands unique flare. As a name I think it would be very cool if used in reference to these canals or maybe the characters parents might have a connection to the islands and the Levada irrigation canals. It’s a unique pretty name!