Baby Name Meanings · Nature, Place and Word Names
By Sophie Kihm · Updated September 2026
Across 8 pages
of 8
English virtue name
"cautious"
Believe it or not, Prudence is on the rise for girls in both the US and UK. Could Prudent be next?
Word name
Sounds pretty. But pretentious.
Virtue name
"relief"
Relief was a name used by the Puritans in reference to the relief of Christ. Leafy was the common nickname.
No one will ever forget it. But Remember as a name came over on the Mayflower, so it has deep history as well as modern potential.
English word name
"kept from knowledge or view"
Mysterious. In 2016, 13 baby girls in the United States were given this unusual word name -- at least according to the Social Security Administration. We can't help but suspect that some of those…
English
"unexpected good fortune"
A unique virtue name with a sound as happy and lively as its meaning.
The Puritans used it as a virtue name -- but today it would just be considered weird: silence is no longer golden.
Sound contradicts its meaning.
Spanish
"truth"
A modern virtue name possibility.
Warm and open, but way too much teasing potential.
English and German surname
"son of Willa; son of Wille"
Likely to be construed as a virtue name (a nice one, at that!), even though Willing is a traditional surname with both English and German roots. As an English name, Willing is a patronymic form of…
"agreeable, lighthearted"
A sweet, modern descriptive name, with a wholesome and winning feel, Winsome means "appealing, fresh, simple, innocent" or "cheerful and lighthearted." Some may find it a little too cutesy, but with…
Sympathetic new twist on a Puritan virtue name.
A handful of baby girls are named Awesome each year, and they better be.
"desire to do good to others, goodwill"
A lovely virtue to bestow upon a child for a bold namer.
One of the new generation of virtue names, with Peace and Justice taking over from the Puritans' Absolution and Forgiveness, but this one is still a bit heavy to carry.
Italian
"vivacity, zest"
Musical term with a lot of energy.
A modern virtue name, particularly desirable in this pressure-cooker world.
With word names and modern virtue names such as Sunny, Lucky, and even Blessed gaining in popularity, an upbeat adjective name such as Cheerful seems like a reasonable possibility.
French
"knighthood, social, religious, and moral code of medieval feudalism"
Chivalry isn't dead, and what better way to prove it than by bestowing it as a name upon a newborn?
