Names That Mean Thing

Cosette is best known as the heroine of Les Miserables. In the Victor Hugo novel, Cosette was the nickname given to the girl named Euphrasie by her mother. Although Hugo invented the name, some etymologists believe it's a spin on Colette, originally a female short form of Nicolas.

Voltaire is the nom-de-plume of François-Marie Arouet, who became noted for his witty and satirical takes on enlightenment philosophy and Western society. Voltaire's most famous work, Candide, used satire as a vehicle to advocate against religion, monarchy, greed, and for tolerance, freedom and reason. It is said that his moniker was a variation of his sister's family nickname "le petit volontaire" (the determined little thing).

Heavily perfumed word name that peaked a few years ago.

Derived from the Igbo elements ífé meaning "thing" and ọ́má, "good" or "beautiful."

Italianate variation of Cosette, from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.

Consistently among the top 5 girls' names in Greenland for the past four decades, Pipaluk has one of the most adorable meanings going, and could make for a quirky route to Pip or Pippa. A famous bearer in Greenlandic-Danish author Pipaluk Freuchen.

A rare and lovely Nahuatl name, which literally means "quetzal feather" – a quetzal is a beautiful green bird native to Mexico, Guatemala and South America. The word is figuratively used to refer to something precious or beautiful, making this a lovely option for a wished-for baby girl.

Voltaire is the nom-de-plume of François-Marie Arouet, who became noted for his witty and satirical takes on enlightenment philosophy and Western society. Voltaire's most famous work, Candide, used satire as a vehicle to advocate against religion, monarchy, greed, and for tolerance, freedom and reason. It is said that his moniker was a variation of his sister's family nickname "le petit volontaire" (the determined little thing).

Rekker comes to us thanks to actor Cam Gigandet, who gave his son this phonetic spelling of badass word name Wrecker. Use at your own peril.

A lovely name most commonly used by Judeo-Italian families — also the name of a fictional city in Ambrose Bierce's short story "An Inhabitant of Carcosa", written in the late 1800s.

This phonetic spelling of Quetzalli — a rare and lovely Nahuatl name, which literally means "quetzal feather" after the quetzal bird — was given to around the same number of baby girls as the original in 2022 (a few dozen).

You could think of this lovely name as Alma after a month on the beach in Maui.

A sweet-sounding Hindi name with a lovely meaning.