Earthy names are inspired by the natural world, resonating with the beauty and simplicity of nature. These names often evoke images of forests, mountains, or elements of the earth, offering a sense of calm and groundedness.
This article will explore a range of earthy names, perfect for parents who appreciate the outdoors or wish to instill a love of nature in their child. From floral to geological inspirations, these names connect the bearer to the world’s natural wonders.
50 Nature Boy Names and Their Meanings
These are our favorite examples of earthy boys’ names.
1. Aaron
Aaron is a Hebrew name that means high mountain.
Aaron was the brother of Moses and played a role in the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian religions. This makes Aaron an ideal earthy baby name for a family with ties to multiple Abrahamic faiths.
2. Ajax
Ajax is the Latinized version of the Ancient Greek name αἶα, meaning earth.
Outside of Britain and the U.S., people usually pronounce Ajax as I-acs because of the Dutch football team. However, in Britain, and for most people with a British heritage, the pronunciation of Ajax is A-jax.
3. Alan
The exact meaning of Alan is disputed, but it’s thought to mean little rock.
This name has evolved in various countries, with different meanings in each. The Alan spelling, meaning little rock, is Norman French. In Slavic countries, Alan is connected to lan, a female deer, and jelen, a make deer.
4. Boutros
Boutros is an Arabic form of Peter, which means stone.
Boutros is predominately a Coptic Christian name. After the Vatican grants leadership to patriarchs in the Lebanese Catholic Church, they all assume Boutros as a middle name.
5. Bradley
An Ancient English name, Bradley means a broad clearing in the woods.
Bradley is currently the 194th most popular name in the U.S. The peak year of popularity was 1980 when 7,210 baby boys were given this name.
6. Brandon
The name Brandon is Old English and means broom-covered hill.
Traditionally seen as a boys’ name, during the 1980s, Brandon experienced a brief flurry of popularity as a girls’ name in the U.S.
7. Brent
Brent is derived from the Celtic word for hill.
Brent Rivera is not only an Influencer on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok; he is also an actor. He recently co-founded a talent incubator and content creation company — Amp Studios.
8. Bryn
A name from Wales, Bryn means hill or mound.
Bryn Celli Ddu is a prehistoric burial site, but researchers have determined it began life as a henge with a stone circle. The henge was used to track the path of the sun and indicate the summer solstice.
9. Chrysanthos
This spectacular Greek name means golden flower.
Some cultures celebrate name days. Similar to a birthday, this is the date on which your name is celebrated. In Greece, March 19th is the name day on which those called Chrysanthos celebrate their name.
10. Diar
Another beautiful Arabic name, Diar means expensive wood.
Diar is the name of an automobile company in Iran. They sell a wide range of vehicle styles, including a futuristic electric power taxi.
11. Doruk
Doruk is a Turkish name, and the meaning is mountaintop.
Virtually unknown outside Turkey or Turkish communities, Doruk is an excellent earthy themed baby name choice for those with Turkish heritage.
12. Douglas
The Scottish name Douglas means dark water.
Douglas is the Anglicized form of the Scottish name Dubhghlas. Originally a place name, it was adopted as a surname by the powerful clan that lived in the region. It only became the first name in the 16th century.
13. Dunstan
Dunstan is an Anglo Saxon name that means dark stone.
As well as being an earthy baby name because of its literal meaning, Dunstan has an additional “green” baby name heritage. The Dunstan Chestnut is the most widely grown chestnut tree in the U.S.
14. Ebenezer
This biblical Hebrew name has the unusual meaning stone of help.
Ebenezer made it to our earthy, nature names long list because of its geological overtones. However, it won a place on our shortlist of 50 because we adore the short version, Eben.
15. Elwood
Elwood is an Old English name meaning elder tree forest.
The iconic American musical comedy, The Blues Brothers, features Dan Aykroyd as Elwood Blues and John Belushi as his brother ‘Joliet’ Jake Blues. The characters were developed from the recurring The Blues Brothers sketch on Saturday Night Live.
