Names That Are Variations

Feminine form of Armand, has an elegant charm.

Mary has hundreds of variations around the world, and this German form, pronounced Ma-RYE-keh, is virtually unknown in English-speaking lands. A possible alternative to Mariah?

The name of the king of the fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream; could work just as well for your little sprite.

This variation of Constantine is worn by Prince Constantijn of Holland, son of Queen Beatrix.

Shimmel is the Yiddish variation of Shimon, which is derived from the name Simon.

Enej is a spelling variation of Anej, the Slovene form of Aeneas. Both Anej and Enej follow similar trend lines on the Slovenian popularity charts, with Enej consistently ranking lower.

Cleophas is a variant of Cleopas, who was one of the men in the Bible who encountered Jesus on the road to Emmaus following his resurrection. As a name, it appeared on a handful of birth certificates each year during the mid-twentieth century, but it hasn't seen much use recently.

Quame is an Anglicization of the Ghanaian Akan name Kwame. In West Africa, it is traditional to name your child after the day of the week on which they were born. The feminine equivalent is Mimba, a variation of Ama.

This Scandinavian spin on Christopher gives that enduring classic a lighter, more individual twist, though many may see it as simply a kree8iv spelling.

The Turkish transcription of the Arabic name Yusra.

The Turkish transcription of Hussein.

The original is so out of style that this Olde World version sounds almost cool.

With the increasing popularity of Cameron, we've seen more and more creative spellings—including this one, which may be influenced by rapper Cam'ron. It rose up the US charts during the 90s, however it fell out of favor in 2017. Given to around 80 boys in a recent year, it is far less popular than the classic Cameron — in fact, for every one boy named Camron, there are 66 called Cameron.

Streamlined Estonian form of Simon.

Russian form of Martha, used in several novels by Feodor Dostoyevsky.

Marfa is perhaps best known as the name of artistic city Marfa, Texas. Rumor has it that the town was named after the Dostoyevsky character in The Brothers Karamazov, but it was actually named for a different literary character—Marfa Strogoff in MIchael Strogoff by Jules Verne.

The Romanian form of Medea, famously borne by actress Medeaa Marinescu.

While this spelling is running a close second on the popularity charts to the original Briana, it feels more invented -- probably because it is. Some parents may want to move further away from Brian, root name for all the feminine variations, and so prefer the e versions. But we like the older, more authentic Briana best. Another spelling way: Breanna.

See COREY.