Names That Mean Light

A bit blunt.

Worldly and evocative.

The viv syllable adds vitality.

A little-known Hebrew name which ranks in the Top 100 in Israel.

Khorshid, also found as Khurshid and Khursheed, is the Persian word for sun and a name used for both girls and boys. The name of a place in Iran, Khorshid is the title of an Iranian film about street children, angilicized as Sun Children. Khorshid Khanom, or Sun Lady, was an ancient fertility and water goddess, the personification of Anahita.

Occult name for babies born under water signs -- Pisces, Cancer, and Scorpio.

Khorshid, also found as Khurshid, is the Persian word for sun and is also the name of a place in Iran. The name is found mostly in Iran, Turkey, and Azerbaijan and can be used for both boys and girls. Khorshid, anglicized as Sun Children, was the title of an Iranian film about street children. Khorshid Khanom, or Sun Lady, was an ancient fertility and water goddess.

Latona is the Roman equivalent of Leto, the Greek goddess of light. These days Leto feels more modern for a baby girl, but Latona retains its appeal.

One of the more familiar Hindu choices, with built-in depth and a suggestion of enlightenment.

Gwenno originated as a diminutive of Gwenllian, Gwynhwyfar or Gwendolen, but it is increasingly being bestowed as a full name, with between 10 and 20 births a year in England & Wales. Musician Gwenno (full name Gwenno Mererid Saunders) is a famous bearer.

A multicultural choice, used in Southern Africa as a standalone name meaning "light", and as a rare German diminutive of Elisabeth.

A simple name with a bright and shining mean, Shama is a Hindi name, ultimately derived from the Arabic sham meaning "candle". It coincides with a Hebrew masculine name that appears in the Bible.

Deriving from the Greek word phos meaning "light", Photina is a variation of Photine, a rare choice with a Biblical link. The name of the Samaritan woman in "Jesus and the Woman at the Well" (John 4), Photine is associated with Jesus's mercy and love, and with spreading the word of God.

Deriving from the Greek word phos meaning "light", Photine is a rare choice with a Biblical link. The name of the Samaritan woman in "Jesus and the Woman at the Well" (John 4), Photine is associated with Jesus's mercy and love, and with spreading the word of God.

Popular in its native Latvia during the first half of the 20th century, Skaidrīte is a name with evocative imagery of bright, clear blue skies. Notable bearers include Latvian basketball player Skaidrīte Smildziņa-Budovska and Skaidrite Darius, the first woman to be employed by an Australian university to develop and manage electronic processing systems.

A variation on the Arabic name Nouran, Nurana combines nur meaning "light, radiance" with the suffix -an meaning "of, like", to create a name symbolic of beauty, and, in Islamic tradition, of understanding faith to God.

This elaboration of the popular Noor and Nur combines the radiant Arabic name with the Persian suffix -an to form a name that suggests the bearer is comparable to light. Nouran and Nurana are alternative forms.