Baby Name Meanings · Name Image
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 9 pages
of 9
Arabic
"handsome; beautifier, improver"
Hassan is a handsome and familiar Arabic choice, which has appeared in the US Top 1000 every year since 1971. The name can be viewed as a spelling variation of Hasan meaning "beautiful, handsome" or…
Greek and Coptic place-name
"Enduring and beautiful"
A place name with plenty of history, Memphis is associated with the place in Ancient Egypt where many of the pyramids were built, and with the bluesy US city that was named after it. With its lovely…
Spanish, Portuguese and Italian
"pretty"
Linda will live forever in baby name history for toppling Mary from its four hundred year reign as Number 1. Queen of Names in 1947, Linda has fallen even further in favor than Mary today. Still,…
Short form of Isabelle or French
"beautiful"
Belle has nothing but positive associations, from "belle of the ball" to "Southern belle" to the heroine of Disney's Beauty and the Beast . As if this weren't enough good things, Belle is also one of…
Spanish variation of Jamila, Arabic
Popular in Mexico and familiar in the US, Yamileth is an elaborate and fresh form of Yamila, ultimately derived from the Arabic Jamil. Meaning "beautiful", it shares sounds with other familiar and…
French
Jolie is as pretty as its literal meaning; nowadays it is also seen as a girls’ name , via Angelina for whom Jolie was originally her middle name. Although it is French, Jolie is rarely if ever used…
Norse
"fair; Ing is beautiful"
The luminous Ingrid Bergman's appeal was strong enough to lend universal charisma to this classic Scandinavian name, which has been somewhat neglected in the US. Even today, a child named Ingrid…
"beauty"
Jamal is an Arabic boys’ name meaning "beauty." Jamal and its variants are popular in the Muslim community, although Jamal’s popularity within the US has decreased in recent years. Jamal has been…
Japanese
"beauty, flow, lapis lazuli"
Rumi is a Japanese girl name, with a sweet yet substantial sound. Reminiscent of other popular choices in the West — think Ruby, Remy, and Romy — it is currently achieving more notice thanks to…
"beauty, grace"
Zaina is the simplified form of Zaynab, the name of the eldest daughter of Muhammad. Zayna is another accepted spelling, while international forms include Zainabu, which exists in both the Arabic and…
Italian, nickname from Greek Kaleas
"good or beautiful person"
A highly unusual Italian word-name that is nevertheless attractive and easy to pronounce and spell.
Greek
Calla is a botanical name that is much more distinctive than popular Lily or similar Callie. Rarely heard today, it did appear in the popularity lists in the last decades of the nineteenth century.…
Tree name or Arabic,"beauty, grace"
Zaynab, from the Arabic word for beauty and the name of a flowering tree, was the name of a granddaughter, daughter and two wives of the Prophet Muhammed. Related names include the simplified forms…
Latin
"soft horse or pretty rose"
Rosalind has a distinguished literary history – used and popularized by Edmund Spenser and Shakespeare via one of his most charming heroines, in As You Like It . Along with a bouquet of other Rose…
Japanese, Slovene, Hebrew, English, Greek
"beautiful fragrance; who is like God?; follower of Demeter"
Mika is a sparky and stylish Japanese girls' name that translates easily to English. Also used as a Slovene and Hebrew diminutive for Mihaela and Michaela, as an alternative spelling to the Biblical…
"beautiful, graceful"
Soft and appealing, with a whiff of vanilla.
Basque
"handsome"
This is one Basque name that is very transferable to the American context — and it has a great meaning, too. The feminine version is Eider or Ederne.
Chinese; Hawaiian
"beautiful; plum"
Homophonous with Mae and May, the beautiful (literally) Mei is poised to climb the charts. The hero of the 2022 Disney/Pixar film Turning Red is a Chinese-Canadian teen named Meilin "Mei" Lee, which…
Spanish or German
"pretty one, or, serpent"
Belinda, cousin of Linda and Melinda, enjoyed a brief return to the Top 1000 from 2005 through 2013, only to fall off again in 2014. A name that some may consider a modern spin on the midcentury…
