Choosing a baby name is a task both exciting and terrifying in equal measure. To help you through the maze of possibilities, we have put together a list of sun names people can use for their baby.
When we began looking, we also found attractive options that mean sunshine, dusk, dawn, bright, and more. So here’s our list of sun-based baby names that are good enough for your dazzling little star.
50 Boy Names That Mean Sun
Do you expect your child to be a star who shines brightly? Here are our favorite 50 sun names for boys.
1. Aditya
Aditya means belonging to Aditi in Sanskrit.
In early Hinduism, the Aditya is a group of sun gods who were the sons of Aditi. However, in later Hinduism, the use of the word changed, and it came to mean sun.
2. Aelius
Aelius is an Ancient Roman name meaning sun.
As well as being a fabulous, sophisticated, modern boys’ name, Aelius was the family name of the Roman emperor Hadrian.
3. Agim
Agim is an Albanian name that means dawn.
Sometimes one English word is not a complete translation of a word in another language, and Agim is such a word. The full meaning is rather poetic: The time when the sun comes to us early in the morning.
4. Albert
Albert is a German name meaning noble and bright.
While nowhere as popular as it once was, Albert was still the name chosen for 614 baby boys in the U.S. in 2019.
5. Altan
Altan is a Turkish name that means red dawn.
Altan also means golden in medieval Turkic and Mongolian, so this name can completely convey the beauty of the rising sun.
6. Amun
Amun is an Ancient Egyptian name meaning the hidden one.
Amun was an Ancient Egyptian god who became fused with another god, Ra. Amun-Ra was worshiped as the god of the sun.
7. Anatoly
Anatoly is a Russian name that means sunrise.
Considered one of the greatest chess players in history, Anatoly Karpov is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the World Champion of Chess from 1975 to 1985.
8. Antiman
Antiman is a Mapuche name that means condor of the sun.
Pronounced an-tee-MAWN, this name is used by the Mapuche people of Chile and Argentina. As this is simply a Latinized spelling, you could use Anteemon or similar if you did not like the connotations of this spelling.
9. Antú
Antú is a Spanish name meaning sun or day.
Antú is also used in Estonia, where the name day is January 17th. Perhaps this makes it an excellent sunny name for a boy born on this day?
10. Anwar
Anwar is an Arabic name that means brighter, more luminous.
Anwar Oshana was a professional boxer who was born in Syria and moved to the U.S., where he had a 20 fight winning streak.
11. Areg
Areg is an Armenian name that means sun.
In Eastern Armenia, Areg is pronounced ah-REHG, while in Western Armenia, you are more likely to hear it pronounced as ah-REHK.
12. Arki
Arki means descendant of the sun in Sanskrit.
Arki was a descriptive name given to the Hindu god Yama, the son of the sun god Surya. As the first mortal to have died, Yama became the god of death and the underworld.
13. Ataru
Ataru is a Japanese name meaning the sun.
If you’re a Star Wars fan looking for a sun-inspired name, Ataru could be a contender. Ataru is the name of the fourth form of combat with a lightsaber, developed by the Jedi.
14. Auster
Auster is a pre-Latin name that means towards the dawn.
In Antarctica, there are a glacier, a group of islands, and an emperor penguin rookery, all with the name Auster. They were all given the name because they were first spotted from an Auster observation aircraft.
15. Baer
Baer is a Limburgish name that means bright.
Baer was a popular name in the Limburg region during the medieval period. The region covers an area we now consider to be the borderlands of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands.
16. Bert
Bert is an English boy’s name that means bright.
Often considered an old-fashioned name, the last time Bert was used frequently enough to register in the U.S. top 1,000 names list was 1983 when 83 boys were given this name.
17. Castor
Castor is a Greek name meaning to shine.
In Greek mythology, Castor and his twin brother Pollux were the sons of Zeus. The brothers are represented by the constellation Gemini.
18. Cuthbert
Cuthbert is an English name that means famous and bright.
In the Harry Potter book series, Cuthbert Binns is the History of Magic teacher and the only teacher at Hogwarts who is a ghost.
19. Dai
Dai is a Welsh name that means to shine.
Dai is a stand-alone name that evolved from the Celtic word dei, which means to shine, but it is also used in Wales as a short form of David.
20. Dashinima
Dashinima is a Buryat name meaning happy sun and lucky sun.
The double meaning for this name comes from the fact that it is created from the Tibetan words བཀྲ་ཤིས, or bkra shis, which means good fortune or good luck, and ཉི་མ, or nyi ma, meaning sun, day.
21. Diell
Diell is an Albanian name that means sun.
Diell was a song set to be the Albanian entry in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. However, the writer withdrew their permission to use the music because the song contest committee wanted to “develop” it further, without his input.
22. Dimas
Dimas is a Spanish name that means sunset.
Although this name looks like it is pronounced DIM-as, the correct pronunciation is DEE-mah. Consequently, if you choose this lovely name, be prepared to spend a lot of time correcting people at first.
23. Egbert
A Dutch name, Egbert means bright.
