Names That Mean Yellow or Orange

One of those names you may not even be aware of if you haven't been paying attention to recent naming trends, Alani was given to more than 700 baby girls in the US in one recent year, to be the second most popular feminization of Alan after Alana. It's certainly the most modern-sounding female version of Alan.

Flavio is derived from Flavius, a surname used in Ancient Rome. These family names, or cognomens, were given to distinguish branches of the clan and were chosen based on a characteristic of an important bearer. In this case, the Flavius family patriarch was likely blond-haired.

Too tightly tied to the acronym for the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

This name is the feminine of Chrystanthos, meaning golden flower (think Chrysanthemum).

She's the bff of Blair, Blake, and Brooke who shop at Bergdorf's, Bonwits and Bendel's.

The feminine form of Helios or Helio is occasionally heard in Spain and Portugal. In Greek mythology, Helia is one of the Heliades, daughters of the sun god Helios by Clymene the Oceanid.

The name of a small yellow bird that hasn't taken off in the way that some of its avian sisters – like Robin, Wren or Lark – have.

Y-ending color adjectives like Tawny and Rusty are nowhere near as stylish as the more sophisticated Lilacs and Violets.

Yinuo is a Chinese female name meaning "promise." It is part of an idiomatic expression "Yinuo Qianjin" (一诺千金), which means "one promise; one thousand gold" or "keep your word." This Chinese name has the advantage of being relatively easy to pronounce for non-Chinese speakers. People called Yinuo include Yinuo Mu, principle harpist in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Yinuo Chen, a Chinese actress who starred in Empresses in the Palace.

A name with an obvious meaning, for a long time associated with Golda Meir, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel. Nickname Goldie seems to be catching on in the celebrity community.

Gilda, although related to the words gold and gilded, has definitely tarnished. It once shimmered with the seductive image of Rita Hayworth in the film Gilda, then was associated with the beloved early Saturday Night Live star Gilda Radner. In opera, Gilda lives on as the name of the daughter of Rigoletto.

This cute as a button name stems from the Goonayandi word for the sun and can be used as a unisex name.

Blane is the attractive surname name of an important seventh-century Scottish saint, but is in danger of sounding slightly feminine and soap opera-ish.

Aneirin is the original form of the more common Aneurin (which was a mistaken spelling used after the 17th Century). Aneirin was one of the first great Welsh poets who flourished in the 6th Century. He was said to be the Prince of Bards.

Although Lumi (Finnish for "snow") is far more popular, the elaboration Lumia is used in Finland as well. It's also a technical word in English for patterns of light used as an art form, and in Italian it refers to the citron fruit and tree – a pear-shaped citrus fruit also known as a sweet lemon. Nokia chose the name for a brand of smartphone, now discontinued.

With stylish and approachable sounds, Artan is a charming multicultural choice that could work as an unusual alternative to Arthur, Aidan, Nathan, or Arlo. A name with three origins, it is simultaneously an Irish name meaning "little bear", an Albanian name meaning "golden", and a Faroese name deriving from Attila "little father".

This is a Hebrew word name, created from the word zahav, meaning gold.

An ancient Roman clan name, Flavia is one choice that's unusual but historic. Now a Top 60 name in Italy, Flavia has been a rarity in the US, but with the upswing in F names for girls, this could change. Seen more in literature than real life, Flavia was used as far back as an1580 romance, then in a William Dean Howells novel and as a Princess in The Prisoner of Zenda. Although the original pronunciation is FLAH-via, Flavie (as in flavor) could make a cute nickname.

Derived from Persian zarin "golden", Zarina is a strong and sparkling name used in multiple languages, including Kazakh, Urdu and Malay. It was the name of an ancient Scythian queen, and also sounds very close to the Russian tsarina or czarina – the pre-revolutionary term for an empress of Russia.

More familiar to English speakers in the Italian Elio form.