Charlotte M. Yonge’s History of Christian Names is a wide-ranging study of the personal names borne across Europe and beyond. The popular Victorian novelist turned her considerable learning to etymology, tracing given names through languages, nations, and centuries.
Yonge organizes names by root and meaning, following them as they passed between cultures and changed form. The book combines scholarship with the storytelling gift that made her fiction beloved, offering a readable account of where our names come from. It remains a standard reference on the history and significance of Christian names and a rich source for the curious.