This Dutch name is used across Europe, and in Poland, people named Egbert celebrate their name day each year on April 24th.
24. Elio
Elio is an Italian name that means sun.
While Elio is an Italian name, since 2001, it has also become increasingly popular in France, where it is in the top 100 boys’ names.
25. Enver
Enver is a Turkish name that means bright, luminous.
A popular boys’ name in Turkey, Bosnia, and Albania, Enver is a transliteration of the Arabic name of the same meaning, Anwar.
26. Ergün
A Turkish name, Ergün means soldier of the sun.
With its connection to both the sun and the armed forces, Ergün could be an exciting choice for families with a military heritage.
27. Erlantz
A Basque name, Erlantz means glow, shine.
The Basque are an ethnic group from an area on the Atlantic ocean at the western end of the Pyrenees, making this a good choice for those who wish to celebrate their Basque ancestry.
28. Günay
Günay is a Turkish name that means sun, moon.
Günay is a Turkish surname and a gender-neutral forename. It specifically refers to the moon you can see during the day.
29. Haru
Haru is a Japanese name that means sun or sunlight.
The meaning sun or sunlight is created when Haru is written 陽. Haru can also be made with different kanji, and other popular forms are 春 which means springtime, and 晴, which means clear, sunny.
30. Haul
Haul is a modern Welsh name that means sun.
Although it is pronounced Hah-Yul and not HALL, this name’s spelling may lead to a lifetime of U-Haul jokes.
31. Heliodoro
Heliodoro is a Spanish and Portuguese name meaning gift of the sun.
The ancient Greek writer, Heliodoro of Emesa, was given this name because he came from a family of priests of the sun.
32. Helios
Helios is a Greek name meaning sun.
In ancient Greek mythology, Helios was the sun god who rode across the sky each day in a four-horse chariot. His sister was Selene, the moon goddess.
33. Hinata
Hinata is a Japanese name that means sunny place.
Hinata is the name of the main character in the popular anime book series and show, Haikyuu!! He trained himself to jump high to compensate for his short stature.
34. Hito
Hito is a Japanese name that means to the sun.
Mr. Hito was a Japanese professional wrestler. Professional wrestling icon Bret Hart credits Mr. Hito as being one of his greatest mentors.
35. Kem
Kem is a Romani name that means sun.
Kem is the name adopted by American singer-songwriter and producer Kim Owens. His latest album features the single, Live Out Your Love, featuring Toni Braxton.
36. Lairus
Lairus is a Latin name that means he shines.
In the Christian Bible, Lairus, also seen written as Jairus, was a man who asked Jesus to save the life of his dying daughter.
37. Lambert
Lambert is a German boy’s name that begins with the letter L, meaning brightness across the land.
Often seen as a surname in English speaking countries, Lambert started as a forename. However, the recent trend for surnames-as-first-names has seen it back in use as a forename.
38. Langa
Langa is a Xhosa name that means sun.
The Bantu language Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa and is the first language of around 8.2 million people, with an additional 11 million speaking it as a second language.
39. Lugus
Lugus is an ancient Gaul name meaning light or brightness.
In Celtic mythology, Lugus was the name of the god of commerce, merchants, and craftsmanship. He is closely equated with the Roman god Mercury.
40. Mehr
Mehr is a Persian name that means friendship and sun.
Mehr is also the name of the seventh month of the Solar Hirji calendar. It is the first month of autumn and has 30 days.
41. Osbert
Osbert is an Old English name that means a godly brightness.
Osbert Salvin was a 19th-century ornithologist who co-wrote Biologia Centrali-Americana, an extensive 215-part encyclopedia on the natural history of Mexico and Central America, and a book about the natural history of Pennsylvania.
42. Rashmi
Rashmi is a Sinhalese name meaning ray of sunlight.
Sinhalese is spoken in Sri-Lanka, and the country submitted the name Rashmi to the World Tropical Cyclone Committee’s name list. The name was accepted, and Rahmi was the name of the seventh tropical cyclone of the 2008 season.
43. Ravindra
Ravindra is a Hindi name that means lord of the sun.
If the thought of naming your son the Lord of the Sun seems a little grandiose, Ravi is a popular short form of the name and simply means sun.
44. Samson
Samson is a Biblical Latin name that means sun.
The name Samson was given to 482 baby boys in the U.S. during 2019, a slight decrease from the 511 who were named Samson in 2018.
45. Taner
Taner is a Turkish name meaning born at dawn.
This would be an ideal sun name for a boy who is born as night gives way to day.
46. Tyr
Tyr is an Old Norse name that means shine or glow.
Tyr, pronounced tier, was a Norse god. It is from his name that we get the word Tuesday, which was originally Tyr’s Day.
47. Wilbert
Wilbert is a Dutch name that means a bright will.
A popular boys’ name during the 1920s, Wilbert had fallen out of favor by the 1990s. That makes this an uncommon name that is still familiar. Yours is likely to be the only Wilbert you ever meet.
48. Willka
Willka is an Aymara name meaning pre-dawn.
