Jade

Jade, the gemstone.

Jade takes its meaning directly from the gemstone and is used as a given name in English and French. Both girls and boys have borne it, though it is chiefly treated as feminine today. Its immediate image is the stone, rather than a hidden description of a person. Green is a natural association, but jade also occurs in other colours. The gemstone name covers jadeite and nephrite. That wider palette gives the name more visual room than a simple “green” definition: polished surfaces and carved forms can suggest a quiet, tactile elegance. English /dʒeɪd/ rhymes with “made”; French /ʒad/ has a different opening sound and vowel. Both end firmly in d. Jade may appeal if you want gemstone imagery with a compact, decisive sound.

Etymology: An English and French name taken from the gemstone word, whose earlier history leads to Spanish piedra de ijada, historically “stone of the flank”.