Baby Name Meanings · Nature, Place and Word Names
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 28 pages
of 28
Latin
"gazelle"
Hebrew
"a camel hump"
Like Bethany and Shiloh, a meaningful biblical place-name.
Celtic
"long-winged swimming birds"
Suggests the salty, windswept air of the seashore.
"my lion cub"
When considering the playground years, might be too close to gory.
Greek
"kingfisher bird"
Heaven, Peace, Serenity: parents seem especially attracted to word names that signal paradise, but Halcyon sounds quite feminine, and might conjure up the sleeping pill Halcion.
Arabic
"lamb"
Alternative for the ultrapopular Jamal.
Sinhalese, Hindi
"swan"
Swans are beautiful creatures, with rather unusable English names. To evoke the grace and serenity of the swan, we recommend you take a look at this Sri Lankan name.
Yiddish
"deer"
A spelling variant of Herschel, a gentle Yiddish name with a sweet animal meaning.
French from Greek
"releaser of horses"
Hippolyte is the name of an Amazonian princess AND her son, both unfortunate mythical figures. The name Hippolyte, later borne by several saints, is a not an uncommon boys' name in France, but has…
German
"angel-raven"
An undiscovered surname possibility with upscale overtones, could be enlivened with nickname Ingo.
Mesopotamian
Given her connection to the scorpion, Ishhara could be an interesting namesake for the little goddess born under the Scorpio zodiac.
Choctaw
This simple name has an animal meaning, like many Native American names, and can be used for either sex.
Brazilian, type of bird
Although the name Jabiru is indelibly associated with Australia (it is the name of a town in Northern Territory, Australia and also a type of stork), it is not an Aboriginal name, as is often thought.
Animal name
Grrrr.
Croatian, Serbian, Slovene
"lamb; pure, virginal"
A cute Slavic name that feels familiar because of its similarity to the more well-known Anja. Janja is the regional variant of Agnes in Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, and it's also connected to the…
Hindi-Sanskrit
"mother or legendary bird"
Delicate and lacy, with less emphasis on the jar syllable.
Australian Aboriginal
"wren"
Love the name wren but need something not quite so trendy? Consider Jedda. Jedda is derived from the word 'djida' meaning "wren" in the language of the Noongar people of Western Australia. Jedda was…
Gaelic
"male descendant of a wolf"
Kennelly could be an upbeat modern namesake for a Grandpa Kenneth; it can also be spelled Kenneally.
Cornish
"chick"
Kew is an offbeat name of a saint from Cornwall with boyish appeal.
Native American, Shoshone
"butterfly"
Kimana, the name of a resort in the foothills of Mountain Kilimanjaro in Kenya, would make an unexpected path to the nickname Kim.
