The Unisex Names Project

authorjoanna April 25, 2022 August 15, 2024 Articles

Collation of sources by Rúnfríðr Keiliselgr (all except Egyptian) and Ailbhe éccnaid (Egyptian) last updated 15 August 2024

Introduction

For a while now in the College of St Monica, as well as the Society at large, it has been quite difficult to locate acceptable unisex or non-binary medieval names. Most name lists generally as well as those prepared for SCA use are separated into male and female names, and where names are unisex it is rarely indicated. As far as one can tell, there is no centralised list of unisex or otherwise gender-neutral names. This project thus aims to not research names but to compile true unisex names from the best sources available. Hopefully this list can be useful educationally and functionally for those who wish to register a gender-neutral name, or are just otherwise interested in unisex names.

The names included in this list are meant to be ones that were used by men and women in the period. Whether they were used commonly by both genders is not a concern of this project. If there is evidence for even one man and one woman using it, it can go on the list. How truly ‘unisex’ the name is may be indicated in the table if it is known. Be warned that this may be an opinion and thus not ring true for you.

It is also not the concern of this project if the name ‘feels’ masculine, feminine or neither. That will be up to you, the reader, to decide :)

A note on terminology – Mostly the language in this document that reflects the period understanding of gender and sex, namely words like ‘unisex’, ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’. This is not done to infer or uphold any particular belief on these topics.

Notes for heralds: the vast majority of sources here are from the no-photocopy sources in Appendix H but they may be header forms.

Disclaimers

While best efforts have been used to compile this list, no guarantee can be made that the information presented is correct or that all of these names are as gender-neutral as they appear to be. Every source that was relied upon is usually either hosted by the SCA or written by a herald. This is however not a guarantee of registrability.

The columns for name meanings and how a name is used today are not compiled using SCA sources. Their accuracy varies. In particular, non-European names face the difficulty of a lack of documentation and research.

Individuals should consult the sources and their local heralds before seeking to register any name on this list.

Shortcuts

Ancient Egyptian

Note: please also reference the source Sneferu (also linked in the source section), which is a wonderful discussion of names from demotic Egyptian sources, including some unisex ones. Names recorded with dashes may not be registrable with the dashes.
Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Artais	Egypt 664 BCE-203 CE	Iah is the one who has given him/her	Masc leaning	Very rare French name	Trismegistos
Chaa-ou-s-n-esis	Egypt 625 BCE-199 CE	(S)he was left to Isis	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Chaieapis	Egypt 664-97 BCE	Apis appeared / May Apis appear	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Chesertaios	Egypt 721 BCE-102 BCE	Chonsou is the one who has given him/her	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Eschonsis	Egypt 943-100 BCE	He belongs to Chonsou	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Esharpochrates	Egypt 721 BCE-91 CE	He belongs to Harpokrates	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Es-harpres	Egypt 999-75 BCE	He belongs to Horos-the-sun	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Eshyris	Egypt 999 BCE-499 CE	He belongs to Horos	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Esminis	Egypt 943 BCE-499 CE	He belongs to Min	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Esnebonychos	Egypt 664 BCE-104 BCE	He belongs to the lord of life	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Es-onouris	Egypt 651-175 BCE	He belongs to Onouris	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Esortaios	Egypt 943 BCE- 213 CE	Isis is the one who has given him/her	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Espmetis	Egypt 699 BCE-452 CE	He belongs to the sacred emblem	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Esthotes	Egypt 722 BCE-199 CE	The one belonging to Thoth	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Estphenis	Egypt 722 BCE-284 CE	He belongs to Shou (and) Tefnout	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Eus	Egypt 264 BCE-849 CE	dog (?)	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Haraous	Egypt 650 BCE-779 CE	Theophoric name related to Horus	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Haynchis	Egypt 664 BCE-227 CE	The living face	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Heriamounis	Egypt 664 BCE-61 CE	Amoun is satisfied	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Herieus	Egypt 943 BCE-681 CE	They are satisfied	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Heriobastis	Egypt 664 BCE-499 CE	Bastet is satisfied	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Hetpeamounis	Egypt 721 BCE-208 CE	Amoun is pleased	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Hetpehyris	Egypt 332-95 BCE	Horos is pleased	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Hetpeus	Egypt 664 BCE-208 CE	They are satisfied	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Horouonchis	Egypt 199 BCE-733 CE	Unknown	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Ipi	Egypt 943-30 BCE	Unknown	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Iri	Egypt 943-200 BCE	Unknown	True neutral	A rare Old Norse name meaning ‘Irish’	Trismegistos
Ithoroys	Egypt 999 BCE-108 BCE	Their eye is against them	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Keleesis	Egypt 299-50 BCE	He who betakes himself to Isis	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Labois	Egypt 665 BCE-192 CE	Unknown	Masc leaning	A rare French surname	Trismegistos
Lilous	Egypt 199 BCE-799 CE	Unknown	Masc leaning	Not used but may sound a bit like the name ‘Lily’	Trismegistos
Mouthortaios	Egypt 943 BCE-199 CE	Mout is the one who has given him/her	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Nechtesis	Egypt 656 BCE-217 CE	Isis is strong	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Nemesesis	Egypt 599 BCE-122 CE	Isis saved him / her	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Nephersais	Egypt 699 BCE-420 CE	Shai is good	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Nephersouchos	Egypt 664 BCE-155 CE	Souchos/Sobek (the crocodile god) is good	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Obestertaios	Egypt 999 BCE-90 CE	Bastet is the one who has given him/her	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Ptah-ortaios	Egypt 699-95 BCE	Ptah is the one who has given him/her	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Rourou	Egypt 879-136 BCE	Pet/nickname for Ỉr.t-Ḥr-r.r=w	Fem leaning	The name of a Fijian dish made with taro leaves and coconut milk	Trismegistos
Samoys	Egypt 664 BCE-799 CE	(they) predominate over them	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Segathis	Egypt 287 BCE-217 CE	Their eye is satisfied	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Senanouphis/Senenouphis	Egypt 260 BCE-299 CE	The daughter of Anoubis	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Senouphis	Egypt 230 BCE-799 CE	Note: perhaps two different names, one feminine (T3-Sr.t-n-..) and one masculine ?	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Setja-iret-bin	Egypt 943 BCE-499 CE	May the evil eye be kept at bay	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Siepmous	Egypt 664 BCE-299 CE	Death is satisfied	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Sisois	Egypt 699 BCE-709 CE	the bearer of the hairlock	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Snachomneus	Egypt 332 BCE-399 CE	The one belonging to the Ogdoad	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Stotoetis	Egypt 664 BCE-573 CE	May they avert the calamity	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Taseus	Egypt 41 BCE-459 CE	Unknown	Fem leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Teionchonsis	Egypt 399 BCE-210 CE	Part of Chonsou	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Tephersos	Egypt 27 BCE-200 CE	His awakening	True neutral	Not used	Trismegistos
Tesenouphis	Egypt 332 BCE-225 CE	Good nomos	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Thotortaios	Egypt 699 BCE-212 CE	Thoth is the one who has given him/her	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos
Tieus	Egypt 223 BCE-579 CE	Unknown	Masc leaning	Not used	Trismegistos

