Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Iamb What I Am

Confused? That's okay, I had to double-check that I was using the right term, too. If your remembrance of high school poetry is even worse than mine--an 'iamb' is a segment of verse that consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.
English names mostly don't fit, but a few do--Marie, Nicole, Renee, Elaine, Louise, Diane, Christine, Michelle, Yvette, Danielle, Yvonne (note the French origins!). Iambic names often get relegated to the middle name slot--they tend to "flow" better that way, since most English names are stressed on the first or penultimate syllable.
And so, here's a bunch of names that would make good middle names (excluding the ones on the fantastic NameNerds' page on middle names). Unsurprisingly, a few certain languages make up the majority!

  • Agathe (ah-GAHT, French)
  • Aimée (eh-MAY, French)--form of Amy
  • Aline (ah-LEEN, French)--form of Adeline/Adele/Alice
  • Andrée (ahn-DRAY, French)--feminine of Andre/Andrew
  • Anouk (ah-NOOK, Dutch, French)--form of Anne/Hannah
  • Arlette (ahr-LET, French)
  • Arline (ar-LEEN, English)
  • Aurore (oh-ROHR, French)
  • Aviv (ah-VEEV, Hebrew)--"spring" [unisex]
  • Axelle (ahk-SEL, French)
  • Aylin (eye-LIN, Turkish)--"moon halo"
  • Aysel (eye-SEL, Turkish)--"moon stream" [fig. "Milky Way"]
  • Aysun (eye-SOON, Turkish)--"beautiful as the moon"
  • Azar (ah-ZAHR, Persian)--"fire"
  • Belén (beh-LEN, Spanish)
  • Benoite (ben-WAWT, French)--feminine of Benoit/Benedict
  • Beste (bes-TEH, Turkish)--"melody"
  • Cécile (say-SEEL, French)
  • Ceren (jeh-RAHN, Turkish)--"young gazelle"
  • Chenda (chen-DAH, Khmer)--"intellect"
  • Christelle (krees-TEL, French)--form of Christine
  • Clémence (klay-MAWNS, French)
  • Clotilde (kloh-TEELD, French)
  • Colleen (kol-LEEN, English)
  • Cosette (koh-ZET, French)
  • Danielle (dan-YEL, English, French)
  • Delphine (del-FEEN, French)
  • Dilan (dih-LAHN, Turkish)--"love"
  • Emel (eh-MEL, Turkish)
  • Esen (eh-SAHN, Turkish)--"wind"
  • Evren (ehv-RAHN, Turkish)--"the cosmos"
  • Florette (floh-RET, French)
  • Georgette (johr-JET, English; zhohr-ZHET, French)
  • Georgine (johr-JEEN, English; zhohr-ZHEEN, French)
  • Ghislaine (gee-LEN, zhees-LEN, French)--form of Giselle
  • Haydée (eye-DAY, Spanish)
  • Hazan (hah-ZAHN, Turkish)--"autumn"
  • Helene (heh-LEEN, English)
  • Hélène (ay-LEN, French)
  • Ilkay (eel-KYE, Turkish)--"new moon"
  • Inès, Inés (ee-NES, French, Spanish)--form of Agnes
  • Irene (eye-REEN, English)
  • Irène (ee-REN, French)
  • Isaure (ee-ZOHR, French)
  • Iseult (ee-ZOOLT, French)
  • Izar (ee-SAHR, Basque)--"star"
  • Jacinthe (zhah-SENT, French)--form of Hyacinth
  • Janine (jah-NEEN, English)
  • Jolie (joh-LEE, English)--from French, "pretty"
  • Josée (zhoh-ZAY, French)--feminine of Joseph
  • Josette (zhoh-ZET, French)--another feminine of Joseph
  • Kiraz (kih-RAHZ, Turkish)
  • Laleh (lah-LAY, Persian)--"tulip"
  • Lawan (lah-WAHN, Thai)--"beautiful"
  • Lenore (len-OHR, English)
  • Lilou (lee-LOO, French)
  • Lior (lee-OHR, Hebrew)--"my light" [unisex]
  • Liron (lee-ROHN, Hebrew)--"my song/joy" [unisex]
  • Lore (loh-REH, Basque)--"flower"
  • Lucrece (loo-KREES, English)
  • Lucrèce (loo-KRES, French)
  • Lujayn (loo-ZHAYN, lu-JAYN, Arabic)--"silver"
  • Mairéad (mah-RAYD, Irish)--form of Margaret
  • Malai (mah-LYE, Thai)--"garland of flowers"
  • Marine (mah-REEN, French)
  • Marise (mah-REEZ, French)
  • Meital (may-TAHL, Hebrew)--"dew drop"
  • Méline (may-LEEN, French)
  • Merav (meh-RAHV, Hebrew)
  • Mercé (mehr-SAY, Catalan)--"mercy"
  • Morgane (mor-GAHN, French)
  • Mylène (mee-LEN, French)
  • Nahid (nah-HEED, Persian)--"pure, immaculate"
  • Nasrin (nahs-REEN, Persian)--"wild rose"
  • Nimet (nih-MET, Turkish)--from Arabic, "blessings"
  • Nuray (noo-RYE, Turkish)--"bright moon"
  • Noelle (noh-EL, English)
  • Odette (oh-DET, French)--feminine of Otto
  • Osanne (oh-ZAHN, French)
  • Pari (pah-REE, Persian)--"fairy"
  • Parvin (pahr-VEEN, Persian)--"Pleiades"
  • Pascale (pas-KAL, French)--from Latin, "Easter"
  • Perrine (peh-REEN, French)--feminine of Pierre/Peter
  • Pilar (pee-LAHR, Spanish)
  • Ravid (rah-VEED, Hebrew)
  • Rayen (rah-YEN, Spanish)--from Mapuche, "flower"
  • Régine (ray-ZHEEN, French)--from Latin, "queen"
  • Remei (reh-MAY, Catalan)
  • Reyhan (ray-HAHN, Turkish)
  • Romane (roh-MAHN, French)
  • Roser (roh-ZAY, Catalan)--"rosary"
  • Rosine (roh-ZEEN, French)--form of Rose
  • Sabine (sah-BEEN, French)
  • Sahar (sah-HAR, Persiah)--"dawn"
  • Shirin (shee-REEN, Persian)--"sweet"
  • Sibéal (shih-BAYL, Irish)--form of Isabel
  • Sivan (see-VAHN, Hebrew)
  • Soleil (soh-LAY, French)--"sun"
  • Sothy (soh-TEE, Khmer)--"intelligence" [unisex]
  • Sylvaine (seel-VEN, French)
  • Tamar (tah-MAHR, Hebrew)--original form of Tamara
  • Terese (teh-REES, English; teh-RAYS, Swedish)
  • Tiphaine (tee-FEN, French)--form of Tiffany
  • Vered (veh-RED, Hebrew)--"rose"
  • Vérène (vay-REN, French)
  • Victoire (veek-TWAWR, French)
  • Zareen (zah-REEN, Persian)--"golden"
  • Zhaleh (zhah-LAY, Persian)--"dew"
  • Zivit (zee-VEET, Hebrew)--"radiant"
  • Ziynet (zee-NET, Turkish)


And if you're looking for boys' iambic names, you can find some here. 

No comments:

Post a Comment