16. Enki
A name from Sumerian mythology, Enki means lord of the earth.
Enki was the name of a god worshiped by the Ancient Sumerians. He was the god of creation, water, knowledge, mischief, and crafts.
17. Erdmann
Erdmann is a German name that means earth man.
Erdmann was also used as a variant of Hartmann, which means brave man, making this a great earthy name contender and a brave name possibility.
18. Erlul
Erlul is an Albanian name meaning wind or flower.
Although considered to be an Alabinian name, Erlul is currently used more in Italy than any other country.
19. Ewen
The Scottish name Ewen means born of the yew tree.
In pagan Ireland, the yew tree was considered sacred, and the name Eoghan was given to children of Celtic nobility. Ewen is an anglicized spelling of the Ancient Irish name Eoghan.
20. Florus
An Ancient Roman surname, Florus, means flower.
Before the time of the Roman Empire, Roman names had up to three parts, the first name, the family name, and then a nickname. Florus began as a nickname.
21. Forrest
Forrest evolved from the Ancient English name for a person living near a forest.
In the U.S., the most popular year for the name Forrest was 1994, when 1,343 boys were given the name. This was the year the movie Forrest Gump was released.
22. Garfield
Garfield is an Anglo Saxon name meaning triangle field.
Mention this name, and most people will immediately think of either James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States, or Garfield, the obese ginger cartoon cat.
23. George
The literal translation of George is earth worker.
George was created from the two Greek words for Earth and worker, but the words eventually became smooshed together and, by extension, morphed into earth-worker and then farmer. So, perhaps George’s a good earthy name pick for a farmer’s child?
24. Goran
Goran is a Slavic name that means mountain man.
It’s pronounced GO-ran rather than gore-AN. While this is a stand-alone Slavic name, Göran is the Swedish form of George and Gøran is the Medieval Norweigan equivalent of George.
25. Haldor
From the Old Norse Hallþórr, Haldor means Thor’s rock.
Predominately a forename in Norway, Haldor was also popular among Norwegian immigrants to the United States and Canada. Consequently, it crops up most often in Minnesota and the Dakotas.
26. Heath
Heath began as an Anglo Saxon surname for someone who lived on a heath.
Heath Ledger was named after Heathcliffe in the Emily Bronte novel Wuthering Heights. His sister was named Kate after the book’s heroine Catherine Linton.
27. Horst
In Low German, Horst translates as wood or thicket.
The number one boy’s name in Germany in 1934, this name is now viewed as an “old man” name in the European country.
28. Huxley
Huxley is an Old English name with the unlikely meaning of insult wood.
Huxley, Iowa, is a city of almost 3,500 people. It is most famous for hosting the Annual Huxley Prairie Fest.
29. Ilan
Ilan is the Hebrew word for tree.
Pronounced ee-lahn, there are multiple variations of this name, including Elon and Alon, which both mean oak tree, and Oran, which means pine tree.
30. Irving
Irving means green water, and it began as a Scottish name.
The phrase “Of Irving” was used to denote people who lived by the River Irvine in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, where the name was first recorded in 1258.
31. Ivik
A Nordic name, Ivik means blade of grass.
In Greenland, Ivik is both a girls’ and a boys’ name. In Denmark, where it has the same meaning, it is used exclusively for boys.
32. Jafar
Jafar means stream in Arabic.
Predominately a Shi’a name, Jafar is also sometimes transcribed as Jaffar or Jaffer. Unfortunately, this name evokes Disney villains, and in the U.K., the Jaffer spelling is the same as a slang insult.
33. Jory
Jory is a Cornish form of George, meaning earth-worker.
Pronounced JAW-ree in Cornwall, England, Jory does double duty as an earthy name because it is a type of soil found in Western Oregon.
34. Keir
A Nordic name, Keir means thicket or dusky.