Arabic

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Bunūn	Arabic	Unknown to this author Perhaps related to Bumin, but this is speculation	Males were sometimes given this name One female concubine also got this name; it is uncertain whether this name was restricted to women in that situation	Not used	Mālik
Fadl	Arabic	Grace, generosity	Mostly masculine A feminine form appears to have been Fadla	Used as a masculine name	Auda; Mālik
Hiba	Arabic This name comes from the geniza of Cairo, which contains names used by Jews in Egypt within the Arab world.	Gift	Unisex	Used as a feminine name	Yerush (Geniza)
Isḥāq	Arabic	Form of Isaac meaning ‘he will laugh’	Males were sometimes given this name One female concubine also got this name; it is uncertain whether this name was restricted to women in that situation	Used in the Arab world for males	Mālik
Laylā	Arabic	Night	Males were sometimes given this name One female concubine also got this name; it is uncertain whether this name was restricted to women in that situation Other forms are Lailā, Layla etc.	Female name in both Arabic and English	Mālik
Salamah	Arabic	Possibly good wellbeing or safety	Unisex	Allegedly used as a masculine name in Arabic-speaking regions and as a feminine name in Indonesia or Malaysia but this information is unverified	Auda
‘Utbah	Arabic	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Probably not used or only used sparingly	Auda
‘Ulayyah	Arabic	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Probably not used or only used sparingly	Auda
Zayn	Arabic This name comes from the geniza of Cairo, which contains names used by Jews in Egypt within the Arab world.	Beauty, grace	Probably used mostly by males	Almost exclusively a masculine name	Yerush (Geniza)

Ashkenazi Jewish

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Berl	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Bona	Ashkenazi	Probably from Latin bonus, meaning ‘good, honest, noble’	Unisex	Incredibly rare feminine name	Beider
Cemach	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Chaska	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	A masculine Sioux (Indigenous American) name meaning first-born son	Beider
Chawa	Ashkenazi	From Biblical Hebrew Chawwah (Eve), derived from words for ‘to breathe’ or ‘to live’	Probably more used by females	Not used The related name Eve is a common feminine name	Beider
Ela	Ashkenazi	Maybe related to the masculine name Elah	Unisex	Used as a diminutive of usually feminine names like Elizabeth	Beider
Feyel	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex Possibly more used by males A variant female form was Feyele	Not used	Beider
Finke	Ashkenazi	Possibly related to the German word for finch	Unisex	Rarely used as a surname	Beider
Framan	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Fridl	Ashkenazi	Derived from the Germanic name element frid meaning peace	Unisex Another unisex form was Fridlein	Used as a diminutive in Austria and Germany	Beider
Gidel	Ashkenazi	Possibly related to the Yiddish gut meaning good	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Gnendel	Ashkenazi	Related to the feminine name Gneshe, which comes from Agnes meaning ‘chaste’	Possibly mostly used by females	Not used	Beider
Haendlein	Ashkenazi	Probably related to the feminine name Hendel, which is a Yiddish diminutive of Hannah meaning ‘favour, grace’	Possibly mostly used by females	Not used	Beider
Haizain	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Hamel	Ashkenazi	Multiple origins, including from the Germanic element ‘water meadow’	Unisex	Used as a surname with various spellings e.g. Hammel, Hummel	Beider
Hana	Ashkenazi	Form of Hannah meaning ‘favour, grace’	Probably mostly used by females Another unisex form was Hane	Still used as a feminine name in various places	Beider
Handl	Ashkenazi	Probably related to the feminine name Hendel, which is a Yiddish diminutive of Hannah meaning ‘favour, grace’	Possibly mostly used by females Another unisex form was Handla	Not used	Beider
Hasse	Ashkenazi	May be related to Hans, which comes from Johannes and older names meaning ‘Yahweh is gracious’	Unisex	Swedish masculine diminutive of Hans	Beider
Hebel	Ashkenazi	From the Hebrew Hevel (Abel) meaning ‘breath’	Possibly more commonly used with males	Used as a masculine name	Beider
Hendel	Ashkenazi	The feminine Hendel is a Yiddish diminutive of Hannah meaning ‘favour, grace’	Probably mostly used by females	Used as a feminine diminutive of Hannah	Beider
Henne	Ashkenazi	Likely a diminutive of names like Heinrich or Johannes and their female equivalents	Unisex Another unisex form was Hennel See the entry Hana	Not used Its pronunciation may remind some of the barnyard animal or the temporary tattoo art using henna dyes	Beider
Hesl	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Huda	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Used as a feminine name in the Arabic and Islamic world meaning ‘enlightenment, right guidance’	Beider
Janke	Ashkenazi	Possibly related to Johannes (John) meaning ‘Yahweh is gracious’ through Jannike	Unisex	Used for both sexes in Frisia as a diminutive	Beider
Jerucham	Ashkenazi	Probably related to the Hebrew name Yerocham, which means ‘he will show compassion’	Probably more used by males	Not used	Beider
Josobel	Ashkenazi	Related to the name Jezebel, which may mean ‘Ba’al exalts’ or ‘daughter of Ba’al’	Probably more used by females	Rarely used Jezebel from the Bible has a poor reputation in the West	Beider
Judka	Ashkenazi	Possibly related to Judith meaning ‘Jewish woman’ or Judah meaning ‘praise’	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Juedel	Ashkenazi	Yiddish diminutive of Judah meaning ‘praise’	Unisex	Used rarely as a Yiddish masculine diminutive	Beider
Kune	Ashkenazi	Diminutive of given names containing the element kuni- meaning ‘clan, family, kin’	Unisex	Used rarely	Beider
Letzar	Ashkenazi	Possibly from the masculine Hebrew name El’azar meaning ‘my God has helped’	Possibly more used by males	Not used	Beider
Lewe	Ashkenazi	Unknown to me but probably a diminutive	Unisex	Not used Bears resemblance to words for lion in that area e.g. leeuw in Dutch or Löwe in German	Beider
Lieb	Ashkenazi	From liep meaning ‘dear or beloved’, possibly denoting an agreeable or pleasant person	Unisex	Used as a surname	Beider
Lipka	Ashkenazi	From liep meaning ‘dear or beloved’	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Manna	Ashkenazi	Possibly related to Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’	Unisex	Used rarely as a diminutive of Manuel or Manuela May remind some of the Biblical manna	Beider
Manuel	Ashkenazi	Related to Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us’	Possibly more used by males	Common masculine name used in Spanish and Portugese-speaking countries	Beider
Matel	Ashkenazi	Possibly related to Mattityahu (Matthew), which means ‘gift of Yahweh’	Unisex Another unisex form was Mate	Rarely used now as a feminine name or diminutive	Beider
Mellin	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Mendla	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Menia	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author Sounds similar to Manoah and Menan	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Mennelin	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Merlin	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author If related to the Welsh Myrddin, may mean ‘sea fort’	Unisex	The name of a magician in Arthurian legend; mostly used for males	Beider
Metlein	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author If related to the Breton Matelin, may mean ‘timely’ or ‘mature’ via Maturin	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Michal	Ashkenazi	Biblical name posibly meaning ‘brook’	Unisex	Still used in Slavic countries as a form of Michael	Beider
Misza	Ashkenazi	May be a diminutive of names like Mishael, which means ‘who is like God’ or Misham, which means ‘their cleansing’ or similar names	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Model	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used Sounds similar to the English word ‘model’	Beider
Moerl	Ashkenazi	May be a combination of ‘mor’ and ‘el’ meaning ‘myrrh from God’ in Hebrew	Unisex Another unisex variation is Morel	Rarely used for both genders	Beider
Muencz	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Nata	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Diminutive for names like Natalia	Beider
Nenneke	Ashkenazi	Related to the Frisian masculine name Anne, which is the short form of names beginning with arn- ‘eagle’	Unisex Probably mostly used by females	Possibly still used in Frisian communities	Beider
Nisel	Ashkenazi	If related to the Yiddish Nissel, a short form of names like Nissim, which means ‘miracle’	Unisex Possibly mostly used by females	Possibly still used as a feminine name	Beider
Nisye	Ashkenazi	If related to the Yiddish Nissel, a short form of names like Nissim, which means ‘miracle’	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Peltlin	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author Could be related to names like Peleth or Pelatiah	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Perl	Ashkenazi	Used as a Yiddish vernacular name for Margaret, which means ‘pearl’	Unisex Probably more used by females	Still used as a Yiddish feminine name	Beider
Peslin	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Pinke	Ashkenazi	Could be related to the Hebrew Pinchas, which means ‘Nubian’ via Phinehas	Unisex	Not used Reminiscent of the English word ‘pink’	Beider
Porlin	Ashkenazi	Could be related to Perl above	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Redl	Ashkenazi	If related to the Yiddish Rudel, could be a form of Rhoda meaning ‘rose’	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Rufelin	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author but sounds like a form of Raphael	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Schime	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author but possibly related to the Yiddish Shimmel, which is related to Simon meaning ‘he has heard’	Unisex Possibly more used by females	Not used	Beider
Simcha	Ashkenazi	Could be related to Schime above	Unisex Another unisex form was Szymcha	Not used	Beider
Simke	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Simle	Ashkenazi	Could be related to Schime above	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Strale	Ashkenazi	‘To shine, to beam’ e.g. a ray of light	Probably more used by males	Not used	Beider
Suessel	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author but sounds like a form of Susanna which means ‘lily’	Unisex Possibly more used by females Another unisex form was Suezzlein, which adds the German diminutive -lein	Not used	Beider
Thamar	Ashkenazi	Form of Tamar meaning ‘date palm’	Probably mostly used by females	Not used	Beider
Vogel	Ashkenazi	Used as a vernacular form of Zipporah meaning ‘bird’	Probably mostly used by females Other unisex forms were Voegelin and Vogelein	Not used Means ‘bird’ in Modern German	Beider
Zcornike	Ashkenazi	Unknown to this author May be related to Zechariah but this is speculation	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Zemach	Ashkenazi	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Zwi	Ashkenazi	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	Beider
Zysla	Ashkenazi	Variant of Zisel meaning ‘sweet’	Possibly more used by females	Used in the forms Sisel and Zisel which are feminine	Beider

