What does a name mean?
Type any name and see its origin story – the language it grew from and what parents once meant by it.
Searching 1,032 names from our country and alphabet guides.
Why meanings are worth checking
A name is the first story a child carries. Some families pick the sound first and are delighted to find the meaning fits; others start from the meaning – 'brave', 'light', 'gift' – and work back to a name they love saying.
Meanings also catch surprises before the birth certificate does. A gorgeous-sounding name might translate to 'sorrow' in its home language, and a plain-looking one might carry a history you'll want to tell at every birthday.
Browse instead of search
If you don't have a name in mind yet, start with names by country or the A to Z lists. Or let the name generator build ideas from your own names first, then look the results up here.
Common questions
Where do the meanings come from?+
From our own country and alphabet name guides, which cover naming traditions from over 60 cultures. Each entry notes the language of origin and what the name originally referred to.
My name isn't in the results. Why?+
The index currently holds around a thousand curated names rather than every name in existence. Spelling variants help – try Aisha for Ayesha, or Sean for Shawn. We add names with every guide we publish.
Can a name have more than one meaning?+
Often, yes. Names travel between languages and pick up new readings along the way. Mira means 'wonderful' in Latin contexts, 'peace' in Slavic ones and 'ocean' in Sanskrit. Where a name has several roots, the entry mentions the tradition it was drawn from.