Keir Pearson is an American screenwriter, editor, producer, and director nominated for a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award for Hotel Rwanda.
35. Marlowe
Marlowe evolved from a place name meaning remnants of a lake or from the hill by the lake.
Until recently, Marlowe has been used as an exclusively masculine name. However, after Sienna Miller and Tom Sturridge named their daughter Marlowe in 2012, it has been seen as a predominately feminine name in the U.S.
36. Maxwell
A Scottish name, Maxwell means great stream.
Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is the third song on The Beatles album Abbey Road. Written by McCartney, it sounds like an upbeat, jaunty song, but the lyrics are about a schoolboy who kills people with a hammer.
37. Montgomery
In Norman-French, Montgomery means Gumarich’s mountain. Gumarich means man.
There have been multiple U.S. Navy ships named Montgomery. The first USS Montgomery was named after Richard Montgomery and was one of the first 13 ships authorized by the U.S. congress.
38. Nemus
Nemus means forest, glade, or wood, in Latin.
In Ancient Roman culture, a nemus was a woodland or forested area, usually created as a monument to either a person or one of the Roman gods.
39. Pallav
Pallav means budding leaf or shoot in Sanskrit.
The slightly different spelling of Pallav, Pallab, is used in Bangladesh and Eastern India while the feminine form of the name is Pallavi.
40. Perry
Perry could be English or Welsh in origin, and it means pear tree.
Perry is also the name of a traditional alcoholic drink made from pears, similar to the cider made from apples.
41. Ridley
Ridley evolved from an Old English place name, meaning a clearing in the reeds.
Director and producer Ridley Scott is famous for movies such as Black Hawk Down, American Gangster, The Martian, and the Alien series of films.
42. Roscoe
The roots of Roscoe are in Old Norse. It means a roebuck forest.
Roscoe Conkling Park is in Utica, New York. It was named after the 19th-century politician and lawyer of the same name who was the last person to turn down a seat on the Supreme Court, after having been confirmed.
43. Silas
Silas is a Biblical name, and it means woods and forest.
Before 1995, somewhere between 100 and 200 boys a year were given the name Silas in the U.S. However, since then, it has become progressively more popular, and in 2019, 3,551 newborn baby boys were named Silas.
44. Silvester
Silvester is a Roman name that means of the forest.
In Germany, New Year’s Eve is referred to as Silvester because St. Sylvester’s Day was celebrated on December 31st. Despite the Christian roots of the name, many of Germany’s New Year’s Eve traditions are rooted in its ancient, pagan history (1).
45. Stanley
Stanley came from an Old English surname meaning stone clearing.
Actor Stanley Tucci plays Dr. Abraham Erskine in the Marvel Universe movies and Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games films.
46. Tapio
Tapio is a Nordic name with Estonian roots. It means ruler of the forest.
The first documented use of Tapio as a given name was in Finland in 1467. The name was that of the Finnish god of forests and hunting.
47. Trevelyan
Meaning homestead on the hill, Trevelyan is a Cornish name.
Trevelyan started out as a surname in Cornwall, England, and in Wales. However, the recent trend in using surnames as forenames has seen this morph into the first name for baby boys.
48. Vesa
Vesa is a Finnish male name that means sprout, young tree.
This boys’ name is pronounced VEH-sah. The same spelling is used for a girls’ name in Albania, but in that case, it is pronounced VEE-sar.
49. Yasen
Yasen is a Bulgarian name meaning ash tree.
In Norse mythology, it was believed that women were from rowan trees, and men were from the ash tree. We think that makes Yasen a good green name for those with either Bulgarian or Nordic ancestry.
50. Yavor
The Bulgarian name Yavor means maple tree.
As Yavor and Yasen are both types of deciduous trees found across the world, we think this would be a great pair of earthy, nature names for twin boys.
50 Nature Girl Names and Their Meanings
The idea of earthy girls’ names often evokes floral, soft, and pretty names, and we certainly have a few here. However, we’ve also unearthed plenty of girls’ names inspired by nature that have a more powerful or rugged feel.