Chinese

Note: please reference the source Maral (also linked in the source section), which has 56 unisex Song Dynasty names. Meanings are dependent on the combination of characters which themselves have multiple meanings. I can’t add anything to that excellent scholarship and don’t know much about that area.
Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Lian	Chinese Recorded as a male name from 1310 to 1381 and as a female name from 1100 to 1200	Depends on the hanzi (character) The Lian in the records as a male name means waterfall The name Lian in the records as a female name means to join together	Unisex only in pinyin (the romanisation system) but not in hanzi	Still used by both genders Different hanzi may denote different genders	Ii
Shu	Chinese	Various meanings across the four verified male names and one female name	Unisex in pinyin but not in hanzi	Still used as a female name	Ii

Danish

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Abel	Danish	From Hebrew Hevel meaning ‘breath’	A masculine name or a variant of Abele as a feminine name	Masculine	DGP
Amor	Danish	Likely related to Latin ‘love’	Unisex	Unisex	DGP
Arløgh	Danish	Old Danish form of Arnlaug, which combines two elements meaning ‘eagle’ and ‘betrothed woman’	Unisex but possibly more used by females Another unisex spelling is Arnløgh.	Not used	DGP
Arnfrith	Danish	Danish form of Arnfríðr, which combines two elements meaning ‘eagle’ and ‘beautiful, beloved’	Unisex but probably more used by females	Not used	DGP
Asfrith	Danish	Danish form of Asfríðr, which combines two elements meaning ‘(heathen) god’ and ‘beautiful, beloved’	A masculine name As a feminine name, a variant of Estrith	Not used	DGP
Asgun	Danish	Combines two elements meaning ‘(heathen) god’ and ‘war, battle’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Asmoth	Danish	Old Danish form of Ásmóð, which combines two elements meaning ‘(heathen) god’ and ‘excitement, wrath’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Astrith	Danish	Possibly similar to Asfrith above	As a masculine name, a variant of Asfrith As a feminine name, a variant of Estrith	Not used	DGP
Athalkind	Danish	Germanic, related to the name Adelkind, which could mean ‘Adel’s child’	Female DGP suggests the name was mistakenly used or recorded as a male name.	Not used	DGP
Bege	Danish	Unknown to me	As a masculine name, a variant of Bughi As a feminine name, a variant of Beke	Not used	DGP
Bende	Danish	Related to Benedictus meaning ‘blessed’	As a masculine name, a variant of Benedikt As a feminine name, a variant of Benedikte Another unisex variant is Bendit.	Used rarely as feminine Bente with the same meaning	DGP
Bernger	Danish	Possibly related to Germanic Berengar, which combines roots meaning ‘bear’ and ‘spear’	Probably more used by females	Not used	DGP
Birial	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used, although possibly masculine Byrial is still used	DGP
Bodil	Danish	Dithematic with the masculine form combining ‘remedy, help’ and ‘wolf’ and the feminine ‘remedy, help’ and ‘battle’	As a masculine name, a variant of Botulf As a feminine name, a variant of Bothild	Feminine name	DGP
Bolde	Danish	Unknown to me	A masculine name As a feminine name, a variant of Bothild	Not used Contains the English world ‘bold’.	DGP
Bolle	Danish	Unknown to me	As a masculine name, a variant of Bolde As a feminine name, a variant of Bothild	Not used This may be pronounced by some like ‘baller’.	DGP
Bride	Danish	Unknown to me	As a masculine name, a variant of Bryti As a feminine name, a variant of Brigida	Used as an Anglicised version of feminine Bríd May remind some of weddings.	DGP
Elso	Danish	If related to Elizabeth, meaning ‘my God is an oath’	A variant of Elizabeth Only one example as a male name and unknown if this was a mistake.	Not used	DGP
Elver	Danish	Unknown to me	Perhaps a variant of names with the element Ælf- ‘elf’	Not used	DGP
Enne	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Used as a nickname for other names	DGP
Everlin	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used May remind some of the feminine name Evelyn.	DGP
Foke	Danish	May be a short form of names starting with Folk (‘people’) e.g. Folkmar	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Frowe	Danish	May be related to the name element for ‘happy’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Frydenborg	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used but sounds similar to several Germanic surnames	DGP
Gerike	Danish	Possibly a diminutive of names starting with Ger- Also possibly related to Gerik, which is formed from the element Ger- ‘javelin, spear’ and -rik ‘ruler, king’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Gerløgh	Danish	Old Danish form of Gæirlaug, which combines two elements meaning ‘spear’ and ‘betrothed woman	Unisex but possibly more used by females	Not used	DGP
Gese	Danish	Likely diminutive of names starting with Ger- or Gis-	Unisex but possibly more used by females	Not used	DGP
Gise	Danish	As above at Gese	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Grette	Danish	When male, short for Gerhard, which combines elements meaning ‘spear’ and ‘hard, brave’ When female, short for Greta, which comes from Margaret meaning ‘pearl’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Guthfrith	Danish	Possibly related to Godefrid meaning ‘peace of God’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Haffred	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Heine	Danish	Short form of names starting with Hein-	Unisex, also spelt ‘Heyne’	Rare German masculine name	DGP
Heinike	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Helfred	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Female versions like Helfrid still in rare use in Scandinavia	DGP
Herlef	Danish	May come from Old Norse ‘Herleifr’ (masc.) meaning ‘army, warrior’ and ‘inheritance, legacy’	Unisex As a female name, seems to be related to Herlugh	Not used	DGP
Herlugh	Danish	Related to Old Norse ‘Hærlaugr’ (masc.) meaning herr ‘army, warrior’ and laug ‘to celebrate marriage’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Hibbe	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	May be used as a short form of some masculine Frisian names	DGP
