Behind the Name -- Part II

KAI

Gender: Masculine & Feminine
Usage: Hawaii, Swedish
Pronounced: KIE (German)

Means "menevolent sea" in Hawaiian. Variant of Kaja which could also be derived from Old Norse kaða meaning "hen".


ERIKA

Gender: Feminine
Usage: Scandinavian, German, Hungarian, Czech, Slovene, English
Pronounced: ER-i-kə (English)

Feminine form of ERIC. From the Old Norse name Eiríkr, derived from the elements ei "ever" and ríkr "ruler".


MYRTLE

Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: MUR-təl

Simply from the English word myrtle for the evergreen shrub, ultimately from Greek μυρτος (myrtos). Nineteenth century was the time many other plant and flower names were coined.


JUSTINE

Gender: Feminine
Usage: French, English
Pronounced: zhoo-STEEN (French), jus-TEEN (English)

Derived from JUSTUS, which meant "just" or "justified" in Latin.


JASMINE

Gender: Feminine
Usage: English, Iraquis
Pronounced: JAZ-min

From the English word for the climbing plant with fragrant flowers which is used for making perfumes. It is derived from Persian yasmin (which is also a Persian name).


ABBIE

Gender: Feminine
Usage: English
Pronounced: AB-ee

Diminutive of ABIGAIL. From the Hebrew name אֲבִיגָיִל ('Avigayil) meaning "my father is joy". As an English name, Abigail first became common after the Protestant Reformation.


SANIE

Gender: Masculine
Usage: Arabic
Other Scripts: سنيّ (Arabic)

From SANI. Means "brilliant" or "splendid" in Arabic.