Names That Mean Friend or Friendly

One of those slender names, like Lena or Etta, that's used in several cultures and carries a range of meanings. But by being so many things, it doesn't feel decidedly like anything.

Enough parents have found naturalist Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution, a worthy hero to keep Darwin relatively consistently in the Top 1000. It has a lovely meaning too—"dear friend."

With vintage names on the rise and recent data suggesting that the US is following the UK trend of nicknames-as-given-names, Ruthie joined Goldie, Daisy, and Nellie on the US Top 1000 list in 2023.

Ancient name, near obsolete now, but could make a good alternative to Owen for the adventurous baby namer.

Levin, known in the U.S. mostly as a surname, is a Top 100 boys' name in Germany. There have been saints with variations of this name, whose meaning relates to love.

Samir has a pleasing sound and lovely meaning. One of those distinctive names that can also fit right in—and you could always call him Sam.

This Turkish name meaning "friend" should be very useable outside Turkey, given that it is pronounced just as it is spelled. Famous men named Emre include Emre Can, a chess grandmaster, and Emre Sahin, the director.

An early and still one of the most popular unisex names, also a place name and name of a Native American people in the northern Mississippi valley, which makes it a controversial baby name choice. While the popularity of Dakota is trending downward for both genders, it's one of those rare genuinely gender-neutral names that is used for nearly equal numbers of boys and girls.

This soft-yet-sturdy Biblical name belonged to Moses’ father-in-law (also called Jethro) and was the second middle name of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Sounds elven in every sense of the word.

Both Jeb and Jed are very attractive Old Testament short forms with long and bright futures. Jeb's main current association is with the Bush brother and former governor of Florida, but the name was a mainstay on early TV westerns, and then went upscale as the nickname (his birth name being Josiah) of the President on "The West Wing."

One of the many names with a strong "er" sound, like Bertram and Ernest, that was huge in the 1920s and is languishing in style limbo now. One famous bearer is the physicist Erwin Schrödinger, as in Schrödinger's cat.

One "bald" name we can get behind, thanks to pioneering African-American author James Baldwin – though the name is now also associated with the Baldwin brothers, particularly Alec.

Elvin had his peak in the 1920s — which was when jazz musician Elvin Jones was born — but parents are still using it for over 100 boys a year. That's less than Kelvin, but more than Delvin.

Alvin has a sturdy, no-frills sound that belies its somewhat whimsical meaning. Interesting potential namesakes include British rocker Alvin Stardust, and US footballer Alvin Williams, and African-American dance legend (and activist) Alvin Ailey.

A very unusual biblical name, Rei was one of David's most loyal supporters.

The fact that this is pronounced sah-FEE-yah would cause Western ears to hear it as Sophia.

Edwina may still be taking tea in the parlor, but we can see her joining friends like Matilda and Josephine for a comeback, especially if pronounced like Edwin rather than Edween.

Irvin is an Old Man name that has an uncertain future. Losing the final g in Irving makes the name slightly less dated -- but just slightly. There's something about the 'erv' sound that makes Irvin and brothers feel unappealing.

Native-American feel via similarity to Winona.