Ige	Danish	Unknown to me, possibly related to the name below	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Inger	Danish	As a male name, short for Ingwar, which likely references the Germanic god Ing As a female name, short form of Old Norse ‘Ingigerðr’ which combines Germanic god ‘Ing’ with a second element ‘enclosure, yard’	Used as a female name	Not used	DGP
Kaie	Danish	Unknown to me, possibly related to Katherine	Used as a female name Sounds similar to Kay, which is unisex.	Not used	DGP
Kunne	Danish	May be possibly related to the masculine name Konrad ‘brave counsel’ or the feminine name Kunigunde ‘royal war’	Unisex	Rarely used as a short form, usually feminine	DGP
Kyla	Danish	As a male name, related to Kille which might mean ‘cold’ As a female name, related to Gylla of uncertain meaning	Unisex	Used as a feminine name	DGP
Køne	Danish	Unknown to me, see also Kunne	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Kønike	Danish	Unknown to me, see also Kunne	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Line	Danish	As a male name, related to Live possibly from Livius, a Roman name of uncertain meaning As a female name, related to Elena and ultimately Helene ‘torch’ or ‘moon’	Unisex	Short form of names ending in -line like Caroline or Aline	DGP
Lyne	Danish	See above As a male name, also related to Lynge	Unisex	See above	DGP
Maie	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Used as a variant of the feminine Maia	DGP
Mamme	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used but may remind hearers of the word ‘mummy’	DGP
Mert	Danish	As a male name, unknown to me As a female name, a diminutive of Margareta	Unisex	A semi-popular Turkish name meaning ‘manly, brave’	DGP
Merte	Danish	See above	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Naan	Danish	As a male name, related to Nanni of uncertain meaning to me As a female name, a diminutive of Nanna meaning ‘daring, brave’	Unisex	Not used May remind hearers of a type of flatbread from India and Pakistan or the word ‘nan’.	DGP
Namen	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex but probably more used by males	Not used May remind readers and hearers of the word ‘name’.	DGP
Nane	Danish	See above at Naan	Unisex	Still used as a unisex Frisian name	DGP
Nommen	Danish	Unknown to me but see above for similar names	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Nonne	Danish	Related to Nanna and Nommen, see above	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Ode	Danish	Perhaps related to Otto ‘wealth, riches’	Unisex Also a masculine name in England.	Not used	DGP
Olof	Danish	From Old Norse Áleifr ‘ancestor’s descendant’	Unisex	Masculine Swedish form of Olaf	DGP
Orlof	Danish	See above, also a variant of Arløgh	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Ose	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Unisex name in Nigeria	DGP
Poppe	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used as a name Sounds like the female name Poppy or ‘pop’.	DGP
Reinmoth	Danish	Proto-Germanic *ragin ‘counsel, might’ and possibly muot ‘courage, spirit, mind’	Unisex	Not used	DGP but see also DMNES
Remold	Danish	As a feminine name, variant of Ricmod with elements ‘ruler, king’ and ‘courage, spirit, mind’ As a masculine name, variant of Regnwald with elements ‘advice, counsel’ and ‘power’	Unisex	Not used May sound similar to its descendant name Reynold.	DGP
Remor	Danish	As above	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Rikmoth	Danish	Possibly from Old Saxon ric ‘ruler, king’ and Old Norse móðr ‘courage’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Rose	Danish	Derived from Old German hros ‘horse’	Unisex	Used as a female name	DGP
Rosenwand	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Sige	Danish	Likely related to element sigr ‘victory’ As a masculine name, variant of Sighi	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Sime	Danish	Possibly related to Simon ‘hearing, listening’	Unisex	Used as a Baltic form of masculine Simon	DGP
Sye	Danish	See above at Sige	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Taal	Danish	As a feminine name, variant of Tale with unknown meaning to me As a masculine name, variant of Tali with unknown meaning to me	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Taleke	Danish	Diminutive of the above name <p class="subtitle" This was far more common for women than men.	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Tete	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Tetze	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Thorulf	Danish	Combines elements of the Norse god Thor and leif ‘inheritance, legacy’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Thrumi	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Thuri	Danish	Unknown to me As a feminine name, variant of Thyrwi	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Thyræ	Danish	As a feminine name, variant of Thora As a masculine name, variant of Thyrger, which is possibly related to elements for Thor and geirr ‘spear’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Thøre	Danish	As a feminine name, a variant of Thorith As above for the masculine name	Unisex	A masculine name in Scandinavia	DGP
Tibbe	Danish	Possibly related to names starting with Theo- or Diet-	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Tile	Danish	Short form for names starting with Gothic þiuda ‘people, folk’	Unisex	Not used Looks like the word tile.	DGP
Trude	Danish	Short form for names starting with Trud- or Drud- with the latter meaning ‘strength’	Unisex	Nickname for Gertrude, a female name	DGP
Ture	Danish	As a feminine name, a variant of Thora As a masculine name, a variant of Thuri	Unisex	A Swedish masculine name	DGP
Tyrkel	Danish	As a feminine name, a variant of Thorkel As a masculine name, a variant of Thorkil from Old Norse Þórketill meaning ‘Thor’s cauldron’	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Ulf	Danish	Primarily a masculine name from the Old Norse byname Úlfr ‘wolf’ As a feminine name, a variant of Ulva	Unisex	A popular masculine name across Scandinavia	DGP
Wibe	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Wifrith	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	DGP
Wobbeke	Danish	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	DGP