51. Abilene
Abilene evolved from the Hebrew אָבֵל, ‘avel. The closest English translation is meadow.
Referenced once in the Bible, Abilene was an area close to Galilaea. The name was given to a city, metropolitan area, and state park in Texas. In the 19th century, the Abilene trail ran from the city to Abilene, Kansas.
52. Abnoba
Abnoba is a name found in Celtic mythology and means river.
The river and forest goddess Abnoba was worshipped, primarily, in the Black Forest, Germany. When the Romans invaded, her mythology became entwined with the Roman goddess of the hunt, Diana. The Romans named a town in England, Abonae, in her honor.
53. Ainsley
Ainsley is an Old English name meaning solitary woodland.
Ainsley is a relatively new arrival on the forename scene. It began life as a place in England, became a surname, and in the last, 60 years or so has been used as a gender-neutral first name.
54. Aliwen
A Mapuche name, Aliwen means tree.
The Mapuche people of Chile and Argentina pronounce this as ə-lee-WEHN with the ə being the same as the first sound in about. The Spanish pronunciation is A-lee-WEHN, and in Spain, you will see the name written as Alihuén.
55. Anargul
Anargul is a Kazakh name meaning blooming pomegranate tree.
The beautiful meaning of this name makes it both an appealing nature name for girls and one that bursts with symbolism for multiple cultures and belief systems.
56. Anthea
Anthea is derived from the Greek ἄνθος and means flower or blossom.
While the Ancient Greeks spelled this name Antheia, the Romans spelled it without the i. She was worshipped as the goddess of blossoms, gardens, and vegetation, and her symbols were golden colored items.
57. Aranya
Aranya is an Indian name that means wilderness or forest.
In India, Aranya is considered to be a gender-neutral name. However, in Thailand, where it is also in common use, it is thought of as an exclusively feminine name.
58. Arava
This modern Hebrew name comes from the name of a leafy willow branch.
While, in this case, Arava is listed as a nature name because of its meaning, it is also a name used around the Indian subcontinent. In Sanskrit, Arava means noiseless, silent, calm.
59. Avani
Avani is the Sanskrit word for earth.
English speakers have a tendency to pronounce this as AV-an-nee, but for Hindi speakers, it is more of an Arv-nee with little emphasis on the V.
60. Beverly
Beverly evolved from a surname meaning “of the beaver stream.”
Unusually for a name that is seen as a girl’s name in the rest of the world, up until the 1950s, Beverly saw small but steady use as a boy’s name in the US.
61. Björk
A name from Iceland, Björk means birch tree.
Outside of Nordic countries, English speakers usually mispronounce this as Ber-york. However, the correct pronunciation is PYUURK, to rhyme with perk.
62. Blodwen
The Welsh name Blodwen means white, fair, blessed flowers.
Dr. Joseph Parry was a composer from Wales. In 1887, he wrote a three-act opera called Blodwen, which was the first opera to be written in the Welsh language.
63. Bluma
A Yiddish word that became a name, Bluma means flower.
The Yiddish language is a mix of Aramaic, Biblical Hebrew, Polish, and German that evolved in or around the 11th century. Bluma is an evolution of the German word Blume, which is also connected to the English word Bloom.
64. Brook
Brook literally means brook.
The year 1980 was the last time Brook made the top 1,000 boys’ names in the U.S., as well as the year it reached peak popularity as a girls’ name.
65. Chloe
Chloe is an English girl’s name that evolved from Greek. It means green shoot.
Chloe Ardelia Wofford was the birth name of Toni Morrison, who won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel Beloved. Morrison was also the first black woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
66. Citrine
Citrine evolved from the Latin citrus, which means citron tree.
Citrine is a rare form of golden yellow quartz that is one of the birthstones for November. Consequently, we think this is an excellent green or nature name for a girl born in November.
67. Diantha
Diantha comes from the Greek dianthus, meaning heavenly flower.
