Names That Mean Shining

A common Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean unisex name, and the name of a culturally rich Chinese Dynastic period. Yao Ming is the seven and a half foot Shanghai-born basketball star. Trivia tidbit: His parents were the tallest couple in China at the time of his birth.

An ancient Germanic name belonging to an 8th century duke of Bavaria, as well as to a modern-day prince of Bulgaria. It is a diminutive form from Tasso, which probably derives from the Germanic name Taginbert, a cognate of Dagobert.

Girlish, but has a nice feeling of uniqueness and unity.

A modern spelling of a vintage nickname.

This beautiful celestial Indian name had a rise in 2022, following in the trends of other "-ani" ending names like Leilani and Imani. The character Devi from the hit show "Never Have I Ever" familiarized the world with another beautiful name of the same root.

This appealing Russian/Nordic name has been used a handful of times since Eowyn Ivey's novel The Snow Child was published in 2012. There, Faina is a mysterious girl who loves the cold Alaskan woods.

A gentle old-fashioned compound name that has never been epidemically popular, but is now almost unused.

Belisama is a goddess in Celtic mythology often associated as the equivalent to the Roman Minerva and Greek Athena.

The usual form of Eleonara is Eleanora, with each syllable pronounced, but transposing, adding, or subtracting a vowel or syllable here or there works fine and adds to the international, feminine spin on a solid name.

A light and lovely Russian diminutive of Yelena (Helena), now used in its own right in Russia. Also spelt Alyona.

Nickname for Alena, a Helen variation, that can be heard in Eastern Europe.

Olympic skier Picabo Street was allowed to choose her name at the age of three, and picked it possibly (a) after a nearby Idaho town or (b) because she loved to play peekaboo. No longer a single-person name, it is now worn by a number of satisfied bearers.

A Middle English form of Adalbert (and therefore of Albert), which was the name of several Saxon kings. Nowadays, Ethel plus Bert is not a fashionable sound, but Albert is feeling fresh again.

Forever the hapless cartoon husband of Blondie.

This short, ultra-rare name is one of our favorite four-letter girl names starting with I.

Light and ethereal, Phaenna is one of the Charities or Graces in some Greek myths. She was worshipped in Sparta, along with Cleta ("renowned one").

French version of the mythological name Cassandra.