Dutch

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
An	Dutch	Probably related to Channah or Hannah, meaning ‘favour, grace’	Unisex only apparently in this spelling	A masculine Sumerian name Not used otherwise but may remind people of the feminine name Anne	Ava
Auck	Dutch	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used May remind some of the English word awkward	Ava
Floor	Dutch Found in Amsterdam in 1567 and 1572	Comes from Florentius, which means ‘prosperous, flourishing’	As a masculine name, a diminutive of Floris As a feminine name, a diminutive of Flora	Still used sparingly as a unisex Dutch name	Ava
Leen	Dutch Relatively common between 1500 to 1650	See right Leendert means ‘as strong as a lion’ Helena is related to Helen	As a masculine name, a diminutive of Leendert As a feminine name, a diminutive of Helena	Rarely used	Ava
Luijt	Dutch Relatively common between 1500 and 1600	Either comes from the instrument lute or Germanic Lude meaning people	Unisex	Not used	Ava

English

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Alexander	English but also many others	‘Defender of man’ in Greek	A male name commonly given to females, at least in England	Masculine	Withycombe
Aubrey	English	From Old French Aubrei, derived from Old German Alberich meaning ‘elf ruler’ or ‘elf king’	A male name commonly given to females, at least in England, brought over by the Normans	Unisex	Withycombe
Basil	Used in several countries but especially across the Byzantine Empire	From Greek Basileus meaning ‘king’	A male name commonly given to females, at least in England This name came to Western Europe via the Orthodox sphere of influence.	Masculine In Lochac, this may be remind some of the College of St Basil in Perth (a fantastic association).	Withycombe
Christian	Used in many countries and extant for a long time	A Christian	Fairly commonly unisex	More commonly used by males but not uncommon for females	Withycombe
Edmund	Primarily English but used in some other countries	From the Old English elements ead ‘wealth, fortune’ and mund ‘protection’	A male name commonly given to females, at least in England An Anglo-Saxon name that was continually popular because of Saint Edmund, who was regarded as England’s patron saint.	Masculine	Withycombe
Eustace	Used in England and France	From Greek Eustachys meaning ‘fruitful’	A male name commonly given to females, at least in England, and particularly popular in England because of Saint Eustace	Masculine but quite rare	Withycombe
Florence	Used in several countries	Blooming, flowery, in flowers	Unisex but could also be a female version of Florent	Feminine May be affiliated with Florence, Italy.	Withycombe
Gilbert	Used in England, France and Germany among others for a long time	An Old High German two element name meaning ‘bright pledge’ from gīsal ‘pledge, hostage’ and beraht ‘bright’	A male name commonly given to females, at least in England	Masculine but uncommon	Withycombe
Giles	Used in many countries	From Greek via Late Latin meaning ‘young goat’	A male name commonly given to females, at least in England	Masculine but rarer	Withycombe
James	Used in England, Wales and Scotland in late period, at least from 1481 in England	From the name Jacob meaning ‘holder of the heel’ or ‘supplanter’, referring to the Biblical story	Developed as an Early Modern English form of the Latinisation Jacomus (Jacob)	Masculine	Withycombe
Nicholas	Used in many countries	From Greek Nikolaos meaning ‘victory of the people’	A male name commonly given to females, at least in Britain Quite common as a girl’s name in Scotland	Masculine	Withycombe
Philip	Used in many countries since from at least the late 12th century	‘Lover of horses’ in Greek	A male name commonly given to females, at least in England	Masculine	Withycombe
Reynold	Used in many countries	A two element name from Proto-Germanic ragin ‘counsel, might’ and wald ‘power, authority’	A male name commonly given to females, at least in England, brought over by the Normans	Masculine but uncommon	Withycombe but see also DMNES
Simon	Used in many countries	From Greek names either meaning ‘hearing, listening’ or ‘flat-nosed’	A male name commonly given to females, at least in England, and particularly popular in England because of Saint Eustace	Masculine	Withycombe

