Names That Mean Bright

One bright spot: famous namesake Threepenny Opera playwright Berthold (later known as Bertolt) Brecht. 

Berthold

One step up from Irwin, and that's not nearly enough. 

Berwin

Egbert still suffers somewhat from being used as a stereotypical name for nerds and aristocrats. It would be a surprising choice, but with its edgy meaning and dusty charm, possibly it's so beyond cool that it's...actually kind of cool?

Egbert

One of the rarest Bert names, Engelbert has been used at least since the time of Charlemagne and is the name of several saints. But mostly, it's impossible not to associate it with Engelbert Humperdinck, both the German composer and the British pop singer (born Arnold Dorsey) who borrowed his name.

Engelbert

Fulbright

A possible new entry in the Hayden-Corbin two-syllable boys' name club. 

Harbin

As well as Japanese physicist Hideki Yukawa, two Yankees ballplayers, Hideki Irabu and Hideki Matsui, made this name familiar to Americans.

Hideki

A Robert nickname out of use for hundreds of years, but now sounds cooler than Bob or Rob for a modern boy. 

Hulbert

Occult name for babies born under water signs -- Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpio. 

Kenn

A well-used name in China that has some potential for assimilation. 

Quon

Unfashionable surname, best left in the forest with Robin Hood and his Merry Men. 

Sherwood

A common Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean unisex name, and the name of a culturally rich Chinese Dynastic period.  Yao Ming is the seven and a half foot Shanghai-born basketball star. Trivia tidbit: His parents were the tallest couple in China at the time of his birth.

Ming

Slightly awkward girl's version of a straightforward male name.

Brycin

Unfashionable in the U.S. yet a shining star in The Netherlands, where nickname-names are enormously stylish.

Robbe

A common Vietnamese name heard evenly for boys and girls in the U.S.  Sounds like tahn or tong, depending on what part of Vietnam you come from.

Thanh

A common Vietnamese name heard for both boys and girls in the U.S.

Nuray is one of the most popular girls' names in the Middle East though it's largely unknown and unused in the Western World.  The meaning, related to the more familiar Noor, adds appeal.

Nuray

Almost unheard of in recent years, Dagobert has some connections to the French diaspora. Pere Dagobert was an eighteenth century Capuchin monk who immigrated to New Orleans from Quebec. Dagobert I was a king of the Merovingian dynasty in the seventh century.