Baby Name Meanings
By Sophie Kihm · Updated September 2026
Across 9 pages
of 9
Latin, Germanic, Spanish , Italian., "white, light; elf; dawn"
"white, light; elf; dawn"
Bright, lively, and multicultural, Alba has the vintage mellowness of Alma but spirited feel of Ebba, Phoebe, and Pippa too. Derived from multiple different sources, a recent year saw it appear as a…
Spanish
"white, fair"
Before there was the campy TV Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Elvira was the long-suffering wife of Don Juan, and remnants of those negative, gothic images still cling to it, though they are fading.…
Arabic
"white stone, flint"
Marwa literally means "white stone," but is the name of a mountain in Mecca, making it an important name among Muslims. It's also another name for marjoram.
Scottish
"handsome, fair of face"
Irvin is an Old Man name that has an uncertain future. Losing the final g in Irving makes the name slightly less dated -- but just slightly. There's something about the 'erv' sound that makes Irvin…
Irish
"fair-skinned, fair-haired"
The name of a historic Irish leader, Gannon has a solid, yet spirited feel. It was one of the fastest-rising names of 2014, but that trend didn't continue. One pop culture influence was the name of…
"slender and fair"
Keelan is the Anglicized, phonetic form of the more traditionally-spelled Caelan, also in use. While this name is said by many sources to be unisex, in practice in modern Ireland it is only given to…
Place name, Kikuyu
"mountain of white"
Kenya, a name borrowed from the East African nation and theoretically unisex, is now used mostly for girls. While it's had its ups and downs since entering the US Top 1000 in 1968, it currently ranks…
German and Dutch
"white or blond"
This presidential name is in style limbo today - or, some might say, in the the sweet spot of familiar but little-used.
Variation of Witten, German surname
"son of the white-haired or pale one"
Whitten is a stylish patronymic surname derived from Witt and Witte — German and Dutch nicknames-turned-surnames describing people with white-blonde hair or a pale complexion. Cool-guy nickname Whit…
Latin
"white, pure, sincere"
Candace, an ancient title of a dynasty of Ethiopian queens mentioned in the New Testament, is associated both with actress Candice Bergen and Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell. Both spellings…
German surname
The surname Witten (and variants such as Whitten) is a patronym derived from Witte or Witt, which was a nickname for people with white hair or a pale complexion in Germany and the Netherlands. It…
Botanical name or Irish
"white flower, beautiful sheen"
Variant of Eaven, an Anglicization of Aoibheann. As a botanical name, it refers to a type of pretty white flower which thrives in mountainous regions.
"white snow"
Has a pure, clean aura, but is also evocative.
English
"white field"
If you discount the connection to the controversial Whittaker Chambers in the days of the Red Scare, Whittaker is a pleasant enough British surname with the preppyish nickname Whit.
"white man"
Whitman, a namesake surname for poet Walt, would be much more suited to a boy, probably because of that "man" part. Whit or Witt makes an uplifting short form which can be used on its own.
Spanish from Arabic
"Madonna lily, white lily"
Azucena is the Spanish name for the Madonna lily, or white lily, derived from the Arabic words ‘abyad , "white", and zanbaq , "lily". White lilies are symbols of the Virgin Mary, which gives the…
Word name
Extremely attractive color name chosen by some African-American families for its reference to the West African Ivory Coast; more commonly used for girls.
"white haired or blond"
Kenyon is a very engaging British surname name, the middle y giving it a kind of southwestern canyonesque undertone. Though Kenyon appears in English records as far back as the fourteenth century and…
"son of the fair hero"
New Presidential name, if you're ready to move beyond Lincoln and Jefferson. At the turn of the last century, during the original McKinley's heyday, as a first name it almost reached the Top 100.
Arabic; Lithuaniian
"white antelope; to calm down, to quieten"
Nature girl played by Audrey Hepburn in "Green Mansions," it now has an old-style bohemian feel.
