underground railroad



underground railroad

A secret network for moving and housing fugitives, as in There's definitely an underground railroad helping women escape abusive husbands. This term, dating from the first half of the 1800s, alludes to the network that secretly transported runaway slaves through the northern states to Canada. It was revived more than a century later for similar escape routes.

Common Names:

NameGenderPronouncedUsage
Marian (2)MAHR-yahn (Polish)Polish, Czech, Romanian
Noureddine-Arabic
Yiftach-Biblical Hebrew
MaxwellMAKS-welEnglish
Snorre-Norwegian
Ajeet-Indian, Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi, Bengali