Diantha is a figure in Pokemon, the anime series, and a character that players encounter in the Pokemon X and Y game.
68. Elowen
A modern Cornish name, Elowen means elm tree.
Traditionally, three-syllable Cornish names have the emphasis placed on the middle syllable. That means this is pronounced el-O-an and not ello-WIN.
69. Eun-Ji
Eun-Ji is a Korean name that means kindness and earth.
When written with the hanja, 恩地 Eun-Ji means kindness, charity, mercy, and earth, ground, soil. However, other hanja combinations can make this name and would consequently affect the meaning.
70. Feronia
Feronia is an ancient Italian name meaning untamed woodland.
Feronia was an Etruscan goddess associated with wildlife, fertility, and abundance. She was also the goddess who granted freedom to slaves and bestowed civil rights on the subjugated and repressed segments of society.
71. Fleur
Fleur is the French word for flower.
In the Harry Potter series, Fleur Delacour competes in the Triwizard Tournament, during which Harry saves her sister, Gabrielle, from the lake. Fleur appears again, working at Gringotts, and eventually marries Bill Weasley.
72. Folda
An Old Norse name, Folda means earth.
The annual Folda Festival is a celebration of live digital art. It allows entrants to perform not only in finished, polished pieces but in those still in development.
73. Gaia
Gaia means earth in Greek.
In Ancient Greece, Gaia was the personification of the Earth and mother of all life. The Gaia Hypothesis postulates that all living organisms interact with the Earth’s inorganic elements to form an intricate, self-regulating system.
74. Hadas
Hadas is Hebrew, and it means myrtle tree.
While Hadas means myrtle tree in Hebrew, it is also the Spanish word for fairies, giving this name a whimsical twist.
75. Hazel
The name Hazel evolved from the name of the hæsel tree.
Approximately 5 percent of the world’s population have hazel eyes. Rather than being a single color, a hazel iris has elements of brown, gold, and green.
76. Ingilín
Ingilín is an Icelandic name meaning god of the earth.
Pronounced exactly as it is spelled, Ingilín would be a suitable earthy girl’s name for families with a Noric heritage, especially if they are from Iceland.
77. Ione
Ione comes from the Ancient Greek word ion. It means violet flower.
The historical home of the Sierra Miwok people, the city of Ione, California, was an important supply center during the California Gold Rush.
78. Irati
Irati is a Basque name meaning fern field.
The Irati Forest is over 17,000 hectares of almost unspoiled woodland at the western end of the Pyrenees, straddling the border between France and Spain.
79. Iva
A Slavic name, Iva means willow tree.
As well as being a name that means willow tree in Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Bulgaria, Iva is also the Czech feminine form of Ivo, which means Yew.
80. Kalina
Kalina is a name from Poland and Bulgaria, and it means flower.
The Kaline are an indigenous people who live predominantly in riverside villages near the coast of Venezuela, Guyana, and Brazil.
81. Karya
Karya is the Ancient Greek name for the walnut and possibly sweet chestnut trees.
Karya was the name of a hamadryad. These were a mythological race of beings, each of who was born bonded to a particular tree. Kalina was born in either a walnut or hazelnut tree.
82. Kiri
Kiri is a Maori name meaning skin of the tree or bark.
Kiri Davis is an American filmmaker who won acclaim for her documentary A Girl Like Me, made as part of Reel Works Teen Filmmaking.
83. Kristlind
An Icelandic name, Kristland, has a complex meaning related to the linden tree.
The Old Norse Lind refers to the lime tree, linden tree, and the protective shield of linden wood. Meanwhile, the Krist element relates to Christ.
84. Leigh
Leigh is a variant of the Old English name Lee, which means clearing in the woods or meadow.
In the U.S., Leigh is considered a gender-neutral name. However, in the U.K., where the name originates, Leigh is generally used as a girls’ name and Lee as a boys’ name.
