Names for the Festival of Lights

[nephele]

With tonight bringing the lighting of the third candle for Chanukah, I thought I'd ask our resident namesters here to help me put together a list of names that mean "light."

I'll start off with five pretty girls' names:

Lucy – name derived from the Latin lux, meaning "light."
Lumina – Romanian word that means "light."
Meira – Hebrew feminine name, meaning "giving light."
Nera - Hebrew feminine name, meaning "candle."
Svetlina – Bulgarian word that means "light."

Who else here can add to my list? :)

-- Nephele

[unicorngal]

Aileen/Eileen
Fulgencia
Helen/ Helena
Ilona
Lenore/ Lenora/ Leonora
Nora/ Norah
Koichi
Lior
Lux
Luz
Elena
Eleanor/Eleanore/Eleanora
Electra/ Elektra
Hikari
Lucija
Lucita
Nelida
Norabel
Yelena
Zara


For boys:
Abner
Lucian
Lucius

[irisrose]

I can't think of many that don't belong to the Lucy or Elena family. Here are some; sorry for repeats:

Eleanor
Helen
Helena
Eileen
Iliana
Eleni
Elena
Elaine
Lucia (my sister's name)
Lucy
Luciana
Lucille
Lucasta
Zohar
Luminita
Roshanara
Photina
Svetlana
Ora
Liora
Eliora
Svatava
Dipika

[nephele]

Thanks, Unicorngal and Irisrose! I especially like the Japanese Hikari from Unicorngal's list, and the Persian Roshanara from Irisrose's list.

-- Nephele

[dearest]

When I first saw this post you had 'Lys' on it! I love Lys!
It's the Danish/Swedish/Norwegian word for light and it's lovely as a middle name IMO ^^

I can't think of any to add except Light itself, for Death Note fans and people who like word names... I see it easily for a boy!

Lucas/Lukas/Luke
Louanne
Luciana
Ludivine
Lux
Bjarte/Bjart (Norse boys name meaning light)
Sindre/Sindri (Norse boys name meaning spark or sparkling)

I'll find more Norse ones tomorrow, it's 3 am here now :) I can say this much though, all names ending in -bert (Albert, Robert etc) mean something + light :)

[nephele]

When I first saw this post you had 'Lys' on it! I love Lys!
It's the Danish/Swedish/Norwegian word for light and it's lovely as a middle name IMO ^^

Yes, I love the appearance of the name, but then I did some searching on its pronunciation, and it looks to me as though it's pronounced "lice". I need you to correct or confirm that, Dearest! Because, if it really is "lice," it will have rather lost its appeal to me. :)

I'm looking forward to more of your Norse additions tomorrow, Dearest!

-- Nephele

[dearest]

It's not pronounced like Lice, but that would put me off it... I'm guessing what made you think that is the pronunciation of Y in Scandinavian languages? dictionary.com says lice is pronounced 'lahys', Lys is pronounced more like 'lees' only the 'ee' part is softer than you should think, more like the 'i' in Ailsa than Amity so to speak...

As for more Norse names, let's start with A:
Alf - means 'elf' but was originally a word meaning light or glowing creature. Variations: Alfred, Alv, Alvar/Alver/Alvarin, Alfin/Alfinn, Alvind, Elfinn, Elund and Elvin. For girls: Alfa, Alfhild, Alfine, Alfrid, Alfrida, Alva, Alvdis, Alvfrid, Alvida, Alvhild, Alvilda, Alvilde, Alvrun and Elvida. All other Norse names starting with El- mean fire-something, or eleventh :) There's also Alvheid which has a double light meaning!

Bjarte - I mentioned this, Variations are: Bjart, Bjartmar and Bjarthild for girls. The J is pronounced like a Y!

Heidrun/Heidun - Girls' name, means light. Vaiations: Ragnheid ('light in the home'), Alvheid (light-light), Hedvig ('light in battle'), Arnheid ('light eagle' or 'light in the home'). Also means that in a Norse context Heidi means light as well as being a diminutive of Adelheid :)

Bergljot - Ljotr means light, Bergljot means 'light helper' or 'light was my rescue'. Only one other name with this suffix, Arnljot a boys' name meaning 'light eagle'. The L is mute!

Then there's Lys or the old and unused Ljos version.. My grandfather said ljos and it was one of my favourite things about him :) He passed away last year so now I have no idea if anyone actually says ljos, although I would have to guess there are some! ^^

The (only) Norwegian name forum I go to has two 'blog posts' of sorts with names meaning light, I'll list some more of those unless someone else does by tomorrow... Some of them are really lovely!

[nephele]

It's not pronounced like Lice, but that would put me off it... I'm guessing what made you think that is the pronunciation of Y in Scandinavian languages? dictionary.com says lice is pronounced 'lahys', Lys is pronounced more like 'lees' only the 'ee' part is softer than you should think, more like the 'i' in Ailsa than Amity so to speak...

Ah, many thanks for that! You've just rescued that name for me! Lys is now officially back on my list of favorite names meaning light.

All of your Norse name additions were excellent, Dearest. I especially like Alvilda, Alvilde, and Elvida.

Then there's Lys or the old and unused Ljos version..

So then... Lys is an actual name? When I originally added it to my list, I chose it simply because it was a Danish word literally meaning "light" that I thought might make a pretty name. What a delight to discover that it's an actual name in Norway!

I'll list some more of those unless someone else does by tomorrow... Some of them are really lovely!

I'm looking forward to more of your names, Dearest – you're the official Nameberry Norse Nomenclator! (I dub you: Dearest, NNN)

-- Nephele

[dearest]

No, Lys is not a name, I'm talking over myself! (a Norwegian figure of speech)
I meant the word ^^ I'm tired today, I even slipped in the shower like old people do XD

Elvida is a treasure, and Alvilde has tons of old style charm ^^

Yet another title! Thank you kindly! <3

[katherinec]

What about the names that mean fire? Such as: Ignatius, Fiammetta, Aidan, or Bridget (Irish goddess of fire). There are a bunch more...

Or, names that refer to the number eight, like Otto, Octavia, or Octavius.