Name Meanings
What a name means, where it comes from, what personality it carries — and its expression number in numerology. Pick a name from the index.
A
C
E
H
I
J
L
M
N
O
S
T
W
What you'll find on every name page
Each name card answers the questions people actually ask about a name. The meaning and origin section traces where the name comes from — the language, the root words and how it traveled into English. The personality section describes the character traditionally associated with the name, and life and destiny sketches the path folklore tends to draw for its bearers. For the most popular names we also list nicknames, international variants and famous bearers, so you can see the name in the wild before giving it to someone you love.
The numerology hidden in a name
Every name page also calculates the name's expression number — the value you get when each letter is converted to a digit with the classic Pythagorean table and the total is reduced to a single number (or a master number 11, 22 or 33). In numerology this number describes the natural talents a name carries: a 1 leans toward leadership, a 6 toward care, a 7 toward analysis, and so on. It's calculated the same way for every name here, so you can compare them fairly — and you can check any name that isn't in the index yet with our numerology calculator, which also reveals the soul urge and personality numbers hidden in the vowels and consonants.
Choosing between names?
If you're weighing a shortlist, read each candidate's page side by side and note how different the traditional portraits feel. Then have a look at name compatibility — how two names tend to work together in love and partnership — and at the life path numbers that describe character from the birth-date side. Names here are drawn from the current popularity charts of the US, UK and other English-speaking countries, and the index grows in regular waves — if a name you're looking for isn't here yet, the calculator will give you its numbers today.