Names That Mean Mountain

Abraham's brother in the Old Testament.

Has an evocative feel, unusual to the Western ear without being identified with any particular culture.

A cross-cultural possibility, but a bit heavy and somber.

Place-name waiting to be discovered.

Evocative of the sand dunes at the beach, Doone is a relatively rare surname found in Scotland, Ireland and England. It was recently used with this spelling by Olympic medalist Amanda Beard; photographer Diane Arbus named her daughter Doon, inspired, yes, by walks along the sand dunes during her pregnancy.

A unisex Chinese name with a range of meanings, depending on the characters used. As a Chinese female name, "orchid" and "elegant" are two main meanings. In Vietnamese, it means "orchid".

Monty Burns, on The Simpsons, smashed to pieces any goodwill for his first name leftover from Monty Python. But if you drop the "y," you're left with a distinctly Gallic sounding nickname name. If it feels to slight for the birth certificate, there are tons of ways to get to it as a nickname: Montgomery, Montana, Montreal, even Montmorency.

Mendoza has great potential to move from a surname to a first name for either sex. It is derived from the Basque words mendi, meaning "mountain," and hotz, "cold."

A bold and evocative African place name. The country of Kenya gets its name from Mount Kenya, referred to it as "Kirinyaga" or "Kerenyaga" by the local Kikuyu people, meaning "mountain of whiteness" due to its snow-capped peak.

The original Cornish name for the town better known today as Tintagel. With its Arthurian heritage, this makes a good choice for those fond of the legends of Lancelot, Guinevere and King Arthur.

Few Scandinavian names make the journey to America...and this one shows you why. Still, names such as Freya and Odin are making an unlikely comeback, so we wouldn't count any of the Scandinavian baby names out forever.

Tahoma was the original name of Mount Ranier, used by the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest.

Mendoza is a common Basque surname derived from the words mendi, meaning "mountain," and hotz, "cold." As a given name, it could easily be worn on a girl or a boy. Notable people who have carried the name include Cristóbal Mendoza, the first President of Venezuela, and baseball player Carlos Mendoza.

The Native name of Washington State's Mount Ranier.

A short and simple Arabic girl's name typically used in Muslim families.