Easter Names

This name boomed in the 1940s and 50s thanks to the glamorous singer Risë (pronounced REE-sa) Stevens, who inherited her name from her Norwegian grandmother. It's rare nowadays, but when used it's more likely to be the uplifting vocabulary word, rhyming with "eyes". The latter was chosen by Nick Cannon and Brittany Bell for their son, born in September 2022.

This is a name you get stuck with, not (we hope) one your parents choose for you.

A Near Eastern favorite, with an agreeable, evocative sound.

Possibly a variant of Lirio, from Latin lilium.

The Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast frequently name their children after the day of the week they were born and the order in which they were born. Most Ghanaians have a name using this system (think Kofi Annan, whose name means born on a Friday). Kwasi is the name for boys born on a Sunday. (The name for girls born on a Sunday is Akosua).

Unknown but eminently usable choice, especially for Jewish parents, with lovely meaning.

Evocative word name that's refreshingly straightforward. Overtones of Christianity and penalty. More subtle option: Cruz.

Farasha is butterfly in Arabic, which means that to English-speakers, it feels more like a soft feminine name and less like a fluttery animal. Pretty without feeling flighty.

Fluttery and flighty. But there are a couple of names that mean butterfly you might consider, such as Yara and Farasha.

Destined to remain a one-person name -- in this country anyway.

The adorable and iconic bunny character Miffy was created in 1955 by Dutch artist Dick Bruna. Her Dutch name is Nijntje, a contraction of the Dutch word for "little bunny", konijntje.

The literal word for "spring" in many Slavic languages and the name of an ancient Slavic springtime deity.

Easter has been used as a name for several hundred years, as part of the day-naming tradition; now, this rarely heard holiday celebration name would make a novel choice for a springtime baby. Background:The early Anglo-Saxon monk and scholar Bede took the name of a goddess--Eostre-- whose feast was celebrated at the vernal equinox and gave it to the Christian festival of the resurrection of Christ.

In Germanic mythology, Ostara is the goddess of springtime, fertility, and dawn. Her existence as a mythological figure was pieced together by scholar Jacob Grimm, who used evidence such as the German word for April (ostermonat) and parallels to the Anglo-Saxon Eostre. Ostara is also the modern German name for the Easter holiday.

This Spanish month name has been quietly used for several years now in the US.

Tomer was once a Top 100 name in Israel — it fell out in 2016.

The singer known as Pink (born Alecia) brought this hue onto the name-possibility palette, especially as a middle choice. Could Pink be the next Blue?

Shaphan was most notably the name of the scribe who brought the lost book of the Law to Israel’s King Josiah.