Baby Name Meanings
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 11 pages
of 11
Japanese
"hope of peace"
Kazuki is related to names like Kazuko, Kazuo and Kazumi
Irish
"bright, shining"
A popular Irish name virtually unknown here, but one that feels like it could follow in the footsteps of Siobhan and Saoirse. It's pronounced SOR-ka, but with a little hiccup between the ' r ' and…
African
"light or jungle"
Simple, delicate, and unusual.
Slavic
"hope"
Nadezhda is more familiar in the English-speaking world by its short forms, Nadia or Nadya. Well-used through the Slavic countries and Russia, Nadezhda was the name of Lenin's wife. Viewers of The…
Latin
"sun"
Related to the more common Solana, Salana has a pleasantly rhythmic pan-cultural feel.
Hebrew
Appreciated by religious Jews for its connection to "Hatikva," the Israeli national anthem.
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…
"gold, brilliantly bright"
Zariza is a unique name sure to appeal to Z lovers.
African, Kiswahili
The raja sequence of sounds gives it a regal feel.
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.
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…
Word name
There are many lovely day/month/seasonal names -- and this is one of the most intriguing.
Judeo-Italian
The 19th-century Irish poet Jane Wilde (mother of Oscar Wilde) adopted Speranza as her nom de plume. The name also appears in Spenser’s The Faerie Queene , as one of the three virtues: Fidelia…
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…
Sanskrit
"lamp, light"
Spiritual author Deepak Chopra made this familiar, if not particularly accessible, outside the Indian community.
Feather, though it was used for a character in a Walter Mosley novel, seems too light and fluttery for a real-life girl.
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.
Italian, German, Dutch, and Polish version of Eleanor
"bright, shining one"
The usual form of Eleonara is Eleanora, with each syllable pronounced, but transposing, adding, or subtracting a vowel or syllable here or there works fine and adds to the international, feminine…
Italian variation of Electra, from Greek
"amber, shining, bright"
Less electric and more serene than Electra which comes with a lot of tragic and psychoanalytical baggage, Elettra is the Italian form that ranks in the Top 200 in the Italian charts. Nicknames Etta,…
English word name
Fluttery and flighty. But there are a couple of names that mean butterfly you might consider, such as Yara and Farasha.
