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Names That Mean Happy

Pamela Redmond
By Pamela Redmond
Updated Thu Feb 01 2024
Names That Mean Happy

Names that mean happy, happiness, and joy have an undeniable appeal for parents wishing positive things for their children.

Happiness and joy are wonderful meanings for a baby's name, suggesting an upbeat personality and an optimistic future. Names with happy meanings come from a range of cultures and origins, from the Hebrew Asher and Naomi to the Japanese Nara and Miyuki.

Along with Naomi, girl names meaning happy in the US Top 1000 include Abigail, Beatrice, Bonnie, Delilah, Eden, and Felicity. Along with Asher, boy names meaning happy in the US Top 1000 include Felix and Tate.

More unusual or even unique baby names meaning happy include Blythe, Lettie, Onni, and Seeley.

Names that mean happy, happiness, joy, bliss or some other upbeat feeling include ancient mythological names, such as Arcadia and Festus, along with modern word names, like Revel and Jubilee.

If you’re hoping your child is joyful and lively, a happy baby name is a good place to start. Here are some joyful names for a happy baby, ordered by their current popularity on Nameberry.

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  1. Felix

    • Origin:

      Latin

    • Meaning:

      "happy, fortunate"

    • Description:

      Felix is one of those ancient but nontraditional names for boys that have come into favor over the past few decades, a favorite of parents who want a masculine name with history and heft that breaks ranks with the standard Franks and Freds. Felix is also an international darling, ranking in the Top 100 in several European and English-speaking countries.
  2. Revel

    • Origin:

      English word name

    • Meaning:

      "rejoice"

    • Description:

      A joyous (if a little rowdy) word name that's still relatively undiscovered by parents, being given to about 10 babies of each sex per year. Glee actor Matthew Morrison named his son Revel in 2017.
  3. Beatrice

    • Origin:

      Latin

    • Meaning:

      "she who brings happiness; blessed"

    • Description:

      Beatrice is back. Stored in the attic for almost a century, the lovely Beatrice with its long literary (Shakespeare, Dante) and royal history is being looked at with fresh eyes by parents seeking a classic name with character and lots of upbeat nicknames, like Bea and Bee.
  4. Asher

    • Origin:

      Hebrew

    • Meaning:

      "fortunate, blessed, happy one"

    • Description:

      Asher—an excellent, soft and sensitive Old Testament choice—is a baby boy name on the rise, and is a Nameberry biblical favorite.
  5. Isaac

    • Origin:

      Hebrew

    • Meaning:

      "laughter"

    • Description:

      Isaac has shaved off his biblical beard and leaped into the upper echelon of popular boys' names, outrunning cousin Isaiah. A favorite of the Puritans, Isaac has never dipped below Number 400 on the US list of top boy names.
  6. Eden

    • Origin:

      Hebrew

    • Meaning:

      "place of pleasure, delight"

    • Description:

      Eden is an attractive, serene name with obvious intimations of Paradise, one of several place names drawn from the Bible by the Puritans in the 17th century.
  7. Felicity

    • Origin:

      Latin

    • Meaning:

      "good fortune, happy"

    • Description:

      Felicity is as accessible a virtue name as Hope and Faith, but much more feminine -- and dare we say, happier. The hit TV show did a lot to soften and modernize the once buttoned-up image of Felicity, and it got further notice as the red-haired Colonial doll, Felicity Merriman, in the American Girl series. A current bearer is actress Felicity Huffman.
  8. Naomi

    • Origin:

      Hebrew

    • Meaning:

      "pleasantness"

    • Description:

      Naomi was once a primarily Jewish name from the Old Testament that referenced the mother-in-law of Ruth. Because of this, it is a symbolic name given to girls on Shavuot when the story of Ruth is read in the synagogue.
  9. Bonnie

    • Origin:

      Scottish

    • Meaning:

      "beautiful, cheerful"

    • Description:

      Bonnie is an adorable nickname name, heading back up the popularity list after a 50-year nap. A Top 100 girls' name throughout the rest of the English-speaking world, Americans are later to jump on the Bonnie bandwagon but now it's trending here too.
  10. Blythe

    • Origin:

      English

    • Meaning:

      "happy, carefree"

    • Description:

      Blythe is Nameberry gem — one of those names that visitors to the site are often searching for, despite the fact it's never ranked in the US charts as a given name.
  11. Beatrix

    • Origin:

      Latin

    • Meaning:

      "she who brings happiness; blessed"

    • Description:

      Beatrix has a solid history of its own apart from Beatrice, with that final x adding a playful, animated note to the name's imposing history and stately vibe.
  12. Abigail

    • Origin:

      Hebrew

    • Meaning:

      "my father is joyful"

    • Description:

      Abigail has been in for so long -- the name has ranked in the US Top 100 since the late 1980s -- it's amazing that it isn't more out by now. But Abigail's biblical and historic roots make it a fashionable classic rather than a passing fad.
  13. Tate

    • Origin:

      English from Norse

    • Meaning:

      "cheerful"

    • Description:

      A strong single-syllable surname with a joyful meaning, Tate is finding a place on more and more birth certificates.
  14. Caius

    • Origin:

      Variation of Gaius, Latin

    • Meaning:

      "rejoice"

    • Description:

      Caius is classical and serious but also has a simple, joyful quality. There was a third century pope named Caius, as well as an early Christian writer, several Shakespearean characters, and a Twilight vampire. We would pronounce the name to rhyme with eye-us though at Cambridge University in England, where it's the name of a college, it's pronounced keys.
  15. Deia

    • Origin:

      Place name; Latin

    • Meaning:

      "joy; goddess"

    • Description:

      Sam Branson (son of businessman Sir Richard Branson) and his wife put this pretty place name on the baby name map when they called their daughter Eva-Deia in 2015. Their inspiration was the beautiful bohemian village of Deià in Mallorca, where the Branson family has a luxury residence.
  16. Alan

    • Origin:

      Irish

    • Meaning:

      "handsome, cheerful"

    • Description:

      In its three most popular spellings -- Alan along with Allen and Allan -- this midcentury favorite has tended to skew older. It was a Top 100 name from 1938 to 1971, peaking at Number 40 in 1951. Alan has had leading roles on recent TV, in shows like Two and a Half Men, 24 and Boston Legal.
  17. Sunny

    • Origin:

      English nickname

    • Description:

      Upbeat nickname-name that can't help but make you smile. You might want to use it as a short form for a more "serious" name such as Sunniva, but Sunny is undeniably, well, sunny.
  18. Arcadia

    • Origin:

      Greek

    • Meaning:

      "region offering peace and contentment"

    • Description:

      Arcadia, a name for an unspoiled paradise, makes an attractive secular alternative to Nevaeh or Eden. For parents who want an unusual name with a friendlier nickname, Arcadia has the advantage of cute Cady.
  19. Nara

    • Origin:

      Japanese place name or Celtic

    • Meaning:

      "happy"

    • Description:

      Soft, simple, and far more unusual than Tara or Farrah. As a Japanese place name, it's been used occasionally as a surname and is beginning to be used as a first. Nara is also the name of a Hindu (male) God and the name means "man" in Hindi.
  20. Cayo

    • Origin:

      Latin, from the Roman family name Caius

    • Meaning:

      "rejoice"

    • Description:

      Cayo is a rare and rhythmic Spanish name, all but unknown in the English-speaking world, that would make a lively choice.