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Fish Names

  1. Firth

    • Origin:

      Scottish nature name

    • Meaning:

      "estuary or arm of the sea"

    • Description:

      Highly unusual water name -- and actor Colin surname -- with a Scottish burr. Firth derives from the Old Norse word fjord.
  2. Fingal

    • Origin:

      Gaelic

    • Meaning:

      "fair stranger"

    • Description:

      Originally a nickname for Viking invaders, it gained fresh impetus in the 18th century when James Macpherson made Fingal the central character in his Ossianic poems. An offbeat addition to the Fin- family of names.
  3. Skipper

    • Origin:

      English

    • Meaning:

      "captain"

    • Description:

      Sure, and we hope he has a good time playing with Buster and Buddy.
  4. Moana

    • Origin:

      Maori, Samoan

    • Meaning:

      "deep ocean, sea"

    • Description:

      This Maori name, often heard in New Zealand, is an attractive, evocative choice for lovers of the ocean made famous – perhaps too famous – by the Disney heroine. Moana was also an alternate name for the heroine Ofelia in Pan's Labyrinth. Moana may also be a color name for a deep ocean blue ("lanu moana"). Moana and other Disney Princess Names are the subject of a featured blog.
  5. Otter

    • Origin:

      Animal name

    • Description:

      While we don't see many parents adopting Otter as a name for their own babies, Zooey Deschanel put this one in the lexicon when she used it as a middle name for her adorably-named daughter Elsie Otter. Even in the celebrisphere, Otter is one of the most unique baby names we've heard.
  6. Nemo

    • Origin:

      Greek

    • Meaning:

      "nobody"

    • Description:

      One of the best known early Nemos was the captain in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, while the more familiar modern one is the animated little orange fish in the Disney movie. Unusual name well worth considering. By the way, there is also a Shakespearean Nemo and one in Dickens's Bleak House. An enchanting early comic strip by Winsor McCay was called Little Nemo.
  7. Hurley

    • Origin:

      Irish

    • Meaning:

      "sea tide"

    • Description:

      Hurley is a possibility as a unisex surname-name ending with the "lee" sound. It is perhaps most associated with British actress Elizabeth Hurley, and is much rarer than Harley, because the "ur" sound is currently out of fashion (and the word "hurl" may put some off).
  8. Chief

    • Description:

      Chief is a masculine English word name derived from the Old French 'chef', ultimately from Latin 'caput' meaning 'head'. As a name, Chief directly evokes leadership, authority, and responsibility. Unlike traditional given names, Chief falls into the category of title names that have occasionally been used as personal names. It remains very rare as a first name in most countries but may be found as a nickname for someone in a leadership position. The name carries strong connotations of respect and command. When used as a given name, it places expectations of leadership on the bearer. Chief saw minimal usage in the United States during the 20th century, primarily appearing in Native American contexts or as a nickname rather than an official given name.

  9. Fanta

    • Origin:

      Mande from Arabic

    • Meaning:

      "captivating, a woman who abstains"

    • Description:

      A West African version of the Arabic name Fatima, also used by diaspora communities, e.g. in France.

  10. Orange

    • Origin:

      Fruit and color name

    • Description:

      No babies of any gender were named Orange in the US in the most recent year counted. But that doesn't mean, in this era of anything-goes baby names, that it couldn't happen. In fact, Orange did appear in the US stats for boys throughout the 20th century, and was given to 20 boys in 1920. Not all that many, but still quite a lot to be called Orange.
  11. Triton

    • Origin:

      Greek mythology name

    • Description:

      The Greek god Triton was the messenger of the sea and the son of sea god Neptune. He is usually represented as a merman, the the head and upper body of a human and the lower body of a sea creature. In The Little Mermaid he is the father of Ariel.
  12. Bardo

    • Origin:

      Short form of Bardolph or Aboriginal

    • Meaning:

      "water"

    • Description:

      Bardo has a poetic beginning and upbeat ending, with roots in several diverse cultures. It may be most familiar today via George Saunders' novel Lincoln in the Bardo, which refers to the Tibetan Buddhist state of suspension between one life and the next, resembling the Christian idea of Limbo. Bardo is also an ancient saint's name: Saint Bardo was the eleventh century bishop of Mainz, in Germany. Actress Sandra Bullock chose Bardo as her son's middle.
  13. Pavati

    • Origin:

      Native American, Hopi

    • Meaning:

      "clear water"

    • Description:

      A sweet and clear Hopi name with a lovely natural meaning to match.
  14. Ice

    • Origin:

      English word name

    • Description:

      Icy baby names are currently hot, with names like Icelynn, Iceland, and Winter trending up for girls. Rapper Gucci Mane chose simple, streamlined Ice for his son 2020-born son, appropriately a winter baby. In 2021, it debuted on the charts for both boys and girls and has since been predominantly used for boys, with 13 receiving the name in 2023 and 6 in 2024.
  15. Moby

    • Origin:

      Literary and nickname name

    • Description:

      Moby, the nickname of musician Richard Melville Hall, was thanks to his ancestor Herman Melville, creator of the infamous whale. You can imagine calling a child Moby as a cute nickname in honor of a grandfatherly Richard or Dick, but the ghost of a Dick would always follow the name around. In Melville's classic book, Moby was an invented word whose meaning has never been firmly established, though the best scholarship calls it a fictional place name that, in the custom of whaling ships of the time, helped identify the whale called Dick.
  16. Anahita

    • Origin:

      Persian

    • Meaning:

      "immaculate"

    • Description:

      Anahita is the name of the water goddess who rules, among other things, fertility and wisdom. Associated with Venue, Anahita is a stylish Iranian name for girls.
  17. Derya

    • Origin:

      Turkish

    • Meaning:

      "sea"

    • Description:

      Derya is a unisex name in its native Turkey, though even there it is far more popular for women than for men. It is related to the Persian name Daria, which also means sea.
  18. Sunshine

    • Origin:

      Word name

    • Description:

      Sunshine was seen as a quintessential hippie name of the 70s, reaching as high as Number 536 in 1975. Now such names are making a bit of a retro comeback, seen, for example, as a character on Glee.
  19. Varuna

    • Origin:

      Hindu God of water and the ocean

    • Description:

      This Indian name would make the perfect choice for those looking for a strong water-based name. A variation which may seem more immediately masculine to the English-speaking ear is Varun. The feminine version is Varuni, who was Varuna's consort.
  20. Dancer

    • Origin:

      English word name

    • Meaning:

      "someone who dances"

    • Description:

      A word name that's appealing when applied to a person boogying or doing ballet; a different story in the context of Santa's reindeer.

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