Names That Mean Sorrow

  1. Bronagh
    • Origin:

      Irish
    • Meaning:

      "sorrow"
    • Description:

      Bronagh, along with Anglicized form Brona, is a popular name in Ireland. It's the name of a sixth century mystic as well as a modern television character on Penny Dreadful.
  2. Brona
    • Origin:

      Irish
    • Meaning:

      "sorrow"
    • Description:

      Brona is an Anglicized form of Bronach or Bronagh, the name of a sixth century mystic and follower of Saint Patrick. The name is attracting some modern notice in the US via the character Brona Croft in TV's Penny Dreadful.
  3. Nepenthe
    • Origin:

      Greek
    • Meaning:

      "a poetic drug said to banish sorrow from a person's mind"
  4. Mourning
    • Origin:

      English word name
    • Meaning:

      "grief, sorrow"
    • Description:

      Mourning was recorded as a name among enslaved people in 19th-century America, where other names that capture the atrocities of slavehood — such as Suffer, Misery, and Hardtimes — were used as well.
  5. Benoni
    • Origin:

      Hebrew
    • Meaning:

      "son of my sorrow"
    • Description:

      What the Old Testament Rachel originally named Benjamin, before his father changed it; rarely heard today.
  6. Ashoka
    • Origin:

      Sanskrit
    • Meaning:

      "without sorrow"
    • Description:

      This name was borne by Ashoka the Great, a 3rd-century BC emperor of India, and inspired the Star Wars character name Ahsoka.
  7. Brone
    • Origin:

      Irish
    • Meaning:

      "sorrow"
    • Description:

      An old saint's name that, even with the post-Aidan wave of Irish names, is a bit too close to crone.
  8. Tristana
    • Origin:

      Celtic mythology name, feminine variation of Tristan
    • Meaning:

      "sorrow"
    • Description:

      A more substantial but less-popular feminization of Tristan, the originally-male mythological name now used for girls as well as boys.
  9. Nepenthe
    • Origin:

      Greek
    • Meaning:

      "a poetic drug said to banish sorrow from a person's mind"
  10. Tristine
    • Origin:

      Feminine variation of Tristan, Celtic
    • Meaning:

      "sorrow"
    • Description:

      Tristine is an uncommon girls' name that feminizes the mythological Tristan, yet is used for girls much more rarely than the original.