Saturday, October 15, 2016

Iamb What I Am (boys)

I've been wondering--why do we have so many iambic names for girls, but not for boys? (if you need a reminder, an "iamb" is a word/name with a 'weak' syllable followed by a stressed syllable. e.g. Denise, Renee, Marie)
Iambic names are often the go-to names for girls' middles, but boys don't seem to have that many options. I think we should try to remedy that. :)
(before we even start, yes, this list leans heavily French)

  • Achille (ah-SHEEL, French)--form of Achilles
  • Adair (ah-DEHR, English [surname])--form of Edgar
  • Adán (ah-DAHN, Spanish)--form of Adam
  • Aimé (eh-MAY, French)--masculine of Amy/Aimée
  • Alain (ah-LEN, French)--form of Alan
  • Aleix (ah-LEHSH, Catalan)--form of Alexis
  • Amir (ah-MEER, Arabic, Hebrew) [separate derivations]
  • Armand (ar-MAWN, French)--from Germanic, "army man"
  • Armel (ar-MEL, French)--from Old Breton, "bear-prince"
  • Arnaud (ar-NOH, French)--form of Arnold
  • Aviv (ah-VEEV, Hebrew)--"spring" [the season]
  • Benoit (ben-WAH, French)--form of Benedict/Bennett
  • Bohdan (boh-DAHN, Czech, Ukrainian)--from Slavic, "given by God"
  • Canute (kah-NOOT, English)--from Old Norse, "knot"
  • Charlot (shar-LOH, French)--masculine of Charlotte
  • Cornell (kor-NEL, English [surname])--form of Cornelius
  • Darnell (dar-NEL, English [surname])
  • Denzel (den-ZEL, English [surname])--also spelled Denzell
  • Eloy (eh-LOY, Spanish)--from Latin, "chosen". Also spelled Eloi (Catalan) and Elói (Portuguese). 
  • Emil (eh-MEEL, English)--masculine of Emily. French form is Émile (ay-MEEL).
  • Eugene (yoo-JEEN, English)--from Greek, "born good". French form is Eugene (oo-ZHEN). 
  • Fernand (fehr-NAWN, French)--from Germanic, "brave journey". Other forms include Ferran (fehr-RAHN [rolled Rs], Catalan) and Hernan (ehr-NAHN, Spanish). 
  • Gaspar (gahs-PAHR, Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan)--form of Jasper/Casper
  • Gawain (gah-WAYN, English)--older form of Gavin
  • Gerard (jer-ARD, English)--from Germanic, "brave spear". French form is Gérard (zhay-RAHR). 
  • Ivan (ee-VAHN, Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Portuguese)--form of John. Spanish spelling is Iván.  
  • Javier (hahv-YEHR, Spanish)--form of Xavier
  • Jermaine (jur-MAYN, English)--from Latin, "brother". French form is Germain (zhehr-MAHN). 
  • Jerome (jeh-ROHM, English)
  • Jourdain (zhor-DAHN, French)--form of Jordan. Other forms include Jordán (hor-DAHN, Spanish), Jordão (zhor-DOW, Portuguese), and Yarden (yar-DEN, Hebrew).
  • Lamar (lah-MAHR, English [surname])--from French, "the pond"
  • Lazare (lah-ZAHR, French)--form of Lazarus, "God has helped"
  • Louis (loo-EE, French)--from Germanic, "famous battle". Other forms include Luis (loo-EES, Spanish), Luís (loo-EESH, Portuguese) and Loïc (loh-EEK, Breton).
  • Manuel (man-WEL, English; mahn-WEL, Spanish, Catalan, Italian)--form of Emmanuel
  • Marcel (mar-SEL, English, French, Catalan)--from Latin, poss. "of Mars"
  • Martell (mar-TEL, English [surname])--form of Martin, or from French "hammer"
  • Maurice (mor-EES, French, English)
  • Pascal (pas-KAL, French, pahs-KAHL, Dutch, German)--from Latin "Easter". Other forms include Pascual (pahs-KWAHL, Spanish), Pasqual (pahs-KWAHL, Catalan), and Paskal (pas-KAHL, Bulgarian).
  • Ramón (rah-MOHN, Spanish)--form of Raymond
  • Renard (reh-NAHR, French)--from Germanic, "brave advisor" [also means "fox" in modern French]
  • Rennell (ren-NEL, English [surname])--form of Reynold/Reginald
  • Ruslan (roos-LAHN, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian)--poss. from Turkish, "lion". 
  • Salim (sah-LEEM, Arabic)--"safe"
  • Sinclair (sin-CLEHR, English [surname])--"Saint Clair"
  • Stephane (stay-FAHN, French)--form of Stephen. Other forms include Stepan (stee-PAHN, Russian). 
  • Tyrone (tye-ROHN, English)--from Irish place-name, "Owen's land"
  • Yefim (yeh-FEEM, Russian)--masculine of Euphemia

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