Your baby will spend far more of the next year asleep than awake. Newborns sleep 14 to 17 hours a day in short stretches, staying awake only 1 to 3 hours at a time (1), which makes a name built around dreaming fit the first months better than almost any other theme.
We gathered 100 names meaning dream, sleep, night and vision, from the Greek gods who ran the dream world to modern coinages like Reverie and Dream. Every U.S. popularity figure below comes from Social Security Administration birth records and runs through the 2025 birth year (2), so you can see at a glance which of these are climbing and which are still almost unused.
One thing worth knowing before you browse: a sleeper moves through four to six sleep cycles a night, a new one starting every 80 to 100 minutes, and dreaming happens mostly in REM, which newborns get more of than adults do (3). Your little dreamer is about to get a great deal of practice.
Popularity at a Glance
The most popular names on this list in the United States, 1965 to 2025: Aurora, Daniel, Luna, Joseph and Gabriel.
100 Sleepy Names Meaning Dream for Boys and Girls
The list runs A to Z, mixing gods of sleep, plain word names like Dream and Reverie, and rare finds from Basque, Kurdish and Icelandic. Every entry gives the meaning, origin, pronunciation and, where the Social Security Administration has it, current U.S. popularity.
Aaru
Aaru was the field of reeds in Egyptian belief, a paradise of endless water and barley where the blessed dead lived on under Osiris. Reaching it meant a long and dangerous crossing, which is why so much Egyptian funerary writing reads like a set of travel directions. As a name it is soft and almost unheard of outside Egyptology, so your son would very likely be the only one in the room. Set it against a short, grounded middle name and the effect turns otherworldly rather than heavy.
- Origin: Egyptian
- Meaning: Reed fields of paradise
- Pronunciation: AIR-ooh
- Variations: Ialu, Iaru
Ahlam
Ahlam is a plural, so it does not mean a dream but dreams, all of them at once. The Arabic word carries a second sense of wit and imagination, which is why the name reads as bright rather than sleepy. Emirati singer Ahlam Al Shamsi has kept it familiar to listeners from Morocco to Oman. It is easy to say in English and hard to shorten, though Lami works if you want a nickname. For a name this rare in the United States, it is unusually easy for English speakers to get right first time.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: Dreams
- Pronunciation: ah-LAHM
- Namesakes: Ahlam bint Ali bin Hazeem Al Shamsi, an Emirati singer, and actress who was a judge on MBC’s Arab Idol.
- Popularity: Rising but still rare in the United States, where 32 girls were named Ahlam in 2025, ranking it 4,357th. That is up about half on the previous decade.
Aisling
Aisling is a modern Irish name built straight from the word for a dream or a vision. Most Americans meet it only through the anglicized Ashlyn, which hides the Irish spelling entirely. Choose the original and you will say it twice at every introduction, then watch people remember it.
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Dream, vision
- Pronunciation: ASH-lyn
- Variations: Aislinn, Ashling, Aislin
- Namesakes: Aisling Cliodhnadh O’Sullivan, an Irish comedian, actress, and writer who wrote and starred in the comedy series This Way Up.
- Popularity: Aisling stays rare in the United States, given to 39 girls in 2025 for a rank of 3,782nd, roughly flat on the previous decade.
Alice
Alice earns its place here through Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland, where the whole adventure turns out to be a dream. The name itself is older and plainer, a French form of a Germanic name meaning noble sort. Alice is up about 92 percent over the past decade, though it still sits well below the peak it held in 1913. That combination is unusual, a name that feels both familiar and freshly fashionable. It is short, it is spelled one way, and it has never needed a nickname to survive. If you want a nickname, Ali or Allie is right there waiting. For parents after something classic that is genuinely fashionable again rather than merely old, it is hard to beat.
- Origin: French
- Meaning: Noble type
- Pronunciation: AL-iss
- Namesakes: Alice Sophia Eve, an English actress known for her roles in She’s Out of My League, Men in Black 3, and Star Trek Into Darkness.
- Popularity: Alice ranked 65th for U.S. girls in 2025 with 3,547 births, up about 92 percent on the previous decade. Its best rank was 11th, set back in 1913.
Almos
Almos stands at the very start of Hungarian history as the semi-legendary chieftain who united the Magyar tribes. The dream belongs to his mother, who was told in sleep by a magical bird that her son would father a line of rulers, and Hungarian chronicles have retold it ever since. Barely any American babies have ever carried it, which leaves the field wide open. For a family with Hungarian roots, a strong name like this one carries real weight.
- Origin: Hungarian
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: AL-mosh
- Namesakes: Almos, the head of the Hungarian tribes from around 850 C.E.
- Popularity: Almos has not appeared in U.S. birth data since 1927, when six boys were given the name.
Alora
Alora is used among Bantu-speaking communities in Botswana and elsewhere in southern Africa, where it is read as my dream. American parents have picked it up quickly: it has more than quadrupled on the previous decade and hit its best-ever U.S. rank in 2025. The sound sits between Aurora and Nora without copying either. Elora is the common alternate spelling if you want the same name under a different first letter.
- Origin: Bantu
- Meaning: My dream
- Pronunciation: uh-LOR-uh
- Variations: Elora
- Namesakes: Alora Catherine Smith, an actress best known for her role in Rob Reiner’s movie, Flipped.
- Popularity: Alora reached its highest rank yet in 2025, 195th, with 1,614 U.S. girls given the name. That works out to roughly one girl in a thousand.
Amets
Amets is the Basque word for dream, used as a given name on both sides of the border that splits the Basque Country between France and Spain. Basque naming grew into a distinct tradition over the twentieth century, and this name belongs to that wave rather than to any older saint’s calendar. It is unisex at home and short. If you want a dream name nobody in the room will have heard, this is the shortest route to one.
- Origin: Basque
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: AH-mets
Anisha
Anisha comes from Sanskrit and is usually read as nightless, from a negating prefix attached to the word for night. That sounds like the opposite of a dream name until you remember how a good night actually passes: you close your eyes, and the dark is simply gone. It is a familiar name in Indian families and travels with them wherever they settle. Nisha, the root word, works as a shorter name in its own right. It reads exactly as it looks, with no silent letters and nothing to spell out at the doctor’s office.
- Origin: Sanskrit, Indian, Hindi
- Meaning: Nightless
- Pronunciation: uh-NEE-shuh
- Namesakes: Anisha Nicole Gwynn is an R&B, hip hop, and pop singer best known for her 2002 single No Means No.
- Popularity: Anisha peaked for U.S. girls in the mid-1980s at 1,012nd and has fallen since. Thirty girls received it in 2025, ranking 4,560th.
Arian
Arian has more than one root, which is a large part of its appeal. Read as English, it belongs to Aries, the March and April star sign, tying the name to the night sky rather than to sleep. Read as Persian or Indian, it traces instead to an old Indo-Iranian group name. Aryan is the far more common spelling in India, while Arian is the form that has settled in the United States.
- Origin: English, Persian, Indian
- Meaning: Star sign of Aries, Aryan, Noble
- Pronunciation: AR-ee-en
- Variations: Aryan, Ariyan
- Namesakes: Ariyan Arslani, better known by his stage name Action Bronson, an American rapper and television presenter.
- Popularity: Arian ranked 965th for U.S. boys in 2025 with 238 births, and its best rank was 538th, set in 2013. Around one in five American babies given the name are girls.
Arman
Arman means dream, hope or wish in Persian, and it is one of the few names here whose meaning turns up in ordinary conversation every day. Armenians read it differently, as a form tied to the name of the people themselves. That double heritage travels well, working in Tehran, Yerevan and Los Angeles without adjustment. Armen is the closest relative if you want the Armenian side on its own. One word of warning: in English it sits close enough to Armani that a few people will hear the label first.
