Names That Mean White or Fair

If you're looking for an unusual alternative to all those Rose names, Rhoswen might be a good choice. This name has the soft sounds we've come to love from the Welsh language but is still not as familiar as Bronwen and Rhiannon.

The popular Irish name Muireann comes from a mythical mermaid who was tranformed into a woman by a saint. Pronunciation is like the surname of the actress Helen Mirren, but with the spin of a w sound after the initial M.

Eighties spin on megapopular Whitney that currently ranks higher than the original. Whitley fell out of the Top 1000 for several decades but resurfaced in 2018.

The traditional Irish girl's name Bevin – an Anglicization of Bébhinn – is rarely heard outside the Emerald Isle, but could make an fresh and fashionable namesake for an Aunt Beverly.

Pretty and unusual, Livana may find a lot more fans as parents look for alternatives to Number 1 Olivia. Livana was used for only seven baby girls in the US last year.

An unusual Gwyn name with a lovely meaning, this compound name pairs Gwyn with the name Eira, meaning "snow". A relatively modern creation, it remains very rare.

Popular in India and among Indo-Americans, this name of the hero of a famous Hindu epic has an extremely pleasing sound.

Attractive ancient name borne by several saints but sullied by association with yeast infection.

Despite the light, pretty sound of Bella for a girl, the boys' name Bela has dark and mysterious undertones, thanks to Dracula actor Bela Lugosi. Béla is also the first name of composer Bartók.

This presidential name is in style limbo today - or, some might say, in the the sweet spot of familiar but little-used.

Tegwen is nowhere near as pretty as its meaning. Other -wen names -- Anwen, Bronwen, Rhonwen -- have more appeal.

Haitian-born rap superstar and humanitarian Wyclef ("Fugees") Jean has lent this name a powerful musical beat.

Azucena is the Spanish name for the Madonna lily, or white lily, derived from the Arabic words ‘abyad, "white", and zanbaq, "lily". White lilies are symbols of the Virgin Mary, which gives the flower its alternate name, Madonna lily.

Keelan is the Anglicized, phonetic form of the more traditionally-spelled Caelan, also in use. While this name is said by many sources to be unisex, in practice in modern Ireland it is only given to boys. An interesting, accessible choice largely unknown in the US.

A rare and beautiful member of the "Rose" family of names, Rosenwyn is a modern Cornish compound name meaning "white rose" or "fair rose". There is a popular Cornish folk song titled An Rosen Wyn, which may have inspired its use as a name.

No, not Ben (you'll say a million times), not Van -- Venn. John Venn was a British logician and philosopher famous for introducing the Venn diagram, which is used in several fields, including logic, statistics, and computer science.

Olwen is a Welsh favorite, the name of a legendary princess in what is believed to have been the earliest Arthurian romance, and in fact one of the first recorded examples of Welsh prose.

Tanwyn is a modern Welsh name that can work for either sex depending on the spelling -- wyn is the traditional boys' spelling, while wen as in Tanwen is the girls' version.

Famous bearers include surfer Tanwyn Travers and the hero of a Victorian Welsh legend titled Envy Burns Itself.

Nivea, or Nívea, is most commonly seen as a given name in Brazil, where it was derived from niveus, meaning "snow-white" in Latin. The German skincare brand NIVEA, founded in 1882, took its name from the same source.

Whitman, a namesake surname for poet Walt, would be much more suited to a boy, probably because of that "man" part. Whit or Witt makes an uplifting short form which can be used on its own.