The goddess name Aurora has consistently been on the US popularity list since the nineteenth century, but has really taken off in the past 30 years. Aurora also enjoys remarkable international popularity, ranking in the Top 100 throughout the English-speaking world as well as in Italy, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, and several other European and Latin American countries.

Zora is a meaningful literary heroine name honoring Zora Neale Hurston, an important black writer and leader of the Harlem Renaissance.

Oriana is a dashing medieval name, with a meaning similar to Aurora. At this point, though, Oriana is much more unusual than Aurora and makes a unique choice if you're searching for names that mean new beginnings or dawn.

Roxy, also spelled Roxie, is one of those high-stepping showgal names with plenty of moxie, among the many sassy nickname names on the U.K. popularity list--currently Number 398.

Zariah has three possible origins: the Arabic Zahrah which means ‘flower’, the Hebrew name Azariah, meaning ‘God has helped’, or the Russian word Zaria which means ‘sunrise/dawn’. Either way, it's a strong and striking name with a range of lovely meanings.

Best known as the beautiful heroine to whom Cyrano de Bergerac says, "Your name is like a golden bell".

Vihaan comes from a Sanskrit word denoting the dawn, but has the symbolic meaning of the beginning of a new age, making Vihaan a wonderful choice for the first baby in a family's next generation.

In Germanic mythology, Ostara is the goddess of springtime, fertility, and dawn. Her existence as a mythological figure was pieced together by scholar Jacob Grimm, who used evidence such as the German word for April (ostermonat) and parallels to the Anglo-Saxon Eostre. Ostara is also the modern German name for the Easter holiday.

An Anglo-Saxon name that held on in Northumbria years after the Norman Conquest, and gave rise to the surname Oughtred. It's known today from the television series The Last Kingdom, based on Bernard Cornwell's books: Uhtred is our Dane-bashing hero.

Spelled with one 'n', this was the name of the wife of Alexander the Great, and is more attractive than the better-known Roxanne.

A strong and striking Turkish option with an evocative meaning. Equally colorful from its Mongolian roots, it is also associated with gold.

Not a spunkier version of Merlin, Zerlin has roots in the Middle East, Spain and Eastern Europe and is thought to mean "beautiful dawn". The countries where this name is most heard are Israel, Romania and the US, though it has never made it into the Top 1000. Italian and Spanish variant Zerlina and the French Zerline were once popular in the theatre for pretty and clever female characters.

Both a first and last name, Zorina has a pretty, ballerina-like quality.

Vihan is a popular male name in India. In America, around 50 boys a year receive this name, making it quite a rare choice.

Gry is becoming a popular name in Denmark where it is currently in the Top 50. Despite its beautiful meaning, the similarity of its sound to the English word gruel is unlikely to make this a winning choice for English-speakers.

Haroon, also styled as Aroon and Harun, is the mythic charioteer of the dawn.

Eos -- that's pronounced with a short e like eros without the r -- is the Greek Titan of the dawn. Any ancient name with a sleek modern feel has definite revival possibilities. Eos could be an inventive way to honor grandma Dawn.

The Biblical Zerah is etymologically related to such names as Zora, which also means dawn. While the vowel sound at the end of the name does not sound as feminine to our modern ear as it once did, thanks to such popular choices as Noah and Joshua, but the downside of Zerah is that it is quite similar to such girls' names as Zara and Sarah.

Alternative (rarer) spelling of Roxanne.

To most, the name Austra is most likely to be connected to Australia (or Austria), but to Latvians, Austra was the goddess of the dawn.