ALAN (m) The name Alan was brought to England in 1066 by the Bretons who fought alongside William the Conqueror. Two of William the Conqueror’s most important supporters were Alain Fergéant, the Count of Brittany, and Alain le Roux, the Earl of Richmond. From the 14th to 16th centuries it was spelled Aleyn, or Aleyne. Alan was a 6th Century Breton saint (the Bishop of Quimper). Alan may mean “Peace,” “Rock,” “Handsome,” or “Hound.”

JOANNE (f) Old French feminine form of JOHN (m) "the Lord is gracious" from the Hebrew name Johanan. Consistently popularity to two New Testament characters - John the Baptist, and the apostle John who was also supposedly the author of the fourth Gospel and Revelation in the New Testament. The name has been borne by 23 popes, as well as kings of England, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and France.

WENDY (f) First used in J. M. Barrie's 'Peter Pan' in 1904. It was from the nickname fwendy "friend", given to the author by a young friend.

DAVID (m) "friend" or "beloved" (Hebrew). David was the second and greatest of the kings of Israel, ruling in the 10th century BC. Several stories about him are told in the Old Testament, including his defeat of Goliath, a giant Philistine. Other famous bearers of this name include the 5th-century patron saint of Wales, two kings of Scotland, and explorer David Livingstone.

HUGH (m) From Germanic hug, meaning "heart, mind, or spirit". This name is also used as the Anglicized form of the Gaelic names AODH, ÙISDEAN, and EOGHAN.

MARIE (f) French form of Maria/Mary from the Hebrew name Miriam. Most likely originally an Egyptian name, perhaps derived in part from mry "beloved" or mr "love". This is the name of several New Testament characters, most importantly Mary the virgin mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene. Notable bearers of this name were Marie Antoinette and Marie Curie.

NICOLA (f) feminine form of Nicolas, itself from the Greek name Nikolaos which meant "victory of the people" from Greek nike "victory" and laos "people". Saint Nicholas was a 4th-century bishop who, according to legend, saved the daughters of a poor man from lives of prostitution. He is now known as Santa Claus, the bringer of Christmas presents.

ANDREW (m) From the Greek name Andreas, which derives from aner "man" (genitive andros "of a man"). In the New Testament the apostle Andrew was the brother of the apostle Simon Peter, the patron saint of Scotland, Russia, and Greece.

BELINDA (f) The meaning of this name is not known for certain. The first element could be related Italian bella "beautiful". The second element could be related to Germanic lind "serpent, dragon" or linde "soft, tender". This name first arose in the 17th century, and was subsequently used by Alexander Pope in his poem 'The Rape of the Lock'.

PETER (m) Derived from Greek petros meaning "stone". In the New Testament Jesus gave the apostle Simon the name Cephas (meaning "stone" in Aramaic) which was translated Peter in many versions of the Bible.This name was also borne by Peter the Great, the czar of Russia who defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War in the 18th century.

SUSAN (f) Short form of SUSANNA. From Sousanna, the Greek form of the Hebrew name Shoshannah which was derived from the Hebrew word shushan meaning "lily" (in modern Hebrew this also means "rose"). A notable bearer was Susan B. Anthony, an American feminist of the 19th century.