French

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Alaire	French Five women and four men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name or a variation of it.	Perhaps related to the Latin name Hilarius, which means cheerful. Hillary was derived from that name.	Unisex	Not used	Catmael 1292
Alixandre	French One woman and 35 men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name.	From the name Alexander, which means defender of man.	Usually masculine	Its spelling has changed to Alexandre in modern French, where it is a masculine name. Also evokes the name Alexandra, particularly in pronunciation.	Catmael 1292
Bataille	French One woman and one man recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name.	Means battle in both Old French and modern French.	Unisex but used sparingly	Not used	Catmael 1292
Claude	French This was the name of nine women and twelve men from Lallaing recorded in census data from the 1520s to 1580s.	Derives from the Latin claudus meaning lame, crippled	Unisex	Is genuinely unisex still in France Only usually masculine in English and Spanish	Moicheirghe
Coulombe	French One woman and one man recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name.	Unknown but possibly related to the Latin name Columba, which means dove.	Unisex but used sparingly	Not used Similar to the unit for electric charge, the Coulomb, which comes from a French surname.	Catmael 1292
Denise	French Eighteen women and 75 men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name or a variation of it.	Comes via Latin from the Greek name Dionysos for the god of wine, revelry and fertility.	Unisex A popular variation appears to be Denyse, recorded for eight women and thirty men.	Used as a feminine name	Catmael 1292
Erchambaut	French This was the name of a female carpenter and a male shoemaker, who were both recorded in the 1292 census of Paris.	Related to the Old Germanic names Archembald and Ercanbald. The latter’s first element Ercan- means genuine. Its second element -bald means bold.	Usually masculine	Not used Related to the masculine name Archibald.	Dubh
Estienne	French Six women and 286 men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name.	The Medieval French form of Greek Stephanos, which means ‘wreath, garland, crown’. The word is sometimes associated with the halos of saints.	Used by both genders but predominantly by men	Not used Related to the popular masculine name Stephen, however it does not sound like Stephen and feels more feminine in comparison.	Catmael 1292; Dubh
Florie	French Five women and four men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name.	Likely related to the Roman cognomen Florus, which means flower.	Unisex	Not used but likely evokes feminine connotations as in the name Flora.	Catmael 1292
Gile	French 41 women and 120 men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name or a variation of it.	Uncertain. Perhaps related to names like Giles, Gilbert, Julian etc.	Unisex Another form that was unisex in period is Gille, recorded circa 1500 in Lallaing in France	Not used except perhaps as a diminutive	Dubh; Catmael 1292; Moicheirghe
Guillaume	French Four women and 1275 men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name or a variation of it.	From the Germanic Willahelm, where its two elements mean will, desire and helmet, protection.	Almost always masculine The French form of William	Still used as the French form of William William and related names are almost always masculine.	Catmael 1292
Houdart	French Two women and one man recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name.	Unknown	Unisex but used sparingly	Not used	Catmael 1292
Jherosme	French This was the name of one woman and two men from Lallaing recorded in census data from the 1530s to 1550s.	Probably from the Greek name Hieronymos meaning sacred name	Unisex Note that the -os- combination usually became ô at least in modern French	Related to the masculine name Jerome	Moicheirghe
Joce	French One woman and twenty-one men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name or a variation of it.	Probably a diminutive for Joseph from the Hebrew Yosef meaning ‘he will add’.	Almost always masculine	Not used except as a nickname for names like Joseph or Jocelyn	Catmael 1292
Jude	French This was the name of one woman and two men from Lallaing recorded in census data from the 1530s to 1550s.	Comes from either Judas or Judith with the latter meaning Jewish woman	Unisex	Unisex	Moicheirghe
Marque	French This was the name of two women and one man from Lallaing recorded in census data from the 1420s to 1550s.	Possibly from Marquis which refers to a noble title for a ruler of the borderlands of a kingdom Also could be from Marcus, which is associated with the martial god Mars	Unisex	Used sparingly as a black American masculine name May remind people of the masculine name Mark	Moicheirghe
Nicaise	French This was the name of three women and seventeen men from Lallaing recorded in census data from the 1410s to 1570s.	Ultimately probably meaning victory from names like Nike	Unisex	Not used	Moicheirghe
Nicole	French 14 women and two men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name.	From the Greek name Nikolaos, which means ‘victory of the people’.	Used by females as a variant of Nichole. Used sparingly by men as a variant of Nicolas.	Still used frequently as a feminine name	Dubh; Catmael 1292
Noël	French This was the name of one woman and 28 men from Lallaing recorded in census data from the 1440s to 1580s.	Christmas	Mostly used by men For females it appears to be a variation of Noëlle	Used as a masculine name in France and as a unisex name in English	Moicheirghe
Phelippe	French Nine women and 148 men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name or a variation of it.	From the Greek Philippos meaning friend of horses.	Mostly masculine Other forms recorded for both genders from Lallaing include Philippe, Philipe, Phlippe and Phelipe, although it was again mostly masculine	Still used in the form of Philippe, which is masculine Sounds very similar to the English equivalent Philip, which is also masculine.	Catmael 1292; Moicheirghe
Souplice	French Two women and two men recorded in the 1292 census of Paris had this name.	Unknown	Unisex	Not used	Catmael 1292

Irish

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Ailbe	Irish First recorded in the annals as a masculine name from 527 AD and last recorded from 883 AD. First recorded in the annals as a feminine name from 1077 AD and last recorded from 1487 AD.	Possibly related to a Celtic root meaning world, light, white or one meaning rock	Unisex Another spelling is Ailbhe	Not used Related to names like Alva or Elva	Bryan
Cainnech	Irish First recorded in the annals as a masculine name from 516 AD and last recorded from 1014 AD. First recorded in the annals as a feminine name from 924 AD and last recorded from 929 AD.	Derives from cain- meaning handsome, fair	Unisex	Used in the modern Scottish Gaelic name Coinneach and the dated anglicisation Kenneth, where both are masculine	Bryan
Cellach	Irish First recorded in the annals as a masculine name from 658 AD and last recorded from 1376 AD. First recorded in the annals as a feminine name from 726 AD with the same female being mentioned last in 732 AD.	Uncertain Could mean bright-headed or war, strife or church	Unisex	Used rarely as the masculine Irish name Ceallach	Bryan
Flann	Irish First recorded in the annals as a masculine name from 754 AD and last recorded from 1486 AD. First recorded in the annals as a feminine name from 886 AD and last recorded from 938 AD.	Allegedly blood red	Unisex	Used rarely as an allegedly unisex name Related to the surname Flynn and the female name Flannery. May also remind people of the name Finn or of the dessert	Bryan
Gormán	Irish First recorded in the annals as a masculine name from 610 AD and last recorded from 1085 AD. First recorded in the annals as a feminine name from 763 AD with the same female being mentioned last in 770 AD.	Little blue one	Unisex	Not used Related to the surname Gorman	Bryan
Máel Fábaill or Máel Fabaill	Irish First recorded in the annals as a masculine name from 878 AD and last recorded from 1263 AD. First recorded in the annals as a feminine name from 884 AD.	The element mael means bald, shaved and thus servant, devotee. The meaning of the second element is uncertain	Unisex The first form was standard for men and the second for women but period spelling was quite varied so that means little	Not used	Bryan
Máel Muire	Irish First recorded in the annals as a masculine name from 887 AD and last recorded from 1530 AD. First recorded in the annals as a feminine name from 905 AD and last recorded from 1021 AD.	The element mael means bald, shaved and thus servant, devotee. The second element is the name for the Virgin Mary. Together, these elements mean disciple of the Virgin Mary	Unisex	Muire is used as an Irish form of Maria and is feminine	Bryan
Owny	Anglicised Irish	As a female name, this is an anglicisation of Úna and may mean lamb. As a male name, this is an anglicisation of Uaithne and may mean green or come from the name of a tribe	Unisex in spelling only Two different spellings of a male and female name have converged. This also happened with the spelling Owin from Owen (Eoin) and Owny (Úna)	The female anglicised version Úna is still used as a female Irish name May remind people of the masculine name Owen	Donnchada

