When you search for a name you will find the origin of the name.
Below is a brief description of the origin. To return to searching for
'Ethnic Origin' - >Click
here
| Aboriginal |
Not necessarily traditional indigenous Australian
names, but rather Aboriginal words from various parts of the
continent. |
| African |
This term refers to any one of the related languages that are spoken
in central Africa. More specifically, it refers to languages belonging
to the Niger-Congo language family. African languages referred to on
this website include: Akan (Ghana and Togo), Igbo (Nigeria), Luganda
(Uganda), Luo (Kenya), Mwera (Tanzania), Ndebele (Zimbabwe), Shona
(Zimbabwe), Swahili (eastern Africa), Tiv (Nigeria), Tswana (Botswana
and South Africa), Xhosa (South Africa), and Yoruba (Nigeria). |
| Akkadian |
An extinct Semitic language that was spoken in the ancient realm of
Akkad, which was located in Mesopotamia. |
| Albanian |
The Indo-European language spoken in Albania. It is probably
descended from the extinct languages Illyrian and Thracian. |
| Arabic |
The Semitic language that is spoken in the Middle East and northern
Africa. |
| Aramaic |
A Semitic language that was spoken in southwest Asia beginning about
1000 BC. |
| Armenian |
The Indo-European language spoken in the Caucasus by the Armenian
peoples. Its closest relations were the extinct languages Thracian and
Phrygian. |
| Assyrian |
A Semitic language that was spoken in the ancient kingdom of
Assyria. It was originally a dialect of Akkadian. |
| Avestan |
An extinct Indo-European language spoken in ancient Iran. It was
related to Old Persian. |
| Babylonian |
An extinct Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Babylonia. It
was originally a dialect of Akkadian. |
| Basque |
From the western Pyrenees region of Spain and France. |
| Breton |
The Celtic language that was spoken by the Celts of southeast
Britain and Brittany (Bretons). |
| British |
Refers to the Brythonic Celtic that was spoken in Britain before the
Anglo-Saxon invasions. |
| Bulgarian |
The south Slavic language spoken in Bulgaria. |
| Catalan |
The language spoken northern and eastern Spain, southern France,
Andorra, and the Balearic Islands. It is one of the Romance languages
descended from Latin. |
| Celtic |
Breton, Cornish and Welsh names from the Celtic
(Indo-European) languages of the far west of Europe. |
| Chinese |
This term is used to refer to any of the related languages spoken in
China, including Mandarin, Hokkien and Cantonese. Unless otherwise
noted, the Chinese names on this website are in Mandarin and they are
transcribed using the Pinyin system. |
| Coptic |
The language descended from Egyptian. |
| Cornish |
Celtic names from Cornwall, the most south-westerly
English county. |
| Croatian |
The south Slavic language spoken by the Croatian people. It is
similar to Serbian except for its use of the Latin alphabet. |
| Czech |
The west Slavic language spoken in the Czech Republic. |
| Danish |
The language spoken in Denmark. It is one of the Scandinavian
languages. |
| Dutch |
The Germanic language spoken in Holland (and also parts of Belgium,
where it is typically called Flemish and is sometimes regarded as a
separate language). |
| Egyptian |
Names from the extinct language of the ancient
Egyptians. |
| English |
This term refers to modern English. It is descended from Middle
English. |
| Esperanto |
The international language invented by Doctor Ludwig L. Zamenhof
(1859-1917). Much of the vocabulary is based on words from European
languages. |
| Ethiopic |
The Semitic language that was formerly spoken in Ethiopia. It is
still used by the Christian church in Ethiopia. |
| Etruscan |
This was the language of the ancient Etruscan peoples of Italy. It
is now extinct. |
| Finnish |
The language spoken in Finland. It is a member of the Uralic
language family. |
| Flernish |
From a form of Dutch, used mainly in northern Belgium. |
| French |
This term refers to the French language at any of its stages from
Old French to modern French. French is one of the Romance languages
that are descended from Latin. |
| Frisian |
A Germanic language spoken in northern Holland and the Frisian
Islands. |
| Gaelic |
Names that originated from the Gaelic (a form of
Celtic) languages of Ireland, the Isle of Man and Scotland. The
definitions 'Irish' and 'Scottish' generally indicate Gaelic names
which have been Anglicised. |
| Galician |
A language spoken in north-western Spain, closely related to
Portuguese. It is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin. |
| Gaulish |
The ancient Celtic language spoken by the Celts who lived in France
(Gauls). |
| German |
This term is used to refer to the German language at any of its
stages from Old High German to modern German. It is one of the
Germanic languages. |
| Germanic |
This term refers the ancient Indo-European language spoken by the
Germanic tribes many centuries ago. Descended from it are Old English,
German, Old Norse, Gothic and others. Also called Teutonic. |
| Gothic |
The extinct language that was spoken by the Goths. It is descended
from Germanic. |
| Greek |
The language of Greece. This term refers to the language of both
ancient and modern Greece. |
| Hawaiian |
The Polynesian language spoken on the Hawaiian islands. |
| Hebrew |
The ancient Semitic language of the Israelites. This term refers
primarily to ancient Hebrew. Hebrew has been revived and is used today
in modern Israel. |
| Hungarian |
The language of Hungary. It is a member of the Uralic family and
therefore unrelated to the majority of other European languages. |
| Icelandic |
The language of Iceland. It is one of the Scandinavian languages. |
| Inuit |
The languages spoken by the peoples of northern North America. Also