- Origin: Persian, Armenian
- Meaning: Dream, people of the sun
- Pronunciation: awr-MAWN
- Variations: Armen
- Namesakes: Arman Manookian, an Armenian-American painter best known for depicting Hawaiian scenes.
- Popularity: More U.S. boys were named Arman in 2025 than in any earlier year, 168 of them, though its best rank remains 981st, set in 1999.
Asteria
Asteria is an ancient Greek name meaning of the stars, carried by the goddess linked to falling stars and to the readings taken from night visions. It did not appear in American birth records at all until 2014, so a girl given it today is genuinely early to it. The full four syllables are formal, which the short forms Aster, Thea and Star all soften. If Aurora feels too settled, this is the same night sky with far fewer takers. Set it against a plain, short middle name and the length stops being a problem.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Of the stars, starry one
- Pronunciation: as-TEER-ee-uh
- Variations: Asterie
- Popularity: Asteria first appeared in U.S. birth data in 2014 and reached 4,274th in 2025 with 33 girls, nearly four times its level in the previous decade.
Aurora
Aurora is the Latin word for dawn, and Roman writers used it for the goddess the Greeks called Eos, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia and sister to the sun and the moon. Disney’s Sleeping Beauty supplied the modern sleep connection, since the princess spends most of the film under an enchantment. Of the 100 names gathered here, Aurora is the highest ranked in the United States today, at 15th. When the full three syllables feel too formal, Rory or Rora steps in just as easily. It also brings the northern lights along with the goddess, two images for the price of one. Decide early whether you say ah-RAWR-ah or aw-ROR-uh, because both are in circulation. And be ready for company: at 15th, there will be others.
- Origin: Roman, Latin
- Meaning: Dawn
- Pronunciation: ah-RAWR-ah
- Variations: Aurore, Avrora
- Namesakes: Aurora Quezon, the wife of Philippine President Manuel Quezon and the first lady of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944.
- Popularity: Aurora ranked 15th for U.S. girls in 2025 with 7,065 births, its best year on record by both rank and count. That is roughly one girl in every 227.
Ayumu
Ayumu joins two Japanese elements usually given as ayu, to walk or step, and mu, dream or vision, so the whole reads as walking in a dream. Snowboarder Ayumu Hirano is the bearer most Americans have seen. It is a familiar Japanese name and rare anywhere else. There are no hard sounds in it, so it moves easily through an English-speaking classroom.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: Walk in a dream
- Pronunciation: A-YOO-MOO
- Variations: Ayumi
- Namesakes: Ayumu Hirano, a Japanese three-time Olympic medalist for snowboarding.
- Popularity: Ayumu has been recorded for U.S. boys only a handful of times, most recently in 2022.
Bhranti
Bhranti is a Sanskrit term for illusion, and specifically for the moment when one thing is mistaken for another because the two look alike. Classical Indian philosophy uses it as a technical word rather than a compliment, so this is a name with an argument inside it. It also describes precisely what a vivid dream does to a sleeping mind. The opening consonant cluster will need explaining, but Bhran makes a workable short form. It is a bold pick, and it rewards a family who can explain where it came from.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: Illusion
- Pronunciation: BRAHN-tee
Breksta
Breksta is the Lithuanian goddess of the hour between dusk and full dark, and of the sleep that follows it. She was said to keep watch over people from the moment the light failed until dawn came back. The name is rarely given to children even in Lithuania, so it is a deep pull rather than an obvious one. For a family drawn to Baltic folklore, few girls’ names are this distinctive. The two hard consonants at the front give it more spine than most goddess names carry.
- Origin: Lithuanian
- Meaning: It is dawning, dusk is falling
- Pronunciation: BREK-stah
Brizo
Brizo was a Greek goddess who answered her worshippers by sending them prophetic dreams, and her name traces to a verb meaning to fall asleep. She is obscure enough that most classical dictionaries give her a paragraph at most, which is a good part of the appeal. Two syllables, a clean Z, and no living namesake to compete with.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: To slumber
- Pronunciation: BREE-zoh
Caer
Caer Ibormeith belongs to one of the loveliest stories in Irish myth. She appeared to Oengus in his dreams every night for a year until he set out to find her, and the two of them left together as swans. The Welsh word caer means fortress, which gives the name an unexpectedly solid feel. It lands close enough to Kerr and Claire that people can spell it on the first try, and mythology-minded parents will get more from it than anyone else.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Fortress
- Pronunciation: KAIR
Cassandra
In Greek mythology Cassandra is the Trojan princess Apollo gifted with prophecy, then cursed so that nobody would believe a word of it. Her visions were accurate and useless, which is why her name still gets attached to anyone whose warnings go unheard. The name is older than the curse and means something closer to shining or excelling. It was everywhere in America around 1990 and has fallen steadily since, so a Cassandra born now will not share it with her classmates. Cass and Cassie are the ready-made short forms if the old-fashioned full version feels like a lot. The full version has come back into range now that the 1990s wave has cleared, so it reads classic rather than dated.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: To excel, to shine
- Pronunciation: kuh-SAN-druh
- Variations: Kassandra
- Namesakes: Cassandra Ventura, better known as Cassie, an American singer, model, actress, and dancer known for her singles Must Be Love, Let’s Get Crazy, and Me & U.
- Popularity: Cassandra ranked 49th for U.S. girls in 1990 and has slid a long way since, given to 463 girls in 2025 for a rank of 631st.
Chayan
Chayan turns up in three unrelated languages, which is unusual for a name this short. The Russian reading is the useful one here: it comes from a verb meaning to expect or to hope, the kind of hope you hold quietly rather than announce. Tatar and Sanskrit readings pull it toward life and, less romantically, scorpion. Chay is the short form that makes the whole thing easy. Its American record is thin enough that your son would effectively be starting from scratch.
- Origin: Russian, Tatar, Sanskrit
- Meaning: Expectation, hope, dream, scorpion, life
- Pronunciation: chah-YAHN
- Variations: Chaian, Chajan
- Popularity: Chayan last appeared in U.S. birth data in 2009 and has been recorded only a few dozen times in total.
Chintana
Chintana means to imagine or to dream in Thai and Lao, one of the few names here that names the act rather than the result. Thailand treats it as feminine and Laos as unisex, so the same spelling suits any baby. Laotian footballer Chintana Souksavath is the closest thing the name has to a public face outside Thailand and Laos.
- Origin: Thai, Laos
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: cheen-ta-NA
- Variations: Jintana
- Namesakes: Chintana Souksavath, a Laotian football player and member of the Laos national football team.
Cimon
Cimon was an Athenian general who spent his career pushing back the Persian empire, and his name is usually explained from a Greek root meaning sleepy. It is a small joke that has outlasted the empire he fought. The C spelling is the Latin one and Kimon the Greek, and neither has any modern American following. Short, hard-edged, and about as far from a soft dream name as this list gets.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Sleepy
- Pronunciation: SY-mun, KEE-mon
- Variations: Kimon
- Namesakes: Cimon was an Athenian statesman and general in 5th-century BC Greece.
Daimu
Daimu joins the Japanese elements dai, big or great, and mu, dream, so the whole name reads as big dream. It is far rarer than its parts would suggest even in Japan, and nothing about the sound is difficult in English, which is unusual for a Japanese boy name of this length. Choose it and your son gets an instruction rather than a description.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: Big dream
- Pronunciation: DAH-EE-MU
- Namesakes: Go Daimu, a South Korean football player who played for SC Sagamihara as a forward.