Italian

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Caracosa	Judeo-Italian with likely origins in Italian This name was found from Jewish court records from Rome in the 1550s.	Beloved or precious thing	Unisex	Not used	Yerush (Rome)
Frescarosa	Judeo-Italian with likely origins in Italian This name was found from Jewish court records from Rome in the 1550s.	Possibly related to the name Francis meaning Frenchman with the name element -rosa meaning rose added	Unisex	Not used The ending of -rosa sounds like the feminine name Rosa	Yerush (Rome)
Gentile	Italian This name was found from Jewish court records from Rome in the 1550s.	Related to Latin Gentilis, which means ‘of the same family’	Unisex Has several famous male and female bearers. Was exclusively female in French	Not used Its spelling may remind people of the word gentile, which ironically means non-Jew	Yerush (Rome)
Ricca	Italian This name was found from Jewish court records from Rome in the 1550s.	Probably ultimately related to Richard, which means brave ruler	Unisex but probably more frequently used by females	Only rarely used May remind some of the masculine name Rick	Yerush (Rome); Yerush (Milan)
Rosina	Italian This name was found from Jewish court records from Rome in the 1550s.	An Italian diminutive of Rosa	Mostly used by females	Still used today as an almost exclusively feminine name	Yerush (Rome)

Mongolian

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Alagh Yid	Mongolian	Unknown by this author Alagh means dappled or may mean elderly	Unisex	Not used	Mika
Khadagan	Mongolian	Unknown by this author	Unisex	Not used	Mika
Khulan	Mongolian	Wild donkey	Unisex	Used by both genders in Mongolia but more for females	Mika
Maral	Mongolian	Deer Comes from the name of the Caspian Red Deer species	Unisex	Used as a feminine name mostly	Mika

Russian

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Belka	Russian Recorded in use in 1243 and 1495	Squirrel	Unisex	Not used	Wickenden
Boika	Russian Recorded in use in 1212	A variation of a name meaning fight	At least for males, this was a diminutive of the masculine name Boi	Not used at least in this spelling	Wickenden
Boriuta	Russian Recorded in use in 1204	Unknown to me	Unisex Males also used the variation Boriuth	Not used	Wickenden
Dobritsa	Russian Recorded in use in 1386 and 1458	Good	Unisex	Some rare names across Eastern Europe use the dobru element with varying gender e.g. Dobrilo, Dobromila	Wickenden
Dragina	Russian Recorded in use in 1330 and 1391	Dear	Unisex A form of Dragin’ia, which is also unisex	Dragan as a masculine name and Dragana as a feminine name are still both used in Slavic countries	Wickenden
Draia	Russian Recorded in use in 1330 and 1566	Unknown to me	Unisex	Not used	Wickenden
Edviga	Russian Recorded in use in 1493	Probably related to Germanic Haedwig, which has two elements meaning battle, combat and war respectively	Unisex At least for females, this was a form of Iadviga	Not used	Wickenden
Fed’ka	Russian	Related to Feodor and Feodora, which mean God’s gift	Unisex A form of the masculine name Feodor and the feminine name Feodora Another unisex form was Fedorka	Not used Feodor, Feodora and related names like Theodore are still in use	Wickenden
Fekla	Russian Recorded in use in 1356 and in the 1400s	God’s glory	Unisex	Not used Other related names like Fyokla or Thekla are rarely used	Wickenden
Groza	Russian Recorded in use in 1436 and 1600	Terror	Unisex	Not used	Wickenden
Iona	Russian Recorded in use in 1356 and 1459	From the Hebrew Yonah meaning dove	Unisex but probably mostly used by males	Used as a masculine name in Russia and Georgia A name of the same spelling is used rarely as a feminine name in English	Wickenden
Itka	Russian	Allegedly related to Judith, which means Jewish woman	Unisex Another unisex form was Jitka	Jitka is still used as a feminine Czech name	Wickenden
Kalia	Russian Recorded in use in 1587 as a patronymic surname and in 1629	Related to the Russian name Kala meaning dirt	Unisex	Kalia is used as a name or nickname in various cultures, which is usually but not always feminine	Wickenden
Kasha	Russian Recorded in use in 670 and 1491	Porridge	Unisex Another unisex form was Kashka	Used rarely as a modern feminine English name	Wickenden
Kata	Russian Recorded in use in 1088 and 1229	As a male name, this means rolling. As a female name, it is related to Katherine, which probably means clean	Unisex in spelling Was a male name by itself and a female name as a diminutive of Ekaterina	Still used as a feminine name in some Slavic countries May remind some of names like Katerina or of the feline	Wickenden
Katrusha	Russian Recorded in use in 1455 and 1639	Is a separate male name with an unknown meaning. As a female name, it is related to Katherine, which probably means clean	Unisex in spelling Was a male name by itself and a female name as a diminutive of Ekaterina	Not used May remind some of names like Katerina	Wickenden
Kora	Russian Recorded in use in the 1300s and 1400s	Unknown May be related to the Greek name Kore, which means maiden	Unisex	Used as a variant of the feminine Cora	Wickenden
Kudra	Russian Recorded in use in 1491 and 1631	Curl	Unisex	Not used	Wickenden
Kuna	Russian Recorded in use in 1052 and 1271	Quill	Unisex	Used as a diminutive of names ending with -kuna, which are usually feminine	Wickenden
Kunei	Russian Recorded in use in 1583 and 1623	Unknown May be related to Kunai, which means marten	Unisex	Not used	Wickenden
Kunka	Russian Recorded in use in 1469	Diminutive of Kunitsa, which means marten	Unisex	Not used	Wickenden
Liba	Russian Recorded in use in 800 and 1552	Likely means love	Unisex Another unisex form was Liuba A form recorded in use at least by females was Lieba	Only rarely used May remind some of the feminine nickname Libby	Wickenden
Liska	Russian Recorded in use in 1429 and 1605	Uncertain	Unisex Another unisex form was Lishka	Not used	Wickenden
Luka	Russian Recorded in use in 1088	The Russian form of Luke, which means light	Unisex	Is still used as a masculine name	Wickenden
Maliuta	Russian Recorded in use in 1518 and 1542	Small	Unisex	Not used	Wickenden
Malusha	Russian	The feminine form is a diminutive of Mariia. The masculine form is a diminutive of Malukha, which means small	Unisex with different origins for each gender	Not used	Wickenden
Mana	Russian Recorded in use in 1115	Attract	Unisex A masculine form is Mane	Not used May remind people of the magical fuel used in video games of the same name, which itself comes from Polynesian spirituality	Wickenden
Maniia	Russian Recorded in use in 1293	Unknown	Unisex	Not used Some may pronounce like the word ‘mania’	Wickenden
Manka	Russian Recorded in use in 1143 as a male name and out of period as a female name	Lure	Unisex	Not used May remind some of the word ‘manky’, which means wet, unpleasant or dirty	Wickenden
Mira	Russian Recorded in use in 1029 and 1393	Peace or earth for females. Of peace or of the earth for males, genitive case	Unisex	Still used as a Slavic feminine name A feminine name meaning ‘sea, ocean’ in Sanskrit used in India	Wickenden
Moiko	Russian Recorded in use in the 13^th century	Washing	Unisex	Not used	Wickenden
Nedelia	Russian Recorded in use in 1286 and 1555	Week	Unisex As a feminine name, a variant of Neda	Nedelya is a name meaning ‘Sunday’ in Bulgarian	Wickenden
Niksha	Russian Recorded in use in 1399 and 1570	Unknown Possibly related to Nikolas	Unisex	Not used Sounds like many of the names in the extended Nicholas name family	Wickenden
Olenka	Russian	As a feminine name, diminutive of Olena. As a masculine name, diminutive of Aleksei	Unisex	Still used occasionally as a feminine name	Wickenden
Oria	Russian Recorded in use in the 13^th to 14^th centuries	Unknown Apparently a nickname for the masculine Artemei	Unisex	Feminine name form of Italian Aurea	Wickenden
Oslebia	Russian	Unknown	Unisex Another unisex form in period was Osliabia	Not used	Wickenden
Ovtsa	Russian Recorded in use in 1392 and 1495	Sheep	Unisex	Not used	Wickenden
Plakida	Russian Recorded in use in 1356 and 1623	Unknown to this author Possibly related to the Late Latin Placidus, which means ‘quiet, calm’	Unisex Related to the masculine Plakid	Not used	Wickenden
Priba	Russian Recorded in use in 1400 and 1454	Unknown to this author	Unisex	Not used	Wickenden
Rado	Russian Recorded in use in 1056 and 1293	Joy	Unisex	Used sparingly as a masculine name Rada as a feminine name is still used in Slavic countries	Wickenden
Sel’ianka	Russian	If feminine, peasant woman If masculine, of the field	Unisex but with totally different name meanings Selianka was another unisex spelling	Used rarely if at all	Wickenden

