Baby Name Meanings · Name Image
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 7 pages
of 7
English word name
"without light"
Grimes and Elon Musk put this name on the map in 2022, when they revealed their daughter's name was Exa Dark Sideræl. Until that point, Dark had not been recorded as a given name, although it…
The moody and mysterious name Dark could be the perfect name for a couple who embraces the magic of the unknown. Grimes and Elon Musk used it as a middle for their daughter Y, whose given name is Exa…
Greek
"dark flower"
The th sound both softens and complicates this Melanie relative.
Dutch
"blackbird"
Merel is a soundalike of Meryl and may be thought of as a variation of that name, but it's also the Dutch word for blackbird and so you can make it more stylish as one of the flock of cool new bird…
Irish
"dark one"
A distinctive alternative to Conan.
English, word name
A mystical word name, most often reserved for black cats, Midnight conjures up darkness and the liminal space between the end of one day and the beginning of the next. It has seen some use as a baby…
Literary name
The eponymous character in an Edgar Allan Poe ghost story, gothic Morella was likely based on Latin mors ("death") or Greek mauros ("black"). It’s also a subtle nature name, being an alternative name…
"dark"
Now that the Irish Ciaran and Ciara -- aka Kieran and Kiera -- are becoming more popular beyond their native shores, the short and strong Ciar might find some favor. As of now, more than 160 baby…
Italian
"shadow"
An unusual, haunting name, a distant cousin to the more popular Amber and Ember.
"dark, black"
A unisex name in the same vein as Casey, Cassidy, and Kelly, Carey and its alternative spelling Cary were familiar choices for boys in the first half of the 20th-century, and became popular in the…
Greek mythology name
"the darkness of the night"
Name of the legendary ancient Greek poet and musician — whose music was so beautiful it made trees dance and rivers stop to listen — would provide a child with a challenging but indelible identity.
Cornish
"little dark one"
Also spelled as Piran, this Cornish saint's name is thought to have derived from the Irish Ciaran. Borne by a 5th-century monk who founded a monastery, it also appears as a place name in Cornwall, as…
Native American, Blackfoot,or Greek, "golden eagle, or rock, stone"
"golden eagle, or rock, stone"
Too tightly tied to the acronym for the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Romanian
"black"
In Shakespeare's The Tempest , Caliban is the name of the deformed son of a witch: not the greatest literary reference for a child. But Caliban does have an appealing international-yet-accessible…
Variation of Blake or Black
Blaque is a clever -- or should we say qlever -- spelling variation of either the androgynous surname-name Blake, as in Gossip Girl Lively, or Black, as in the color name. Either way, we prefer the…
Sanskrit
"dark, of the night"
Lots of charm.
Spanish and Catalan surname
"one who lives near a lake; black"
Blaque may be a clever — or should we say qlever — spelling variation of either the androgynous surname name Blake, as in Gossip Girl , Lively, or Black, as in the color name. Either way, we prefer…
"father"
Darth Vader, as in the Star Wars villain, is said to mean "dark father"
"dark, black, blue"
While the masculine name Shyam is associated with the Hindu god Krishna, the feminine Shyama is sometimes associated as one of the wives of Shiva, or also seen as the name of a Jain goddess. Shyama…
Along with Shyam, Shyamal is an epithet of the Hindu God Krishna.