Daniel
In the Bible, Daniel is the exile who reads other people’s dreams. He tells Nebuchadnezzar what the king dreamt as well as what it meant, which is a harder trick than interpretation alone. The name itself means God is my judge. It has appeared in American birth records every year since 1880 and stood 5th as recently as 1985, so this is a safe choice rather than a surprising one. Dan, Danny and Danil all follow naturally, and nobody will ever ask you to spell it. In the same book it is Gabriel who explains Daniel’s own visions to him, so the two names sit together naturally.
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: God is my judge
- Pronunciation: DAN-yuhl
- Variations: Danilo, Danijel, Nanail, Taneli
- Namesakes: Daniel Defoe, an English writer, trader, journalist, and spy, famous for his 1719 novel, Robinson Crusoe.
- Popularity: Daniel ranked 22nd for U.S. boys in 2025 with 8,085 births, about one boy in 211. Its best rank was 5th, held in 1985.
Darshan
Darshan is a Sanskrit word for seeing, and in Hindu practice it means the sight of the divine, the moment of looking and being looked at in return. That makes it a name about vision in the older sense, closer to insight than to sleep. It is used widely by Hindi, Gujarati and Kannada speakers, in India and in the diaspora. Darshana is the feminine form if you are weighing up both. The stress falls at the front of the name, and there is no version of it that English speakers stumble over.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: Seeing, observing, understanding
- Pronunciation: DAR-shun
- Popularity: Darshan stays rare in the United States, given to 16 boys in 2025 for a rank of 5,663rd.
Draumey
Draumey is Icelandic and a genuinely modern coinage, built from the Old Norse draumr, dream, and ey, island. It reads as dream island, which describes either Iceland or a very good night’s sleep. Two syllables, a soft ending, and no American bearers to speak of. Say it once and most people can repeat it. Not every name on this list is that forgiving.
- Origin: Icelandic
- Meaning: Dream island
- Pronunciation: DROY-may
Dream
Dream is the plainest option here, the English word used exactly as it is. American parents chose it for only a handful of girls a year until a celebrity birth put it in front of a mass audience; the numbers jumped after that, peaked at 959 girls in 2022 and have eased back to 718 since. Of every name gathered here, Dream has grown fastest over the last ten years. A small share of the babies given it are boys. There is no hidden etymology to explain and no pronunciation to teach, which for some parents is the entire appeal.
- Origin: English
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: DREEM
- Popularity: Dream ranked 432nd for U.S. girls in 2025 with 718 births. It is the fastest riser on this list, up about 784 percent on the previous decade.
Drema
Drema reads two ways. It may be a clipped form of Dreama, itself a feminine build on the English word dream, or it may descend from a Proto-Slavic name root meaning to doze. American records cluster it in the middle of the twentieth century and show nothing after 2000, so it now sounds like a name a great-aunt had. That is precisely the vintage coming back into fashion.
- Origin: English
- Meaning: Dream, to sleep
- Pronunciation: DREE-mah
- Variations: Dreama
- Popularity: Drema was at its most common for U.S. girls around 1949, when it ranked 891st. It last appeared in the federal data in 2000.
Dromma
Dromma comes from the Swedish verb for dreaming, which descends in turn from the Old Norse dreyma, and Swedish carries the same double meaning English does. The word has almost no history as a given name, so choosing it is an invention rather than a revival. If Dream feels too literal, the Swedish word puts one layer of distance between the meaning and the label.
- Origin: Swedish
- Meaning: To dream
- Pronunciation: DRO-ma
Durinn
Durinn is one of the dwarfs named in the Old Norse poems, credited with forging the cursed sword Tyrfing. Tolkien borrowed him wholesale as Durin the Deathless, founding father of the dwarves of Middle-earth, and that is where most readers meet the name. The Norse sense runs closer to sleepy one or drowsy one. Two syllables, a rolled feel, and a fantasy pedigree the right people will spot immediately.
- Origin: Norse
- Meaning: Sleepy one
- Pronunciation: DOO-rin
- Variations: Durin
Dwalin
Dwalin is another of the dwarfs Tolkien lifted from Norse poetry, and one of those who turn up on Bilbo’s doorstep in The Hobbit. The Old Norse root behind it means to sleep or to be delayed, which is why it belongs among dream names at all. It reads exactly as it is spelled, with no hidden pronunciation trap waiting at roll call.
- Origin: Germanic
- Meaning: Sleeping
- Pronunciation: DWAL-in
Endri
Endri is Albanian and comes from enderr, the ordinary word for a dream. A second reading connects it to Endrit, meaning enlightened, and Albanian parents tend to hear both at once. Albania sends few names into English, so this one arrives without competition. The stress falls at the front, and there are no spelling arguments to have. It sits close to Andre and Henry without being either, so it travels better than its rarity suggests.
- Origin: Albanian
- Meaning: Dream, enlightened
- Pronunciation: EN-dree
- Namesakes: Endri Fuga, an Albanian politician and director of communications for Prime Minister Edi Rama.
- Popularity: Endri entered U.S. birth data in 2009 and has stayed at the very bottom of the list, with five boys given the name in 2025.
Erebus
Erebus was the primordial Greek god of deep darkness, and his name later marked the stretch of the underworld the dead crossed first. He belongs to the same family of night gods as Nyx and the Oneiroi, the Greek dream spirits, which is how a god of shadow lands on a list like this. American parents had never used the name until 2025, when it entered the federal birth records for the first time. It is heavy, and it is meant to be; Reb or Eb takes the weight off it just as well.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Deep darkness, shadows
- Pronunciation: AIR-ruh-buhs
- Variations: Erebos
- Popularity: Erebus appeared in U.S. birth data for the first time in 2025, when six boys were given the name.
Fantasia
Fantasia comes straight from the English word fantasy, by way of its Italian and Spanish forms. Disney’s Fantasia and American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino between them account for most of its recognition. Of the names gathered here it has dropped the hardest over the past ten years, which makes it quietly available again. Fanta and Tasia are the two short forms that actually work. Four syllables is a commitment, but the rhythm carries it further than you would expect.
- Origin: English
- Meaning: Fantasy
- Pronunciation: fan-TAY-see-uh
- Namesakes: Fantasia Barrino, an American R&B singer and actress.
- Popularity: Fantasia ranked as high as 1,166th for U.S. girls in 1992 and has fallen further than any other name here, down about 66 percent on the previous decade. It last appeared in the data in 2024.
Fursey
Fursey was a medieval Irish monk whose visions of the afterlife were written down and circulated widely in medieval Europe. His name is usually glossed as virtue. It is among the oldest entries here, trailing a long list of Latinized spellings behind it. The opening syllable is awkward in modern English, so this one suits a family with a specific reason to reach for it. If the sound is the sticking point, Fursa and Furseus are both attested and both look softer on paper.
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Virtue
- Pronunciation: FUR-see
- Variations: Fursy, Furseus, Furcy, Fursa, Forseus
Gabriel
Gabriel is the angel who does the explaining. He interprets the visions of the prophet Daniel, and later he brings Mary the news that shapes the rest of the story. The name means something close to God is my strength. It sits comfortably inside the American top 40 today, so this is a dream name that reads as entirely ordinary. Gabe and Gabby arrive on their own, and its Christian ties make it an easy fit for a religious family. Gabriela and Gabrielle keep the same door open if you are choosing before you know.
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: God is my strong man
- Pronunciation: GAY-bree-ul
- Namesakes: Gabriel Byrne, an Irish actor and film director featured in Excalibur (1981), End of Days (1999), Vampire Academy (2014), and Hereditary (2018).
- Popularity: Gabriel ranked 37th for U.S. boys in 2025 with 6,569 births, roughly one boy in 260. Its best rank was 21st, reached in 2010.