Viking (earlier Scandinavian)

Name	Culture and Time	Meaning	In Period	In Modern Times	Source
Létta	Old Norse; Viking Age Scandinavia This name was found on a runic inscription in Sweden that is dated between 900-1050 AD (DR 124).	From an abstract verb in Old Norse meaning ‘lighten, unburden, make lighter’.	Unisex	Not commonly used Sounds similar to nicknames or diminutives for usually female names like Charlotte or Violetta.	Peterson
Mallymkun	Celtic name used during the Viking Age This name was found on a runic inscription on the Isle of Man that is dated between 1000-1099 AD (IM MM130).	First element Mal- is the Celtic word for servant. Second element is maybe the genitive case of the Celtic name Lomchu.	Unisex	Not used	Peterson
Malmury	Celtic name used during the Viking Age This name was found on a runic inscription on the Isle of Man that is dated between 1000-1099 AD (IM MM130).	First element Mal- is the Celtic word for servant. Second element is the Celtic genitive form of the name Maria.	Unisex	Not used	Peterson
Myskia	Viking Age Scandinavia This name was found on a runic inscription in Sweden that is dated between 1010-1050 AD (Sö 173).	From an Old Swedish word meaning bat.	Unisex Myskja is also likely to be an acceptable spelling.	Not used The -a ending may feel more feminine to some.	Peterson

Source List

Standard abbreviations for Appendix H resources have been used or generally SCA names of authors to refer to sources.

Ava – https://ava-s-corner.com/anthroponymy/gender-neutral-names-from-the-netherlands/

Auda – https://heraldry.sca.org/names/arabic-naming2.htm#foot1

Behindthename.com for name meanings and modern usages of names only (not for the names themselves or how they were used in period; this source should never be used for documentation of a name)

Beider – https://www.avotaynu.com/books/dagn.htm; I only had access to the index of names online

Bryan – http://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/

Catmael 1292 – https://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/1292paris.pdf

DGP – https://slaegtsbibliotek.dk/911827.pdf

DMNES – http://dmnes.org/names

Donnchada (formerly Bryan) – https://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnglicizedIrish/

Dubh – https://heraldry.sca.org/names/paris.html

Ii – https://heraldry.sca.org/names/Chinese-Onomastics_v1.1.pdf

Mālik – https://dragonstrike.neocities.org/names/genneu.html

Maral – https://heraldry.sca.org/kwhss/2020/Dragonsmist_Mingzi.pdf

Mika[-Mysliwy] – https://heraldry.sca.org/names/mongolian_names_marta.html

Moicheirghe – https://heraldry.sca.org/names/lallaing_names.html

Peterson – Nordiskt Runnamnslexikon; find it from the no-photocopy list or ask a herald

Sneferu – https://heraldry.sca.org/kwhss/2016/Egyptian%20Names%20from%20Demotic%20Sources%202nd%20edition%20draft%203.pdf

Trismegistos – https://www.trismegistos.org/ref/index.php

Wickenden – https://heraldry.sca.org/names/paul/

Withycombe – https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary0000with_n6c3

[ha]Yerush[almi] Geniza – https://heraldry.sca.org/names/Jewish/Cairo/

[ha]Yerush[almi] Milan – https://heraldry.sca.org/names/Jewish/milan_names.html

[ha]Yerush[almi] Rome – https://heraldry.sca.org/names/Jewish/rome_article.html

Notes on Other Sources for Unisex Names

Standard abbreviations for Appendix H resources have been used or generally SCA names of authors to refer to sources.

Multigender Names, compiled by Clare Drake – https://heraldry.sca.org/names/multigender/. I (Rúna) am thrilled by this list! It’s wonderful to see more publication of gender-neutral name resources for submitters. Highly recommended!

Celtic Personal Names of Roman Britain – https://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/personalnames/. This source’s gender search does not work. Names that come up as ‘uncertain’ gender while searching are often gendered when you click into them.

Peterson’s Nordiskt Runnamnslexikon, which can be found on the no-photocopy list, has some runic names that are marked as being of uncertain gender. This is because the runic names are fragmentary and so cannot be normalised into a gendered form.