Baby Name Meanings
Names That Mean Hope
Across 11 pages
of 11
Beacon
English word name
"signal light"
A word name with an appealing and illuminating meaning.
Chiara
Italian
"light, clear"
Chiara is a lovely and romantic Italian name that's familiar but not widely used here: a real winner. You might consider Chiara instead of Claire, Clara, Cara, or even Keira. Santa Chiara, Aglicized…
Claribel
English combination of Clara + -bel, Latin
"bright + beautiful"
Claribel improves on its mother name Clarabelle by distancing itself from the clown and the cow.
Clarence
Latin
"bright"
The name of the guardian angel in It's a Wonderful Life is rarely heard the rest of the year because of its studious, near-nerdy image, but this could change in the current naming climate. An English…
Clarice
Medieval form of Clarita, a derivative of Clara
"bright, clear"
If you’re a fan of the annual animated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, you’ll recognize the name of Rudolph’s beautiful doe sweetheart, pronounced cla-REES—uncomfortably close to the Silence of the…
Clarinda
Literary elaboration of Clara
"bright, clear"
A poetic name first used in Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" in 1596, it had a literary vogue in the 18th century, especially favored by Robert Burns. "inda" names--Melinda, Belinda, Linda" are…
Clarissa
Elaboration of Clara
"bright, clear"
Clarissa, the daintier version of Claire, has a long literary history of its own, having been featured in the novels of Samuel Richardson, Charles Dickens, and Virginia Woolf—Clarissa was the title…
Cyane
Greek
"bright blue enamel"
Cyane is a mythological Sicilian nymph who lived in a pool and whose name is an intriguing twist on the color name trend.
Delbert
English
"day-bright"
Problematic, even if not for Dilbert.
Clarimond
French
"Light of the World"
Clarimond is related to the Occitan name Esclarmonde, and is probably the more wearable of the two variations. Seventeenth century French novelist Nicolas des Escuteaux used the name for the…
Dag
Scandinavian
"daylight"
Norse god who's the son of light plus historic diplomat Dag Hammarskjöld and author Dag Solstad combine to boost this Nordic name's appeal, but this could be difficult in English-speaking countries…
Deepak
Sanskrit
"lamp, light"
Spiritual author Deepak Chopra made this familiar, if not particularly accessible, outside the Indian community.
Duska
English; Czech
"twilight; soul"
This name has two origins: the English word Dusk, meaning evening twilight and the Czech name for girls Duška meaning "soul or spirit". Either way, this is an interesting name with some potential.
Edna
Hebrew
"rejuvenation, delight"
Edna is one of those names that, until what it seemed like a few minutes ago, felt so terminally frumpy that no one could imagine a parent choosing it for an innocent modern baby girl. But with the…
Ellen
English variation of Helen
"torch; shining light"
An medieval English form of Helen, the sensitive but clear-eyed Ellen has swung in and out of style for centuries, often alternating with the parent name. Ellen was the more common in medieval…