Goda
Goda carries two meanings in Lithuanian at once, dream and honor, and Lithuanian speakers do not treat them as separate things. Four letters and no pronunciation trap in English. A daughter’s dreams earning her honor is a good thing for a name to say twice over. It also sidesteps what catches most short names, since there is no obvious nickname to shorten it to.
- Origin: Lithuanian, Indian, Japanese
- Meaning: Dream, honor, connected rice paddies
- Pronunciation: GO-dah
Goyathlay
Goyathlay is the anglicized form of the Apache name Goyaale, one who yawns, and it belonged to the Chiricahua leader the world knows as Geronimo. Using it means using a real man’s real name rather than a costume version of it, which is worth sitting with before you decide. The three-syllable stress pattern takes practice and the spelling will be corrected constantly. This is a name for families with a genuine connection to Apache history.
- Origin: Apache
- Meaning: One who yawns
- Pronunciation: gaw-YAHT-leye
- Variations: Goyaale
- Namesakes: Goyathlay (aka Geronimo), was the chief of the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apaches and one of the driving forces during the Apache Wars.
Guifi
Guifi means dream in Chamorro, the language of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific, and it is gender-neutral. Chamorro has only tens of thousands of speakers, so the name almost never travels beyond them, which makes it about as unusual as an uncommon girls’ name can get. It opens softly, ends cleanly, and has no American birth record at all.
- Origin: Chamorro
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: GUI-FEE
Hayal
Hayal means dream in Turkish, and the sense stretches to fantasy, illusion and imagination depending on the sentence around it. Turkey uses it widely, as does the Crimean Tatar community. Actress Hayal Koseoglu is the bearer most people would recognize. The nickname Hay gives it an easy everyday form, and on sound alone the full name could give Hailey a run for its money. The stress falls on the second syllable, which is the one thing English speakers routinely get wrong.
- Origin: Turkish, Arabic
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: hai-AL
- Namesakes: Hayal Koseoglu, a Turkish TV actress known for her role as Derya in the 2017 series, Ufak Tefek Cinayetler.
Hilmi
Hilmi sits between two Arabic roots and speakers disagree about which one it takes: hilm, forbearance and patience, or hulm, a dream or a wish. Both are decent things to name a child after. It is usually masculine, turns up for girls in Indonesia, and trails a long list of spellings across Turkey, the Levant and Southeast Asia.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: Dream, endurance
- Pronunciation: HEEL-mee
- Variations: Hilmie, Hilmy, Helmi, Helmy
- Namesakes: Hilmi Mihci, a Dutch former soccer player of Turkish descent.
Hypnos
Hypnos was the Greek god of sleep, son of Nyx and twin brother of Thanatos, death. His sons were the ones who actually delivered the dreams; his own job was putting the world under. Ovid places him in a dark cave in the land of the Cimmerians with the river of forgetfulness running through it, which may be the best description of deep sleep anyone has written. The English words hypnosis and hypnotic both trace back to him, so the name arrives already half familiar. As a name it is unmistakable and slightly severe, which is either the point or the problem. It is a name that announces itself, better suited to a family who wants the reference understood on sight than one hoping it blends in.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Sleep
- Pronunciation: HIP-nohs
Ikelos
Ikelos was one of the sons of Hypnos, the brother who brought dreams in the shape of animals while Morpheus took human forms and Phantasus took objects. Roman writers called him Phobetor, the frightener, which tells you how those animal dreams tended to go. The name itself means resembling, since a dream is a likeness of something real. Spelled Icelus in Latin, he is the most striking of the three on paper, and too rare for the federal name files to list at all. Give it a plain middle name and the classical weight turns into an asset rather than a costume.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Like, resembling
- Pronunciation: eye-key-LOS
- Variations: Icelus, Icelos
Illusia
Illusia is the fairy in Pessi and Illusia, a 1944 Finnish fairy tale by Yrjo Kokko in which a fairy and a pessimistic goblin fall in love and each changes the other’s outlook. Finland kept the name long after the book. Most invented names never outlive their story. It sits one letter away from the English word illusion, so the meaning needs no explaining. The four flowing syllables land close to Illusion and Louisa at once, an easy bridge for anyone who has never heard the Finnish story behind it.
- Origin: Finnish
- Meaning: Illusion
- Pronunciation: ih-LOO-see-uh
Isleen
Isleen is generally taken as an anglicized spelling of Aisling, the Irish word for a dream or vision, though the trail is not perfectly clear. What it has over the original is that English speakers read it correctly on sight, and it stays rare on both sides of the Atlantic. Love the Irish name but not the daily correction, and this is the workaround.
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: I-sleen, IS-leen
- Variations: Aisling
Jareth
Jareth was invented for the film Labyrinth, where the Goblin King takes a baby brother after his sister carelessly wishes him away and she has to cross a maze built on dream logic to win him back. The name entered American birth records in 1986 and was still charted in 2025, with 84 births that year. It has no etymology to speak of, which is oddly freeing. Its two syllables move quickly, and there is no obvious way to misspell it once you have heard it said.
- Origin: English
- Meaning: Unknown
- Pronunciation: JAIR-eth
- Popularity: Jareth entered U.S. birth data in 1986 and ranked 1,879th in 2025 with 84 boys given the name.
Joseph
Joseph is the Bible’s other dreamer, and unlike Daniel he starts out dreaming rather than interpreting. His own dreams get him thrown into a pit by his brothers; his knack for reading everyone else’s eventually puts him in charge of Egypt’s grain. The name means he will add. Around 2.7 million American boys have been given it since national records began in 1880, which makes it one of the most used names in the country’s history. Joe, Joey and Yosef all sit ready. It also pairs with almost anything, which is part of why it has lasted this long.
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: He will add
- Pronunciation: JOH-sef
- Variations: Yosef, Josef
- Popularity: Joseph ranked 29th for U.S. boys in 2025 with 7,303 births, about one boy in 234. Its best rank on record is 5th, set in 1913.
Kalpana
Kalpana is Sanskrit for imagining, the faculty rather than the product of it. Kalpana Chawla, the first woman of Indian origin to go to space, carried the name into orbit and remains the reason most people outside India know it. It is a familiar name in Indian families across several language communities. Kal and Ana both make it casual when the full name feels like a lot.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: Imagining, fantasy
- Pronunciation: KUHL-puh-nah
- Namesakes: Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-born American astronaut and the first woman of Indian origin to go to space.
- Popularity: Kalpana has been recorded for U.S. girls only about thirty times in total, and not once since 1974.
Kamari
Kamari has become a genuinely established American name, most used within Black families, and it arrived by way of the Swahili Kamaria, which goes back in turn to the Arabic qamar, moon. Boys outnumber girls a little over two to one in the federal data. The moon is what earns it a place on a list about sleep, and it hands your child a connection to the moon from day one. Kam is the short form everyone lands on. The stress lands on the last syllable, worth saying once at every introduction. It also works as well on an adult as on a toddler. Plenty of trendy names do not.
- Origin: Swahili, Arabic
- Meaning: Moon
- Pronunciation: ka-ma-REE
- Variations: Kamaria
- Popularity: Kamari ranked 391st for U.S. boys in 2025 with 811 births, up about 92 percent on the previous decade. Close to a third of American babies given the name are girls.
Kanae
Kanae comes from the Japanese verb kanaeru, to come true, so it names the moment a wish stops being one. It is technically unisex and given almost entirely to girls in Japan, where actresses, singers and athletes have carried it for decades. Outside Japan it is close to invisible. Every sound in it is open, and Kana is the natural short form. It pairs unusually well with a longer surname, since nothing in it competes for attention.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: Come true, fine, blessed, seedlings
- Pronunciation: KAH-NAE-EE
- Namesakes: Kanae Ito, a Japanese voice actress, and singer featured in the series To Love-Ru, The World God Only Knows, Hanasaku Iroha, and A Certain Scientific Railgun.
