Baby Name Meanings
Names That Mean Happy
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About this list
Names that mean happy, happiness, and joy have an undeniable appeal for parents wishing positive things for their children.
Happiness and joy are wonderful meanings for a baby's name, suggesting an upbeat personality and an optimistic future. Names with happy meanings come from a range of cultures and origins, from the Hebrew Asher and Naomi to the Japanese Nara and Miyuki.
Along with Naomi, girl names meaning happy in the US Top 1000 include Abigail, Beatrice, Bonnie, Delilah, Eden, and Felicity. Along with Asher, boy names meaning happy in the US Top 1000 include Felix and Tate.
More unusual or even unique baby names meaning happy include Blythe, Lettie, Onni, and Seeley.
Names that mean happy, happiness, joy, bliss or some other upbeat feeling include ancient mythological names, such as Arcadia and Festus, along with modern word names, like Revel and Jubilee.
If you're hoping your child is joyful and lively, a happy baby name is a good place to start.
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The names
Asher
Hebrew
"fortunate, blessed, happy one"
Asher—an excellent, soft and sensitive Old Testament choice—is a baby boy name on the rise, and is a Nameberry biblical favorite. Asher's ascent is especially amazing given that the took a…
Abigail
Hebrew
"my father is joyful"
Abigail has been in for so long -- the name has ranked in the US Top 100 since the late 1980s -- it's amazing that it isn't more out by now. But Abigail's biblical and historic roots make it a…
Isaac
Hebrew
"laughter"
Isaac has shaved off his biblical beard and leaped into the upper echelon of popular boys' names, outrunning cousin Isaiah. A favorite of the Puritans, Isaac has never dipped below Number 400 on the…
Naomi
Hebrew, Japanese
"pleasantness; straight, direct, beautiful"
A familiar name with a unique look and sound about it, Naomi combines a gentle cadence with classic strength. It was once a primarily Jewish name from the Old Testament, borne by the mother-in-law of…
Eden
Hebrew
"place of pleasure, delight"
Eden is an attractive, serene name with obvious intimations of Paradise, one of several place names drawn from the Bible by the Puritans in the 17th century. Eden entered the Top 1000 in 1989, and…
Alaia
Basque
"joyful, happy"
Alaia, a fast riser in the US, sounds just like several other popular stylish names, many of them with different origins and meanings. There's Arabic Aaliyah, like the late singer, and the Hebrew…
Felix
Latin
"happy, fortunate"
Felix is one of those ancient but nontraditional names for boys that have come into favor over the past few decades, a favorite of parents who want a masculine name with history and heft that breaks…
Alan
Irish
"handsome, cheerful"
In its three most popular spellings -- Alan along with Allen and Allan -- this midcentury favorite has tended to skew older. It was a Top 100 name from 1938 to 1971, peaking at Number 40 in 1951.…
Tate
English from Norse
"cheerful"
A strong single-syllable surname with a joyful meaning, Tate is finding a place on more and more birth certificates. Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton named her second son Tate Lee. Tate also has a…
Alanna
Variation of Alana
"handsome, cheerful"
The extra n makes it feel less like an feminization of Alan and more like a name unto itself. Alanna is more common in Puerto Rico than the original Alana.
Sunny
English nickname
Upbeat nickname-name that can't help but make you smile. You might want to use it as a short form for a more "serious" name such as Sunniva, but Sunny is undeniably, well, sunny.
Bonnie
Scottish
"beautiful, cheerful"
Bonnie is an adorable nickname name, heading back up the popularity list after a 50-year nap. A Top 100 girls' name throughout the rest of the English-speaking world, Americans are later to jump on…
Joy
English word name
"joy"
Joy is from an older generation of word names, which also included Merry, Bliss, and Glory -- all of which exert a certain amount of personality pressure on a child. However, Joy, like Grace, Hope,…
Felicity
Latin
"good fortune, happy"
Felicity is as accessible a virtue name as Hope and Faith, but much more feminine -- and dare we say, happier. The hit TV show did a lot to soften and modernize the once buttoned-up image of…
Beatrice
Latin
"she who brings happiness; blessed"
Beatrice is back. Stored in the attic for almost a century, the lovely Beatrice with its long literary (Shakespeare, Dante) and royal history is being looked at with fresh eyes by parents seeking a…
Noemi
Italian and Spanish variation of Naomi
"my delight"
Noemi is a charming Latin spin on Naomi; another twist is Neomi. A quiet mainstay on the US Top 1000 since 1957, Noemi was one of the fastest rising names in 2023.
Makenna
Spelling variation of McKenna, Irish, Eastern African
"son of Kenneth; happy one"
Makenna can be considered a member of the McKenna, Mackenna, Mckenzie and Mckayla family: surname style names that are popular for girls. It translates to "son of Kenneth", or taking Kenneth's…
Hilary
Latin from Greek
"cheerful, happy"
Hilary (also spelled with two 'l's) is a hot potato of a name, so closely identified with Sen. Clinton that it's hard for most parents to see it as a baby name. A pity, really, as it's got so much…
Hana
Hebrew, Hawaiian, Maori, Japanese
"grace, work, glow, flower"
Many things to many peoples: a flower name, also spelled Hanae, to the Japanese; a Czech and Polish short form of Johana; and an alternate form of the biblical name Hannah in the US. It also means…
Lettie
English, diminutive of Letitia, Latin
"joy, gladness"
Lettie, also spelled Letty, is a nickname name that until recently, had rarely been heard since the 1950s. Now, this treasured antique is on the rise, fitting right in with the trend for…
