Names That Mean Night

A dramatic nature-inspired possibility for either sex.

The Vietnamese name Quynh, pronounced exactly like the Irish gender neutral name Quinn, is a perfect cross-cultural choice with a lovely meaning.

Charming nature name made even more appealing by the connection to iconic nurse and statistician Florence Nightingale.

A little-known Sam name with a lovely evocative meaning.

Variant spelling of Nyx, the name of the Greek goddess of the night. It also coincides with the English word "nix, a corruption of German nichts "nothing".

While this name is a phonetic variant of Amaya and Amaia, its popularity could also stem from its similarity to names such as Aliyah, Amelia, and Amara too. It entered the US Top 1000 back in 2003, peaked in 2017 at #257, but has been on decline in recent years. Nevertheless, it is one of four variations of Amaia in the Top 1000 and when you combine these names together, they were collectively given to 3256 babies in a recent year, making the name *feel* or at least *sound* like a Top 100 choice, similarly popular to Ruby, Claire, Audrey, or Alice.

A pretty Arabic name with an evocative meaning.

Many African tribes have a tradition of naming children for the day or time they were born -- Friday, Afternoon -- a practice finding new life in the Western world as word names become more popular.

Otieno is more commonly seen as a surname among the Luo people of Kenya and Eastern Africa. The surname was derived from the given name — Atieno is the feminine version.

Israh which is also spelled Isra is a gender-neutral Muslim name.

Shirina is most commonly seen as a name among Hindi-speakers in India and Pakistan, but it could also be considered a variation of the Persian name Shirin, meaning "sweet."

Variant spelling of Nyx, the name of the Greek goddess of the night. It also coincides with the English word "nix, a corruption of German nichts "nothing". Nix would fit right in with names like Knox, Rex, Pax and Max.

Ayako is a very common feminine name in Japan, where it is the name of Princess Ayako of Takamado (now Ayako Moriya), formerly of the Imperial House of Japan.

A dramatic nature-inspired possibility for either sex.

Latvian variant of Lilith

Most common in Japan in the mid-20th century, but to Western ears it doesn't sound dated.

Atieno is the feminine equivalent of Otieno, which is now more commonly seen as a surname in Eastern Africa.

Bright and pretty, resembling Aaliyah, Delilah, Amaya and Sarah, Sariyah is a celestial and stylish choice,

The African tradition of day naming—giving a child a name inspired by the day, time, or season in which they were born—has become attractive to Western parents as word names increase in use. Midnight is a relatively new addition to the pool—it was used as a middle name by Nicole Richie and Joel Madden for their son in 2009.

Lots of charm.