- Popularity: Kanae is barely present in U.S. birth data, last recorded in 2024 with six girls given the name.
Khoni
Khoni is used by the Nenets, reindeer herders of the Russian Arctic, and means sleepy. Almost nothing about it circulates outside that community, and it has never once appeared in U.S. birth records. The pronunciation is the hard part; the spelling is not. For parents who want a name with a real people and a real place behind it rather than a marketing origin, this qualifies. Say it as two syllables with the stress at the back and most people will follow.
- Origin: Nenets
- Meaning: Sleepy
- Pronunciation: khoh-NEE
Kokin
Kokin comes from the Nivkh people of Sakhalin Island and the Russian coast facing it, and it means sleep. Nivkh is spoken by a small community and is unrelated to the languages around it, so names from it almost never travel. It is easy in English, and it has never been recorded in American birth data.
- Origin: Nivkh
- Meaning: Sleep
- Pronunciation: KO-kin
Lorien
Lothlorien is the elven wood of The Lord of the Rings, the one place in Middle-earth where time slows and grief lifts, and fantasy lovers shorten it to Lorien without a second thought. The name is believed to mean both dream flower and land of gold, and both suit a forest of silver willows and golden leaves. It reads as unisex in the American data, given to a handful of girls and a handful of boys each year, and its connection to the elven city is the whole reason to choose it. It has the rare advantage of reading as a real name to people who have never opened Tolkien. It sits close in sound to Lauren and Laurel, near enough to feel familiar without borrowing either one outright.
- Origin: English
- Meaning: Dreamflower
- Pronunciation: LOR-ee-en
- Popularity: Lorien is rare and getting rarer in the United States, with eight girls and nine boys given the name in 2025.
Lotus
In Greek and Roman story the lotus-eaters live on a fruit that leaves them contented and unwilling to go home, which is the oldest version of a dream you would rather not wake from. The flower carries the calmer half of that image, and it is the half most parents mean. Lotus is climbing again in American records after a century of near-silence, and roughly one in fourteen babies given it are boys. It sits easily among the elegant girl names that stay simple to say.
- Origin: English
- Meaning: Water lily, lotus tree
- Pronunciation: LOH-tuss
- Namesakes: Lotus Long, an Asian-American film actress during the 1930s who paved the way for future Asian actresses in Hollywood.
- Popularity: Lotus ranked 1,826th for U.S. girls in 2025 with 110 births, up about 93 percent on the previous decade. Its best rank, 1,390th, dates all the way back to 1916.
Lourdes
Lourdes is a place before it is a person: the name of a French town in the Pyrenees where a young woman called Bernadette Soubirous reported visions of the Virgin Mary, and where pilgrims have gone ever since. As a name in the United States it is strongly Catholic and strongly Hispanic. It is also one of the few entries here with two accepted pronunciations, depending on whether you take the French route or the Spanish. Underneath it sit two easy options, Lulu and Lola.
- Origin: French, Spanish
- Meaning: Unknown
- Pronunciation: LOORDZ, LOOR-dhehs
- Popularity: Lourdes ranked as high as 532nd for U.S. girls in 1963 and has fallen a long way since, given to 58 girls in 2025 for a rank of 2,917th.
Luna
Luna is the Latin moon and the Roman name for the goddess the Greeks called Selene, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, who held temples on the Aventine and Palatine hills in Rome. The moon governs the night and the night governs dreams, which is how two syllables end up carrying so much. Its best rank yet was 10th in 2022. It is short, soft and has no awkward edges, which is exactly why so many parents land on it. It comes with a ready-made sibling in Selene, the same goddess in Greek. Lu and Lulu tend to show up whether you plan for them or not. The one real drawback is company, since at 27th this is a name your daughter will share.
- Origin: Roman
- Meaning: Moon
- Pronunciation: LOO-nah
- Namesakes: Luna Schweiger, a German actress best known for her role in the 2007 film Keinohrhasen.
- Popularity: Luna ranked 27th for U.S. girls in 2025 with 6,076 births, roughly one girl in 265. Its best rank was 10th, reached in 2022.
Mamu
Mamu was the Mesopotamian goddess of dreams, and her name is simply the Sumerian word for one. Sumerian dream texts treat sleep as a channel for news about what is coming, so she stood closer to prophecy than to rest. The name has no modern following anywhere, which for some parents is precisely the appeal. It is soft on the ear and about as ancient as a girls’ name can get. Two syllables and an open vowel sound make it easy to say and remember, even for a family meeting Sumerian myth for the first time.
- Origin: Sumerian
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: MAH-moo
- Variations: Mamud
Marimu
Marimu joins the Japanese mari, sea, with mu, dream, giving something like ocean of dream, though different characters shift the reading toward ten thousand or village. The sound is soft and rolling and the nickname Mari is already waiting. It has no presence in American records, so your daughter would define it herself.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: Ocean of dream, ten thousand, village
- Pronunciation: mah-REE-mu
Maya
Maya is a serious idea before it is a name. In Hindu thought it is the illusion of the material world, the appearance a person must see through to reach absolute truth, and it doubles as an epithet for Lakshmi. Hebrew supplies a separate root entirely, which is why the name feels native in so many places at once. Maya Angelou anchors it in American English. Its best rank yet was 49th in 2023 and its use has barely moved in the past ten years, so it is popular without being trendy. Maia is the Greek spelling if you want the same sound with a different history behind it.
- Origin: Sanskrit, English, Hebrew
- Meaning: Illusion, magic
- Pronunciation: MY-uh
- Variations: Maia
- Namesakes: Maya Angelou, an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist best known for her first autobiographical book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969).
- Popularity: Maya ranked 62nd for U.S. girls in 2025 with 3,712 births, about one girl in 433. Its best rank was 49th, set in 2023.
Meng
Meng is the Chinese word for dream and one of the country’s older surnames, carried by the Qin general Meng Tian who oversaw work on the Great Wall. As a given name it is a recent development, used far more for boys than girls, roughly 555 total against just 13. One sound, one spelling, and nothing to repeat over the phone. For a dream name that refuses to announce itself, this is the quietest on the list.
- Origin: Chinese
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: MUNG
- Namesakes: Meng Tian, a Chinese inventor and military general of the Qin dynasty who helped construct the Great Wall of China.
- Popularity: Meng last appeared in U.S. birth data in 2013, and it has been recorded for roughly 555 American boys in total.
Mimoza
Mimoza is the Albanian form of mimosa, the plant whose leaves fold shut at dark and open again with the light. Nothing else here hands you a bedtime routine as a namesake. The Spanish and English spelling mimosa is the more familiar route to the same plant. Albanian Kosovar politician Mimoza Kusari-Lila is the name’s most visible modern bearer, carrying it well beyond the plant it is named for.
- Origin: Albanian, Spanish
- Meaning: To imitate
- Pronunciation: mee-MOH-zah
- Variations: Mimosa
- Namesakes: Mimoza Kusari-Lila, an Albanian Kosovar politician for The Alternative.
Moeroa
Moeroa is built from the Maori moe, sleep, and roa, long, and it is better known as a Cook Islands surname than as a given name. Rugby player Tepai Moeroa is the bearer most people have come across. It looks longer on paper than it sounds out loud, and the Maori words behind it are transparent enough that the meaning survives translation. Every syllable is spelled exactly as it sounds, so it travels well even for a family with no Maori or Cook Islands background.
