First Names for Name Lovers Trivia Quiz

Answer: Alice

Adelheid is composed of the elements 'adal', meaning noble, and 'heid', meaning kind/sort.

Adalheidis was an additional German form of Adelheid; Alice developed in Old French as a shortening of Adalheidis.

Eileen is an Anglicization of the Gaelic name Eibhlín, the meaning of which is uncertain. Delia is a Greek name originally referring to a person from Delos, and Leda comes from Greek myth.

Answer: True

Ludwig is a Germanic name composed of the elements 'hlud', meaning fame, and 'wig', meaning warrior. Louis is the French form of this name. Both became very famous in their own right and inspired many variations, including Ludovic/Ludovica, Aloysius/Aloisia, and the obvious Louise/Louisa.

Answer: Fioralba

Fioralba is a combination of the Italian words 'fiore', meaning flower, and 'alba', meaning dawn.

The remaining three names are of German origin. Compound names reached a peak of popularity in Germany in the first half of the 20th century. These included Marietheres, a combination of Marie and Theresa, Hannelore, combining Hanna and Lore (a short form of Eleonore), and Lieselotte, combining Liese (a nickname for Elisabeth) with Lotte (a nickname for Charlotte). Anneliese (Anne + Liese) is an example of a German compound name currently popular - but this time, it is finding popularity in the United States.

Answer: Siobhán

Yochanan/Iohannes/John/Jane means "Yahweh is gracious".

Siobhán is the Irish form of Jehanne, an old French feminine form of Johannes (from Iohannes).

Shannon is the name of the longest river in Ireland. Its use as a first name comes from the river. Jennifer is the Cornish form of Guinevere. Yolanda's origins are unknown.

Answer: Isabel

Elizabeth is a form of the Hebrew name Elisabet meaning "God is my oath" or "my God is an oath".

Isabel is a Spanish form of Elizabeth, eliminating the middle syllable and changing an ending to one that makes more sense in Spanish. Alternatively, it has also been suggested that Isabel has Semitic origins related to the God Ba'al.

Elisha is a masculine name, also of Hebrew origin, meaning "my God is salvation". Lysandra is the feminine form of Lysandros, a Greek name from the elements 'lysis' meaning release, and 'andros', meaning man. Bethel is a place name in the Old Testament.

Answer: Rita

The meaning of Katherine is often given as "pure", though this is not the meaning of the original name. The name was mixed up with the Greek word 'katharos', meaning pure, early on, but does not come from this word.

Caitlin is the Irish form of Katherine, currently very popular in the United States. It had its first round of popularity there in the early-to-middle 20th century, when it was Anglicized as Kathleen in an attempt to preserve the original pronunciation. The new wave of Caitlins do not preserve the original pronunciation, and a crop of new spellings of the name has grown to fit the new pronunciation.

Karen is a Danish form of Katherine. Kateri was the name adopted by a Native American saint, after St. Catherine. The name was adopted to suit the pronunciation of Catherine in the Mohawk language.

Rita is a nickname for Margarita, the Spanish form of Margaret.

Answer: Elizabeth

Elizabeth's great popularity over a very long period of time has spawned numerous nicknames - and these are just the traditional ones! If you're tired of Liz and Beth, try one of these on for size: Bess/Bessie, Bet/Betty/Betsy, Bettina, Buffy, Elise/Elisa/Lisa/Lisi, Eliza/Liza, Ellie, Elsa/Elsie, Libby, Lies, Lillie, Lilo, or Tetty!

Answer: Margaret

Margaret comes from the Greek 'margarites' meaning pearl.

Peggy comes from Meg, another nickname for Margaret. Maisie is a nickname of the Scottish form of Margaret, Mairead. Gretel is a German diminutive of Greta, a short form of Margaret. There are many more! Other nicknames for the versions of Margaret around the world include Jorie (from Margery/Marjorie), Megan, Madge, Marge, Margo, Maggie, Mamie (also used for Mary), Meta, Midge, and Rita.

Answer: False

Winifred is an Anglicization of the Welsh Gwenfrewi, from the elements 'gwen', meaning white/fair, and 'frewi', meaning peace. Winfred comes from the Old English 'wine', meaning friend, and 'frið', meaning peace.

Answer: Pilar, Socorro, Dolores

Pilar (pillar), Socorro (succour), and Dolores (sorrows), all come from titles of the Virgin Mary. Other names used in Spanish as references to the Virgin Mary include Asunción (assumption), Consuelo (consolation), Lourdes (a city where she is said to have appeared), Luz (light), Mercedes (mercies), Milagros (miracles), Nieves (snows), Remedios (remedies), Rocío (dew), Rosario (rosary), and Soledad (solitude). This is not a comprehensive list; there are more!

Resources used in creating this quiz are as follows. I would recommend them to any name lovers!

Oxford Dictionary of First Names by Hanks and Hodges (English)
Duden Lexikon der Vornamen (German)
http://www.behindthename.com

Thanks for playing!