85. Lëndina
Lëndina is the Albanian word for meadow.
A gentle and easy to pronounce name, Lëndina would make a suitable nature name for a family with Albanian heritage.
86. Lubna
Lubna is an Arabic name that means storax tree.
Lubna of Córdoba was a Spanish slave girl who, with Hasdai ibn Shaprut, helped to establish the library of Medina Azahara.
87. Montserrat
Montserrat evolved from the Latin mons serratus, which means jagged mountain.
Montserrat is the name of a mountain outside Barcelona and an island in the Caribbean. Pronounced moon-sa-RAT, it saw brief popularity in the U.S. between 2014 and 2016.
88. Mörk
Mörk is a Nordic name meaning forest in Icelandic and dark in Swedish.
In Iceland and Sweden, this is pronounced MUURK. However, in English-speaking countries, it’s likely to be MORE-k and evoke comments about the television show Mork and Mindy.
89. Nergis
The Turkish name Nergis means daffodil.
Nergis Mavalvala is the Professor of Astrophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as the Dean of the School of Science. She is known for her work in the observance of gravitational waves.
90. Nurit
The delicate name Nurit is Hebrew and means buttercup.
In the Netflix series Fauda, Nurit is the name of the sole female member of an elite male unit in the Israeli military.
91. Orino
Orino is a Japanese name meaning workman’s meadow.
The village of Orino in Crete is a quiet mountain-top hamlet of about 250 people. It sits at the entrance to a beautiful mountain gorge, famous for the red butterflies that proliferate there.
92. Ornella
Ornella is a literary name that evolved from Tuscan Italian. It means flowering ash tree.
Ornella the Owl is a children’s book about a little owlet who is afraid of the dark. Her fear begins when she sees a giant pair of red eyes staring at her in the night.
93. Parvati
Parvati is an Indian name which means of the mountains in Sanskrit.
Parvati Shallow is an American reality television star who took part in Survivor: Cook Islands and won 1 million dollars in Survivor: Micronesia.
94. Prado
Prado is Spanish and means meadow.
The Prado Museum, located in Madrid, is the most prominent art museum in Spain and is considered to be one of the best art museums in the world. Collections include works by Bosh, Goya, Velázquez, Rubens, and Titan.
95. Ripley
Ripley is Old English and means strip of land by the clearing.
In the U.S., in 2019, 170 baby girls and 41 baby boys were given Ripley’s name. Meanwhile, in the U.K. that year, 18 girls and five boys had the name Ripley bestowed upon them.
96. Rochelle
Rochelle is a French name, and it means little rock.
With Rochelle’s meaning, perhaps it would be a good name for a child whose mother or father was Aaron or Sierra, which both mean mountain.
97. Rowan
Rowan comes from the name of the Rowan tree.
Rowan is also the Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Ruadháin, which means descendant of Ruadhán. Ruadhán is a nickname for people named Ruadh, which means red. Due to this, Rowan is a fabulous earthy name for redheads.
98. Sierra
Sierra means jagged mountain range in Spanish.
This name works well in the U.S. and does double earthy name duty because of The Sierra Club, an environmental protection organization. However, in Europe, this was a car by Ford, so it doesn’t work as well for a first name.
99. Tierra
Tierra is Spanish for the earth.
In the world’s longest mountain range, the Andes, there are three climate zones called Tierra Calienta, which is warm, Tierra Templada, which is cooler, and Tierra Fria, which is freezing.
100. Tuva
A Swedish name, Tuva means tuft of grass.
Tuva is also a variation of the Nordic name Tove. This is a modern form of Þórfríðr, which means thunder and beautiful, or beloved.
The Wonderful Variety Of Earthy Names
There is a staggering array of earthy baby names out there, and their existence in cultures around the world demonstrates how popular they are.
Earthy, nature-themed, and whimsical baby names do not all have to have soft, fluffy, floaty meanings. Hopefully, the vast array of jagged mountain and thunder rock style names we found have shown this.