- Origin: Maori
- Meaning: Long sleep
- Pronunciation: mo-eh-RO-ah
- Namesakes: Tepai Moeroa, a Cook Islands professional rugby player.
Moon
Moon works as a word name in English and as a family name in Korean, where it renders a character tied to letters and learning. The English word shares an ancient root with the Latin metiri, to measure, since the moon is what people counted months by. Nothing is more firmly attached to sleep in the popular imagination, which earns it a place here even though it does not mean dream. It runs about three girls to every boy in the data, it has risen sharply over the past decade, and it is one syllable that needs no explanation at all. As a middle name it is close to risk-free, which is how most American families are using it.
- Origin: English, Germanic, Greek, Latin, Korean, Dutch
- Meaning: Month, to measure, letters, one
- Pronunciation: MOON
- Namesakes: Aubrey Wilson Mullican, known professionally as Moon Mullican, an American country and western singer called the “King of the Hillbilly Piano Players.”
- Popularity: Moon ranked 3,123rd for U.S. girls in 2025 with 52 births, nearly six times its level in the previous decade. About a quarter of American babies given the name are boys.
Morpheus
Morpheus is the son of Hypnos who brings dreams in human shape, while his brothers handle the animals and the objects, and his name comes from the Greek morphe, form. He is the reason dreams have faces. The Matrix put the name in front of a mass audience, and U.S. birth records list it for the first time in 2000. Three syllables of pure myth, and Morrie is the only realistic short form. Neo asking Morpheus what the Matrix is has done more for the name than two thousand years of Ovid. It is a statement name either way, so a plain middle name earns its keep.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Shape
- Pronunciation: MAWR-fee-us
- Popularity: Morpheus has been given to only a couple of dozen American boys on record, most recently in 2024.
Nayu
Nayu joins the Japanese na, love or affection, with yu, dream, so it names two things at once and asks for both. It has never appeared in U.S. birth records, and there is nothing in it to mispronounce. If you want a short Japanese name that is not Yuna or Mia, this is the quiet alternative.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: Love and dreams
- Pronunciation: NAH-YOO
Nemu
Nemu means sleep or dream in Japanese and shows up far more often in fiction than in life. It is associated with several anime characters, the best known being Nemu Kurotsuchi from Bleach. That gives the name a following without giving it much real-world weight. It lands easily in English, and if you met it through a story, that is a perfectly good reason. It is four letters long, which counts for something on a form.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: Sleep, dream
- Pronunciation: NEH-MOO
Nidra
Nidra is the Sanskrit word for sleep and the goddess who personifies it, called on by people who cannot rest. It is also the second word in yoga nidra, the guided practice of lying on the edge of sleep without falling in, which gives it a modern life most mythological names never get. Two syllables and a clean D. There is a real chance your daughter meets her own name in a yoga class one day.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: Sleep
- Pronunciation: NEE-drah
- Popularity: Nidra first appeared in U.S. birth data in 1978, peaked at 4,883rd in 1981, and has not been recorded since 1984.
Niorun
Niorun is a Norse goddess about whom almost nothing survives beyond her name in a list. The one clue is that the dwarfs were said to call night Draum-Njorun, Niorun’s dream, which is why some readers put her in charge of sleep and dreaming. Building a name on a single line of evidence is either romantic or reckless, depending on your temperament. Njorun is the Old Norse spelling if the accent-free version looks too English. It opens softly and closes firmly, and nobody in the room will have met it before.
- Origin: Norse
- Meaning: Unknown
- Pronunciation: NYOR-oon
- Variations: Njorun
Nisa
Nisa is four letters that collect meanings from three directions. Thai and Sanskrit give it night, through the word nisha; Arabic gives it women, the title of the fourth chapter of the Quran, which sets out laws concerning them. Turkish and Thai families both use it, which is why it also turns up on lists of Thai girl names. It is short enough that it never needs a nickname.
- Origin: Thai, Sanskrit, Turkish
- Meaning: Night, women
- Pronunciation: nee-SAH
- Variations: Neesa
- Namesakes: Nisa Godrej, a chairperson of Godrej Consumer Products.
- Popularity: Nisa is rare in the United States, given to 17 girls in 2025 for a rank of 6,759th.
Nott
Nott is night itself in Norse myth, the giantess who rides across the sky ahead of her son Dagr, day. She is a proper cosmological figure rather than a minor spirit, which gives the name real backing. It is one syllable and will be read as an English word first, so expect to explain it more than once. Neither Notta nor Natt is an improvement.
- Origin: Norse
- Meaning: Night
- Pronunciation: NOHT
- Variations: Nótt
Nyx
Nyx is the Greek primordial goddess of night, called Nox by Roman writers. Her children are the machinery of this entire list: Hypnos for sleep and Thanatos for death. Three letters, one syllable, and an X ending that reads as modern rather than ancient. It first appeared in American birth records in 2008 and by 2025 had reached 68 births, more than four times its level a decade earlier. Three-letter names are having a run, and this is among the few with real mythology behind it. It gives you nothing to shorten, which some parents count as a feature. Nyxie will happen anyway.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Night
- Pronunciation: NIKS
- Popularity: Nyx entered U.S. birth data in 2008 and ranked 2,577th for girls in 2025 with 68 births, more than four times its level in the previous decade. About one in five babies given it are boys.
Oneiroi
The Oneiroi were the Greek spirits of dreams, a whole tribe of them rather than a single god, and Roman writers called them the Somnia. They lived in the dark at the edge of the underworld and sent true dreams out through a gate of horn and false ones through a gate of ivory. Using a plural as one child’s name is unusual, and the length will not help. Its middle syllables echo oneiric, the English word for anything dream-related, so the two share more than a common root.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Dreams
- Pronunciation: OH-NEAR-oy
Oniria
Oniria is a recent Spanish coinage from onirico, dreamlike, which goes back in turn to the Greek oneiros. It is a name derived from the Spanish word rather than an inherited one, so it carries no saint, no legend and no baggage. It lands somewhere near Oriana and Sonia without being either. For a dreamy name that sounds established and is not, this is the pick.
- Origin: Spanish
- Meaning: Dreamlike
- Pronunciation: o-NEER-ya
- Namesakes: Oniria Gutierrez, a Cuban revolutionary who joined Che Guevara.
Pasithea
Pasithea was the Greek goddess of rest and relaxation, which puts her closer to this list than most mythology names manage. It looks daunting on paper and shrinks to Thea immediately, so this is a name that can be shortened without losing anything. The full version is the kind that turns heads at roll call.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Goddess of all
- Pronunciation: pa-sith-EE-ah
- Variations: Pasithee
Phantom
Phantom is an English word name meaning an apparition, and it stretches to cover a fantasy or an illusion. It shares a root with Phantasus, the son of Hypnos who sent dreams in the shape of objects, so the link to this list is tighter than it first looks. Cartoon fans will hear Danny Phantom and opera fans something else entirely. It is bold to the point of costume and works best in the middle slot.
- Origin: English
- Meaning: Ghost, dream, fantasy
- Pronunciation: FAN-tuhm
Ragnhild
The Norse took dreams as evidence. Queen Ragnhild dreamt of a tree whose branches spread over all of Norway and beyond, and the saga writers read it as her descendants, who went on to rule the country for generations. Her name is built from ragn, counsel, and hild, battle, so it is not soft in any direction. In English it stays heavy and always will, but Hilda and Raggi both bring it down to size.
- Origin: Old Norse
- Meaning: Advice, counsel, battle
- Pronunciation: RAHNG-hild
- Variations: Ragnhildr, Reinhild, Raganhildis
- Namesakes: Ragnhild Tove Hveger, a Danish swimmer who set 44 world records from 1936 to 1943.
