Day and Night Names Shine All The Time

Day and Night Names Shine All The Time

Baby names inspired by the time of day have some of the most evocative meanings. They capture a point in time: maybe a birth in the middle of the night, or a peaceful moment at sunrise.

Of course the rising and setting of the sun is universal, so names meaning times of day and night are found in many languages and cultures. Whether you already know what time you want to celebrate, or you’re waiting for the moment your baby arrives, there are some beautiful possibilities.

Here are 50+ of the best names for all hours of the day and night.

Names Meaning Morning and Sunrise

Akinyi — Luo, “born in the morning”

Alba — Spanish, “sunrise”

Anatole — Greek, ”east, sunrise”

Arla — Swedish, “early”

Asa — Japanese, “born in the morning”

Aurora — Roman goddess of dawn

Ayelet — Hebrew, “gazelle”: “gazelle of dawn” is a name for the morning star

Bayan — Unisex Kurdish name meaning “morning”

Dagny — Scandinavian, “new day”

Danica — Slavic, “morning star”

Duha — Arabic, "morning” or a morning prayer

Lark — Bird associated with the morning

Morrow — English, “morning”

Nishant — Sanskrit, “night’s end, dawn”

Omondi — Luo, “born early in the morning”

Rocio — Spanish, “dewdrops”

Roxana — Persian, “dawn”

Sabah — Arabic, “morning”

Sahar — “dawn”

Uhtred — Old English, “pre-dawn advice”

Tali — Hebrew, “dew”

Vihaan — Sanskrit, “dawn”

Zora — Slavic, “dawn”

Names With Other Day Meanings

Arrats — Basque, "afternoon" or "dusk", one of the very few names with an afternoon meaning

Aruna — In Hindu mythology, charioteer who drives the sun god across the sky

Ashwin — Another name from Hindu tradition: the Ashwini are twin gods of the sunrise and sunset

Day — Rare unisex word name

Diaz — Spanish surname from Latin, “days”

Eos — A double time of day meaning: "dawn" in Greek, "nightingale" in Welsh

Esila — A popular Turkish name, from the Arabic for "late afternoon, evening"

Meridian — "midday"

Nuru — Swahili, “born in daylight”

Seven — A number (or clock time) rising for both boys and girls

Tala — Tagalog goddess of the morning and evening star

Zenith — “highest point”, could refer to midday

Names Meaning Evening and Sunset

Ajambo — Luo, "born in the evening"

Eha — Estonian, "dusk"

Hesper — Greek, “evening, evening star”

Ilta — Finnish, “evening”

Miyu — Japanese, “beautiful evening”

Samir and Samira — Arabic, “evening companion”

Senja — Indonesian, "dusk"

Vesper — Latin, “evening star”

Yvaine — the evening star in Neil Gaiman's Stardust

Names Meaning Night

Atieno — Luo, “born at night”

Hoku — Hawaiian, “night of the full moon”

Isra — Unisex Arabic name meaning "night journey"

Layla — Arabic, “night”

Lilith — Akkadian, “being of the night”

Luna — Latin, “moon”

Miyabi — Japanese, “beautiful night fire”

Nightingale — Bird famous for singing at night

Nisha — Sanskrit, “night”

Nox — Latin, “night”

Orpheus — Greek, “darkness of night”

Phoebe — title for the Greek moon goddess Artemis

Shirina — Hindi, “night”

Stella — Latin, “star”

Sura — Arabic, “to travel by night”

Read next:

Time of Day Names: the complete list

Names That Mean Sun

Moon Names for Babies

About the Author

Clare Green

Clare Green

Clare Green has been writing for Nameberry since 2015, covering everything from names peaking right now to feminist baby names, and keeping up-to-date with international baby name rankings. Her work has featured in publications such as The Independent and HuffPost. Clare has a background in linguistics and librarianship, and recently completed an MA dissertation researching names in multilingual families. She lives in England with her husband and son. You can reach her at clare@nameberry.com