Names That Mean Sorrow

Bronagh, along with Anglicized form Brona, is a popular name in Ireland. It's the name of a sixth century mystic as well as a modern television character on Penny Dreadful.

What the Old Testament Rachel originally named Benjamin, before his father changed it; rarely heard today.

Brona is an Anglicized form of Bronach or Bronagh, the name of a sixth century mystic and follower of Saint Patrick. The name is attracting some modern notice in the US via the character Brona Croft in TV's Penny Dreadful.

A more substantial but less-popular feminization of Tristan, the originally-male mythological name now used for girls as well as boys.

An old saint's name that, even with the post-Aidan wave of Irish names, is a bit too close to crone.

Tristine is an uncommon girls' name that feminizes the mythological Tristan, yet is used for girls much more rarely than the original.

This name was borne by Ashoka the Great, a 3rd-century BC emperor of India, and inspired the Star Wars character name Ahsoka.

Mourning was recorded as a name among enslaved people in 19th-century America, where other names that capture the atrocities of slavehood — such as Suffer, Misery, and Hardtimes — were used as well.