Birthday Names
New Year Names
Across 6 pages
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About this list
New Year baby names reflect a sense of fresh beginnings, a new dawn dawning, and hopes for the future. These sentiments are embodied in the meanings of many names for New Year's babies, including current favorites Aurora and Nova, and undiscovered gems Dagny and Von.
Along with Aurora and Nova, other New Year's baby names in the US Top 1000 include Esperanza, Eve, Hope, Joy, Nadia, Xavier, Zara, and Zora. Names related to the month of January are also fit for a New Year's baby, such as Gennaro, Januária, Janvière, and of course, January itself.
A New Year's baby is a harbinger of hope for the year to come. Here are some baby names from various cultures whose meanings reflect the feelings of a new year.
RELATED:
**[Names That Mean New and New Beginnings](https://nameberry.com/list/316/baby-names-that-mean-new-beginnings)**
**[January Baby Names**](https://nameberry.com/list/629/71-wonderful-names-for-january-babies)
The names
Aurora
Latin
"dawn"
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…
Nova
Latin
"new"
Nova has the feel of both newness, from its meaning, and great energy as an astronomical term for a star that increases suddenly in brightness before fading. Nova had some reasonable degree of…
Xavier
Basque
"new house"
Xavier originated is use as a given name after Saint Francis Xavier, cofounder of the Jesuit order, who got his name from the Spanish-Basque village where he was born. His birthplace was Javier, the…
Zara
Hebrew and Arabic
"blooming flower; God remembers"
Zara has multiple origins, but most notably is a variation of Zahrah, a name derived from the Arabic zahrah , meaning "blooming flower." Zara can also be a diminutive of the Bulgarian name Zaharina,…
Hope
Virtue name
Can a name as virtuous as Hope be cool and trendy? Strangely enough -- yes. But though this optimistic Puritan favorite is experiencing substantial popularity, Hope is too pure and elegant to be…
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,…
Eve
Hebrew
"life"
Eve, the oldest name in the Book, is now coming back into style, having the virtues of simplicity and purity, yet with more strength and resonance than other single-syllable names like Ann. British…
Jovie
Modern invented
"jovial"
Jovie has a lively and cheerful sound and makes a fresh twist on old (and new) favorites like Jody, Josie, and Jolie. It could be considered a short form of Jovita, Jovena, and Jovana - all feminine…
Nadia
Russian, Arabic
"hope; tender, delicate"
Nadia, an accessible Slavic favorite, has a strong run of popularity in the US in the early 2000s, partially thanks to the character on Lost called Nadia but actually named Noor, but it's since…
January
English month name from Latin
"doorway"
Thanks to two cultural influences, January has joined March, April, June and August as a plausible month name. The first was a character named January Wayne in a bestselling 1973 Jacqueline Susann…
Newman
English
"newcomer"
Family name best used in the middle, especially since it was seen as the portly postman in Seinfeld.
Taraji
Swahili
"hope"
This name gained widespread attention via the actress Taraji P. Henson, who was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button . A…
Zhavia
Variation of Xavier, Arabic, Basque
"new house; bright"
This name caught the attention of American parents beginning in 2018, when the Fox show The Four: Battle for Stardom premiered. Zhavia Ward was a finalist on the first season.
Toivo
Finnish, Estonian
"hope"
This name was on the U.S. Top 1000 in the early 20th century, when recent immigrants frequently chose native names that have since died out for American babies. But if you're of Finnish or Estonian…
Gennaro
Italian
"January"
This name of the patron saint of Naples would make an apt choice for a New Year's baby, or one with Neapolitan roots.
Vihaan
Sanskrit
"dawn"
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.
Dawn
English word name
"dawn, sunrise"
Associated with the first light of the day, and more figuratively with new beginnings and fresh starts, Dawn's heyday came in the 1960s and 70s in the US, Canada and the UK. It had been in the charts…
Dagny
Scandinavian
"new day"
If you're looking for a name with Scandinavian roots, this would make a stronger and more appealing import than Dagmar. With its meaning of "new day," it could make an ideal choice for a girl born…
Roxy
Diminutive of Roxanne, Persian
"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. The fictional…
Newton
English
"new town"
Named after Isaac. Or Wayne.