Boy Names That Mean Life
- Durnell
Origin:
English surnameMeaning:
"grower of darnel"Description:
Darnel, the plant from which this name derives, is an intoxicating plant, which used to be grown to make medicines and poisons.
- Zoltan
Origin:
HungarianMeaning:
"sultan"Description:
Though a common name in Hungary, with the spelling Zoltán, the relatively rare Z sound is striking to English speakers. Penn Gillette used the Zolten spelling for his son; it was also the name of Dracula's dog, and was also a robotic character in Dude, Where's My Car?.
- Beresford
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"ford where barley grows"Description:
Upper-crusty hotelish surname.
- Beathan
Origin:
GaelicMeaning:
"life"Description:
A popular name in medieval Scotland, it can be found in the surname Macbeth, meaning "son of Beathan" or "son of life." In later years it was increasingly anglicized as Benjamin.
- Berkeley
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"where birches grow"Description:
The Brits say BARK-lee, but we pronounce it the same as the name of the California college: either way it's quite pretentious and of another era.
- Burbank
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"riverbank where burrs grow"Description:
Beautiful downtown Burbank -- about as glamorous a place-name as Akron...or Detroit.
- Hy
Origin:
Diminutive of Hyman, HebrewMeaning:
"life"Description:
Hy was once a nickname for Hyman, a Jewish Anglicization of Chaim. Today it has gone extinct, for obvious reasons.
- Bromley
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"broom meadow"Description:
Bromley is an English surname-name that's more possible as a first name now than ever before. The -ley suffix has been adopted for many names, and surnames such as Bromley are fashionable.
- Dittany
Origin:
Plant name from FrenchMeaning:
"grown on Mount Dikte"
- Brodny
Origin:
SlavicMeaning:
"one who lives near a stream"Description:
Off-putting cousin of Bradley and Rodney.
- Bekele
Origin:
AmharicMeaning:
"growing"Description:
Bekele is an attractive Ethiopian name prime for use in the English-speaking world, especially given the short form Bek. Pronunciation is three syllables with the emphasis on the second -- beh-KEH-lee.
- Tarvo
Origin:
FinnishMeaning:
"wild aurochs; energy"Description:
Tarvo has two potential origin stories. The first is that it derives from the Old Finnish word tarvas, meaning "wild aurochs," a wild species of cattle that is now extinct. The second possible derivation is from the Estonian tarv, meaning "energy."
- Selig
Origin:
GermanMeaning:
"blessed, happy in life"Description:
Selig comes from the Yiddish vocabulary word meaning 'happy, fortunate, blessed.' Most of us are more familiar with its Woody Allen variation, Zelig.
- Hill
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"someone who lives by a hill"Description:
Simple and down-to-earth, but would probably work best as a middle name.