Birthday Names
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 11 pages
of 11
Diminutive of Palma, Italian, Swedish
"palm"
Reminiscent of mid-century Pamela and contemporary Palmer, Palmina is a diminutive of Palma, an Italian, Spanish, and Croatian name meaning "palm", used more specifically to refer to Palm Sunday.…
Medieval English, Latin, Hebrew
"born at Easter"
Simple, sweet, and breezy, Pash is a Medieval English name which was occasionally given to babies born at Easter. A relation of Paschal and Pascal, it may also be used as 'slang' for passion or…
English word name
"month name"
Along with August, March is one of the month names perfectly suited to boys. This brisk single-syllable name – which derives from the name of Mars, the Roman god of war – is worth considering as…
Playful with a hint of poetry, Pashkin is a Medieval diminutive of Pash or Paschal, ultimately derived from Hebrew to mean "Easter" or "Passover". Used as a unisex choice, it could make an…
Invented name
The adorable and iconic bunny character Miffy was created in 1955 by Dutch artist Dick Bruna. Her Dutch name is Nijntje, a contraction of the Dutch word for "little bunny", konijntje . Bruna searched…
French
"lily"
One of the few French words/names not attractive to the American ear. It's pronounced moo-gay, not a winner on either syllable. Alternatives: Liliane, Lily, Lilou, Manon.
Slavic
"born on Sunday"
Midcentury macramé-maker.
Hindi
Sweet and feminine Eastern flower name.
Maori
"palm tree"
Nikau is among the most popular Maori names for boys in New Zealand. It sounds like a cousin to Nicholas, but Nikau is actually the name of a palm tree native to the islands.
Breton
"lamb"
A too-literal spin on Owen.
Breton variation of Agnes
"lamb."
Kind of a combination of Agnes and Inez, a name rarely heard in the US.
English
"birch coastland"
Birch or even Burke is better.
Hebrew
"eggs"
Biblical family with 323 children. That's a lot of eggs.
Old High German
"dawn"
In Germanic mythology, Ostara is the goddess of springtime, fertility, and dawn. Her existence as a mythological figure was pieced together by scholar Jacob Grimm, who used evidence such as the…
Chinese
"willow tree"
Commonly associated with Chinese supermodel Liu Wen.
Latin
"Palm Sunday"
There's no shortage of quirky ways to get to hip nickname Oz -- Ozias, Osborne, Ozymandias -- but this one may appeal to parents looking for a full name with some religious significance. It was…
Portuguese
Derived from the Latin lilium , Lírio is a unisex floral name which was used for a witch character in the cult 1996 horror film The Craft .
Brazilian
Possibly a variant of Lirio, from Latin lilium .
English and Scottish
"where birches grow"
Americans may not realize Barclay is the phonetic spelling of the British Berkeley -- though both sound like old-fashioned butler names.