- Popularity: Ragnhild has not appeared in U.S. birth data since 1931, and only around sixty American girls were ever recorded with it.
Ratri
Ratri is the Sanskrit night, personified in the oldest Hindu hymns as a goddess and sister to Ushas, the dawn. She is among the earliest named figures on this list. It has an easy rhythm and sits well beside other names relating to nature. The Ratree spelling is the Thai route to the same word if you prefer the softer look.
- Origin: Sanskrit, Thai
- Meaning: Night
- Pronunciation: ra-TREE
- Variations: Ratree, Rathri
Remiel
Remiel is an archangel of the wider Jewish writings, the one who guides faithful souls and hands out divine visions. Some translations call him Jeremiel and others fold him into Uriel, which is why his job description shifts from text to text. The Hebrew elements give something like thunder of God. It has been in American records only since 2006 and is climbing quietly, which puts it just ahead of the Remi and Remy wave without joining it.
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: Thunder of God
- Pronunciation: REM-ee-el
- Popularity: Remiel entered U.S. birth data in 2006 and ranked 3,924th for boys in 2025 with 28 births, more than three times its level in the previous decade.
Reverie
Reverie means a daydream, the drifting kind you fall into at a desk rather than in bed. It is an English word borrowed from French, where it once meant something wilder, closer to raving. The word entered American birth records in 2010, and by 2025 had reached its highest count yet, 98 births. It fits the current taste for word names without being Story or Wren, and the cute nicknames Rev or Revie is there waiting, whichever feels right. The stress sits on the first syllable, which is easy to get wrong on first sight. As a middle name it softens nearly any short first name you put in front of it.
- Origin: English, French
- Meaning: Daydream
- Pronunciation: REHV-ah-ree
- Popularity: Reverie reached its best rank yet in 2025, 1,976th, with 98 U.S. girls given the name. That is nearly six times its level in the previous decade.
Rowan
The rowan tree stands for protection in Celtic tradition, planted beside doorways to keep evil spirits out, and a name that keeps nightmares out of the room belongs on this list. The word itself points at the tree’s red berries. Across all years on record, Rowan runs roughly three girls to every seven boys in the federal data. It hit its highest rank on record for boys in 2025, so it is both popular and still climbing. The spelling is stable and the pronunciation obvious, which is rarer than it sounds. Ro and Roan both work as short forms. If you want a name that will not lock your child into a gender on paper, this is one of the strongest options here.
- Origin: Irish, English
- Meaning: Red
- Pronunciation: RO-en
- Namesakes: Rowan Williams, a Welsh Anglican bishop, theologian, and poet.
- Popularity: Rowan reached its best rank yet for U.S. boys in 2025, 59th with 5,212 births, alongside 1,240 girls at 249th. Across all years on record, about three in ten American babies given the name are girls.
Roya
Roya comes from the Persian word for a dream, and Persian speakers use it for the hopeful sort as readily as the sleeping sort. Arabic supplies the closely related ruya, which is the spelling you will meet around the Gulf. Two syllables ending in a vowel, it slips into English next to Maya and Noya without any friction. Its numbers are small but rising, and 2025 was its strongest year in the American data.
- Origin: Persian, Arabic
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: roh-YAH
- Variations: Ruya
- Namesakes: Roya Arab, a UK-based Iranian musician, and archaeologist.
- Popularity: Roya had its best year on record in 2025 by both rank and count, 2,379th, with 76 U.S. girls given the name.
Sanders
Sanders does not mean dream. It earns a place here through the sandman, the folk figure who sprinkles sand in children’s eyes to bring sleep on, and the pun is too good to leave out. The name itself is a worn-down form of Alexander, defending man, and it works best as a surname turned first name. Colonel Sanders is the association you will be living with. Sandy or Sonny takes the edge off it just as easily.
- Origin: English, Greek
- Meaning: Defending man
- Pronunciation: SAN-derz
- Namesakes: Colonel Harland Sanders, founder of the American fast-food chicken restaurant Kentucky Fried Chicken.
- Popularity: Sanders is rare as a first name in the United States, given to 15 boys in 2025 for a rank of 6,086th.
Sanja
Sanja comes from the South Slavic sanjati, to dream, and Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian speakers all read it the same way. The J is a Y sound, which is the single thing English speakers get wrong. Sanjica is the affectionate form at home, though Sanja is short and soft enough not to need one abroad.
- Origin: Slavic
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: SAN-yah
- Variations: Sanjica
- Namesakes: Sanja Vucic, a lead vocalist in the Serbian crossover band ZAA.
- Popularity: Sanja has been recorded for only around 120 American girls, and not once since 2010.
Sapna
Sapna is the everyday Hindi word for a dream, and it is used mainly by Hindi speakers in India. It descends from the Sanskrit svapna, which also gives Swapna and Swapnil. Actress and dancer Sapna Chaudhary is its best-known bearer. Two syllables with a consonant cluster in the middle, and the nickname Sap is one most English speakers will want to sidestep.
- Origin: Indian
- Meaning: Sleep, dream
- Pronunciation: SUHP-nah
- Variations: Swapna
- Namesakes: Sapna Chaudhary, an Indian actress, singer and dancer who rose to fame after participating in the Indian reality TV show Bigg Boss.
- Popularity: Sapna barely registers in the United States, with five girls given the name in 2025 for a rank of 16,853rd.
Sarka
Sarka comes out of a Czech legend that reads like a thriller. In the war between women and men she had herself tied to a tree as bait, and when the men rode to her rescue she offered them mead laced with a sleeping draught. Her own etymology is unsettled, which is unusual for a name this well documented. It carries a hacek over the S in Czech and reads as SHAR-ka whether or not you keep the mark.
- Origin: Czech
- Meaning: Unknown
- Pronunciation: SHAR-ka
Selene
Selene is the Greek moon, daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia and sister to Helios the sun and Eos the dawn. Roman writers called her Luna and gave her temples on the Aventine and Palatine hills. Her name comes from selas, brightness. It is far less used than Luna and reached its best American rank in 2025, so at the moment it offers the Luna sound without the Luna crowd. Lena and Sely both work as everyday short forms. Be ready for the Celine question, because the two spellings get mixed up constantly in writing.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Moon
- Pronunciation: seh-LEE-nee
- Namesakes: Selene Luna, a Mexican-American actress, comedian, and burlesque performer.
- Popularity: Selene had its best year on record in 2025 by both rank and count, 623rd, with 469 U.S. girls given the name.
Sidra
Sidra is an Arabic name read either as like a star or as a form of Sidrah, the lote tree that marks the outer boundary of heaven in Islamic tradition. A tree standing at the edge of the sky is one of the loveliest images any name on this list points at. It is used across Pakistan and the Arabic-speaking world and is climbing steadily in American records. Two syllables, simple to spell, and no nickname required.
- Origin: Pakistani, Arabic
- Meaning: Lotus tree, goddess of the stars
- Pronunciation: SID-rah
- Namesakes: Sidra Sadaf, a Pakistani woman cyclist and silver-medalist at the 11th South Asian Games in 2010.
- Popularity: Sidra had its strongest year on record in 2025, ranking 1,366th with 162 U.S. girls given the name, nearly four times its level in the previous decade.
Sigmund
Sigmund is Germanic and means protector of victory, but for the past century it has belonged to one man. Sigmund Freud built his theory of the unconscious around the idea that dreams were the road into it, and the whole modern habit of asking what a dream meant follows from that claim. The German pronunciation, ZEEK-mund, hands you the nickname Ziggy. It is old-fashioned in the best sense and has been ticking quietly upward again from a very low base. Siegmund is the German spelling and Sigismund the older, longer one. It is a heavy name on a small child and grows into itself quickly. If Ziggy is the goal, this is the most substantial route to it.