called Eskimo. |
| Irish |
The Gaelic language of the Celts of Ireland. |
| Italian |
The language spoken in modern day Italy. It is one of the Romance
languages descended from Latin. |
| Japanese |
The language spoken in modern day Japan, probably related to the
Altaic languages. |
| Jewish/Modern Jewish |
Hebrew, but generally popular modem names rather than,
ancient names from the Bible and other sources. |
| Khmer |
The language spoken in Cambodia. |
| Korean |
The Altaic language spoken in Korea. |
| Latin |
The Indo-European language spoken in Rome in the time of the Roman
empire. It is no longer spoken but it has many descendents including
French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. |
| Latvian |
The Baltic language spoken in Latvia. |
| Lithuanian |
The Baltic language spoken in Lithuania. |
| Macedonian |
The south Slavic language that is spoken in Macedonia. |
| Manx |
The Gaelic language that was spoken on the Isle of Man. |
| Maori |
The Polynesian language spoken by the original peoples of New
Zealand. |
| Middle English |
From the form of English used from approximately AD
1100-1400. Old English names from the form of English (Anglo-Saxon)
that was m use prior to AD 1100. |
| Nahuatlan |
The language that was spoken by the Aztec people of Mexico,
belonging to the Uto-Aztecan language family. |
| Native American |
This term refers to any of the several languages spoken by the
original peoples of North and South America. Native American languages
referred to on this website include: Algonquin (eastern Canada),
Apache (Southwest U.S.), Choctaw (Mississippi, Alabama, and
Louisiana), Comanche (central U.S.), Cree (central Canada), Creek
(Alabama, Georgia, and Florida), Dakota (Mississippi Valley),
Iroquoian (eastern North America), Mayan (Central America), Nahuatlan
(Mexico), Nuu-chah-nulth (Vancouver Island), Ojibwa (central North
America), Shawnee (Ohio Valley), Taino (Bahamas), and Zapotec
(Mexico). |
| Norwegian |
The Scandinavian language spoken in Norway. |
| Old English |
A language from the Germanic language sub-family. It was spoken in
England from about the seventh century to the twelfth century. Also
called Anglo-Saxon. |
| Old French |
From the form of French used prior to approximately AD
1400. |
| Old Norse |
From before AD1400 language of Scandinavia and Iceland. |
| Persian |
This term is used to refer to either Old Persian or its descendent,
modern Persian. Old Persian forms the basis for the languages spoken
today in parts of Iran, Iraq and the surrounding regions. The modern
language is also called Farsi. |
| Phoenician |
The Semitic language of ancient Phoenicia. |
| Polish |
The west Slavic language spoken in Poland. |
| Portuguese |
The language that developed in Portugal, also now spoken in Brazil.
It is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin. |
| Provençal |
The language spoken in the Provence region in France. It is one of
the Romance languages descended from Latin. |
| Quechua |
This term refers to the group of languages used by the Native
Americans (including the Inca) of Peru and surrounding countries. |
| Quenya |
A language invented by J. R. R. Tolkien for his novels. It was
spoken by the elves of Aman. Sindarin is related. |
| Romanian |
The language spoken in Romania. It is one of the Romance languages
descended from Latin. |
| Russian |
One of the east Slavic languages. It is spoken in Russia and other
places in the former Soviet Union. |
| Sanskrit |
An ancient Indo-European language that formed the basis for many of
the languages spoken today in India. |
| Scandinavian |
A group of languages descended from Old Norse. In this document the
term Scandinavian can refer to either Old Norse or the modern
Scandinavian languages. |
| Scottish |
The Gaelic language spoken in Scotland. |
| Semitic
| This term is used to refer to all of the ancient Semitic languages
(Akkadian, Aramaic, Assyrian, Hebrew, etc.) as a whole. |
| Serbian |
The south Slavic language spoken by the Serbian people. |
| Sindarin |
A language invented by J. R. R. Tolkien for his novels. It was
spoken by the elves who remained in western Middle Earth. It is
related to Quenya. |
| Slavic/Slavonic/Slovak |
From the Indo-European, languages of the Czech
Republic, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Russia, Bulgaria and other eastern
European countries. |
| Slovene |
The south Slavic language spoken in Slovenia. |
| Spanish |
The language spoken in modern day Spain and Latin America and other
places. It is one of the Romance languages descended from Latin. |
| Sumerian |
The language that was spoken in the ancient realm of Sumer, a part
of Mesopotamia. It is unrelated to the other Semitic languages of that
region. |
| Swahili |
The language spoken over much of East Africa and the Congo region.
It is also called Kiswahili. |
| Swedish |
The Scandinavian language spoken in Sweden. |
| Teutonic |
Of Germanic origin, including names that are or were
used in Germany, Holland, Scandinavia and Britain. |
| Tibetan |
From the Sino-Tibetan language. Names which are used in
Tibet, Bhutan, Ladakh (India), and by the Sherpa people of Nepal. |
| Turkish |
The group of Altaic languages spoken in Asia, including modern
Turkish. Also called Turkic. |
| Ukrainian |
The east Slavic language of the Ukrainian people, closely related to
Russian. |
| Urdu |
The language spoken in Pakistan and parts of India. It is descended
from Sanskrit. |
| Vietnamese |
The language of Vietnam. |
| Welsh |
The Celtic language that was spoken in Wales. It is still widely
spoken there. |
| Yiddish |
a form of Hebrew that has incorporated German and
Slavonic words. |
| Yoruba |
A language of western Africa, spoken in Nigeria and some surrounding
countries. |
