Baby Name Meanings
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 6 pages
of 6
Arabic
"morning, before noon"
Short, sweet Arabic name with a time-of-day meaning. In Islam, the Duha prayer is a voluntary morning prayer.
Female variation of Yvain or Scottish
"evening star"
A mix of Yvonne and Elaine, Yvaine was first noticed in the Neil Gaiman fantasy novel and then movie Stardust , in which Claire Danes played the 'fallen star' Yvaine. This In all its forms, one of…
Thai, Yiddish, Romanian, Arabic "brave, princess, grey, to travel by night"
"brave, princess, grey, to travel by night"
This pretty multicultural name makes a pleasant update to Sarah.
Masculinization of Aruna, Sanskrit, Hindi
"reddish brown"
Arun is the common masculinization of the name Aruna, the Hindu god who drives the sun god Surya across the sky in his chariot. Aruna is also used as a female name. For parents looking for a…
Hebrew
"rain, dew"
A unisex Hebrew name often found in combination with others, as in Tal-El and Tal-Or.
Old English
"advice"
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…
Diminutive of Earl, English, or word name
"nobleman, warrior; early"
Early is a word-turned-name, pleasantly suggesting the start of a bright new day. Of the new word and day names, Early is one of the best. Early James is the stage name of singer-songwriter Fredrick…
Sanskrit
"night"
Simple but sophisticated, Nisha is a pretty Sanskrit choice that hit the popularity charts in England in the late 1990s. The meaning "night" adds a slightly mystical element to name and it is a…
Russian, from Greek
"from the east, rising sun"
A sweet and gentle-sounding Russian name with a sunny meaning, typically nicknamed Tolya in Russia. It can also be written as Anatoli or Anatoliy.
Portuguese form of Roxana
"bright, dawn"
This elegant, minimally-spelled name could be a variant of Rosanna/Roseanna. But it's also the Portuguese version of Roxana, with all the meaning and history of the name, but none of the "Roxanne"…
English word name
"the time at which something is most powerful or successful; the point in the celestial sphere directly above an observer"
A tip-top word name—literally, Zenith means the top or apex. Zen makes a cute nickname.
Would make an unexpected middle name for a baby born at dusk.
Latin
"midday / pinnacle"
In geography, a meridian is a line drawn around the curve of the Earth between the North and South Poles. The term comes from Latin meridianus, meaning "pertaining to midday", and the association…
"the time of light between one night and the next"
Many African tribes have a tradition of naming children for the day or time they were born -- Friday, Afternoon -- a practice finding new life in the Western world as word names become more popular.
Bird name
In one recent year there were 60 baby girls in the US named Lark....and only eight baby boys. But there's no reason this bird name can't also be masculine, especially given that Robin is making a…
Greek
Anatole is one of the unique boys' names with an unusual-ish feel but an uncertain provenance, with a meaning related to sunrise and thus to fire. While it's Greek in origin, it is associated more…
"eleven"
If Erykah Badu can name her son Seven, why can't you name your daughter (or son) this? Eleven has recently gotten a lot of attention via the character on the TV show Stranger Things .
"sunset"
The name generally given to the "Good Thief" at the crucifixion of Jesus, although he was not actually named in the New Testament. The name Dismas first appeared in the 4th-century Gospel of…
"journey of the night"
Isra is a gender-neutral Arabic name. The name of a chapter of the Quran, it refers to the Prophet's journey from Mecca to Jerusalem.
Japanese
"beautfiul evening"
Short and sweet alternative to Mia, Mila, Maya, et al.