- Origin: Germanic
- Meaning: Protector of victory
- Pronunciation: SIG-mund
- Variations: Siegmund, Sigismund
- Namesakes: Sigmund Freud, an Austrian psychologist, and creator of psychoanalysis.
- Popularity: Sigmund ranked 445th for U.S. boys in 1914 and has been scarce ever since, with seven births recorded in 2025.
Somnus
Somnus is the Roman name for Hypnos, and Ovid gives him a thousand sons, the Somnia, who take the shapes of people, animals and objects inside a dream. His cave sits in the land of the Cimmerians with the river of forgetfulness running past the door. The English words somnolent and insomnia both descend from him, so the Roman version arrives with its meaning already attached. It is mysterious and unusual without being unpronounceable, which is a narrow gap to hit. Roman gods have had a quieter run than Greek ones in American naming, which leaves this one clear. Two syllables, a hard opening and a soft landing, and no nickname anyone is likely to impose.
- Origin: Roman
- Meaning: Sleep
- Pronunciation: SOM-nuss
Sovanna
Sovanna is Khmer, from the Sanskrit suvarna, gold, and it is usually rendered as golden dream. It is a familiar name in Cambodian families and close to invisible in the wider American population. For English speakers it reads as a natural cousin to Savanna, which makes it easier to carry than most names this scarce. The stress lands on the middle syllable, which is where most first attempts go wrong. At five births in 2025, a Sovanna in an American classroom would likely be the only one her teacher has ever met.
- Origin: Khmer
- Meaning: Golden dream
- Pronunciation: so-VON-nah
- Popularity: Sovanna is among the least used names on this list that the SSA charts at all: five girls received it in 2025, ranking 16,963rd, or roughly one girl in every 333,000.
Svajone
Svajone is the Lithuanian word for a dream, leaning toward the ambition kind, the thing you are working toward, though Lithuanians use the same word for the sleeping sort. Outside Lithuania it is essentially unknown and the consonant run at the front will need help. Once you have heard it said aloud, the three syllables move faster than the spelling on paper suggests.
- Origin: Lithuanian
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: svah-YOH-neh
Swapnil
Swapnil comes from the Sanskrit svapna, sleep or dream, and is best read as dreamlike. Indian film and television have kept it visible. Its female counterpart Swapna sits right beside it, so boy-girl twins are an easy call. U.S. birth data has recorded it only a handful of times, most recently in 2019, so an American Swapnil today would be the only one most people ever meet.
- Origin: Indian
- Meaning: Sleep, dream
- Pronunciation: SWAP-nuhl
- Namesakes: Swapnil, an Indian film and TV actor featured in Krishna, Eka Lagnachi Dusri Goshta, and Comedy Circus.
- Popularity: Swapnil has been recorded for U.S. boys only a handful of times, most recently in 2019.
Van
Van earns its place through Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving’s farmer who accepts a drink from a mysterious Dutchman and wakes twenty years later. The Dutch van is a preposition rather than a name, so as an English first name it is really a clipped Ivan or Vance. It has been quietly steady in American records for decades, which is unusual for a name this short. If one syllable is not enough, Ivan gives you the longer form.
- Origin: English
- Meaning: Marsh, Yahweh is gracious
- Pronunciation: VAN
- Popularity: Van ranked 972nd for U.S. boys in 2025 with 236 births, and it has barely moved over the past decade. Its best rank was 265th, set in 1946.
Wasan
Wasan is Arabic for the last stretch of wakefulness before sleep takes over, the minutes when you are not quite in either place. Very few languages have a single word for that, and fewer still turn it into a name. Used mostly in Iraq and around the Gulf, it is two soft syllables that will be new to almost everyone who hears it.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: Last moments before sleep
- Pronunciation: WAH-san
- Variations: Wassan
Winta
Winta is Amharic and Tigrinya, spoken in Ethiopia and Eritrea, and it is usually read as a gift of dreams or a desire. Tigrinya speakers give it a second sense closer to need. It is short, ends in a vowel and reads correctly in English on the first attempt, a rare combination on this list. Ethiopian and Eritrean families in America keep it going, and it has never been common enough to feel dated.
- Origin: Amharic
- Meaning: Dream gift, desire
- Pronunciation: WIN-tah
- Popularity: Winta last appeared in U.S. birth data in 2021, when five girls were given the name, and it has been recorded about 103 times in total.
Xewn
Xewn is the Kurdish word for a dream, and the X is a throaty sound closer to the ch in a Scottish loch than to anything in English. It has no American birth record at all, though X names have been having a good decade in the United States, so the spelling will read as current even when nobody can place its origin. Expect to say it before you spell it, every single time.
- Origin: Kurdish
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: KHEWN (throaty kh, as in loch)
Yeraz
Yeraz is the Armenian word for a dream, one of a small group of Armenian word names that work straight off the page. The stress lands on the second syllable, which English speakers usually miss on the first attempt, and Eraz is the alternate spelling. For an Armenian family it says exactly what it means with no translation required.
- Origin: Armenian
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: yeh-RAHZ
- Variations: Eraz
Yuho
Yuho joins the Japanese yu, dream or evening, with ho, walk or star, so it can be read as dream walk or as evening star, and both readings point at the same time of day. Songwriter Yuho Iwasato has carried it through decades of Japanese pop and anime music. Two syllables, an easy landing in English, and no American record to speak of.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: Dream walk, evening star
- Pronunciation: YOO-ho
- Namesakes: Yuho Iwasato, a prominent Japanese songwriter whose songs have featured in several anime series.
Yume
Yume is the Japanese word for dream used plainly as a name, one of the most direct translations on this list. Written with different characters it can shift toward abundant or sprout, and Japanese parents choose between those deliberately. Voice actress Yume Miyamoto is a familiar bearer. Two open syllables make it a natural choice for an American family with Japanese roots.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: Dream
- Pronunciation: YOO-MEH
- Namesakes: Yume Miyamoto, a Japanese voice actress known for her roles as Megumi Amatsuka in GJ Club and Lilo in the Japanese dub of Lilo and Stitch.
- Popularity: Yume has been recorded for only around thirty American girls in total, most recently in 2023.
Zorya
Zorya is the Slavic dawn, and folklore gives her in three: the morning star, the evening star and the one who keeps watch at midnight. Z names have been having a long moment and this one has more behind it than most. Zara and Zoya both sit close if the full version feels like a lot. The Y in the middle is the only spelling hazard, and it is a small one. It has been in American records since 2000 without ever becoming common, which is a good place for a name to sit.
- Origin: Slavic
- Meaning: Dawn
- Pronunciation: ZOR-yah
- Variations: Zarya, Zaranitsa, Zoryushka
- Popularity: Zorya is very rare in the United States, with seven girls given the name in 2025 for a rank of 13,201st.
Zulhelmi
Zulhelmi joins the Arabic dhu, possessor of, with hulm, dream or wish, giving possessor of dreams. Malaysia and Indonesia both use it, usually paired with a second given name, and the spelling varies enormously, from Zulhelmy to Dzulhelmie, so at least one form will suit. Malaysian weightlifter Zulhelmi Pisol carries the name into international competition, the closest thing it has to a global namesake.
- Origin: Arabic, Malay, Indonesian
- Meaning: Possessor of dreams
- Pronunciation: zool-HELL-me
- Variations: Zul Helmi, Zulhelmy, Zulhelmie, Zulhelmee, Dzulhelmi, Dzulhelmy, Dzulhelmee, Dzulhelmie
- Namesakes: Zulhelmi Pisol, a Malaysian weightlifter.