Willka Mayu is the name of a river that flows through Peru’s Sacred Valley. It was believed to be a reflection of the Milky Way, and its course is followed by the sun near the December Solstice.
49. Yo-Han
Yo-Han is a Korean name that means shine or sunlight.
While the Korean name Yo-Han has this meaning, the French version, Yohan, is a form of John, which means God is gracious.
50. Zeus
Zeus is a Greek name that means shine.
In Greek mythology, Zeus was the most senior of all the gods. He ruled from Mount Olympus and had control of the weather on Earth.
50 Girl Names That Mean Sun
Your baby girl is bound to be dazzling. These are our favorite 50 sun names for girls.
51. Aelia
Aelia is an Ancient Roman name meaning sun.
Pronounced EYE-lee-ah, Aelia was the name of an Ancient Roman family whose most famous member was the emperor Hadrian. Several landmarks built by Hadrian have Aelia in their name, as do many Roman coins.
52. Áine
Áine is an Irish name that means radiance.
Áine was an Irish goddess of summer and was said to control the sun. Celebrated at midsummer, Áine was sometimes represented by a red mare and had a sister, Grian.
53. Akino
Akino is a Japanese name meaning my rising sun.
Akino Kawamitsu is an American pop singer from Utah and is the singer of a number of anime theme songs and soundtracks.
54. Alba
Alba is a Spanish and Italian name that means dawn.
Alba, as used in Spain, Italy, and Catalonia, means dawn, but in other regions, it is the feminine form of the Roman name Albus, meaning white or bright.
55. Álfsól
Álfsól is an Iclandic name meaning elven sun.
In Iceland, you may only give your child a name on the National Register of Names of Persons. Ancient names, no longer in use, are not automatically accepted, but one person was allowed to use Álfsól in 1998.
56. Anpao
Anpao is a Lakota name and means sun.
In Lakota mythology, Anpao was a spirit with two faces. She represented the dawn, and she was said to dance with Han, the spirit of darkness. Their dance prevented Wi, the sun god, from burning up the Earth.
57. Apricia
Apricia is Latin for sunny.
Not specifically a name, this Latin word has been adopted by a handful of families and used as a name for their daughters. It is also the name of a Japanese baby gear brand.
58. Arani
Arani is a Sanskrit name that can mean sun.
A name used across all regions of India, Arani has multiple meanings, depending on the context in which it is used.
59. Arevik
Arevik is an Armenian name meaning like the sun.
Pronounced R-vic, this could be an especially good sun name for girls option if you have a family with Armenian heritage.
60. Aruna
Aruna is a Hindi name meaning the reddish color of dawn.
Aruna Miller is an American politician and engineer. Miller became a member of the Maryland House of Delegates in January 2011.
61. Aurora
Aurora is the Latin word for dawn.
In Roman mythology, Aurora was the goddess of the dawn. She was said to race across the sky each morning to announce the arrival of the sun.
62. Austra
Austra is a Latvian name meaning the dawn.
Austra Skujytė is a heptathlon and decathlon athlete. In 2005 at an event in Columbia, Missouri, she set the World Record for the women’s decathlon with a score of 8,358.
63. Beltane
Evolved from a Celtic word, Beltane means bright fire.
Beltane is a May Day festival held in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. The bright fire meaning refers to the sun, and the festival celebrated the beginning of summer.
64. Brigid
Brigid is an Irish name that means the exalted one.
Brigid was an Irish goddess of poetry, spring, fertility, and the dawn. She was also said to be a passionate and fiery redhead, so this may be a good choice for your child with flaming tresses.
65. Daisy
An evolution of the Old English word dægeseage, which means day eye.
The flower daisy was named eye of the day because it opens in the morning with the sun and closes again at night.
66. Dawn
Dawn is an Old English girl’s name that means the period between darkness and sunrise.
In the U.S., 15,681 baby girls were named Dawn in 1971, but since then use of the name has steadily declined. The last time it made the top 1,000 girls’ name list was in 2000.
67. Elanor
Elanor is a name from fiction that means star sun.
In J. R. R. Tolkien’s fantasy series of novels, The Lord of the Rings, Elanor is a character named after a type of flower. The definition of the name is given in the book.
68. Èlia
Èlia is a Catalan name that means sun.
Although this is a Catalan name, Èlia is popular in Italy, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and all across Spain, as well as, somewhat randomly, Israel.
69. Éliane
Éliane is a French name meaning sun.
A popular girls’ name in France during the 1940s and 1950s, Éliane can be written with or without the accent.
70. Éadaoin
Éadaoin is an Irish name that means passion, jealously.
Éadaoin, pronounced EH-deen, is the modern Irish spelling of Étaín. Étaín was a figure in Irish mythology who some scholars believe to have been a sun goddess.
71. Ēostre
Ēostre is an Old English name meaning to shine.
Ēostre was the name of an ancient goddess, worshipped in what we now call northern England. Many place names in Northumberland and Yorkshire evolved from this name.
72. Grian
Grian is an Irish name that means sun.
The exact nature of Grian in Irish mythology is disputed, but she is thought to be the sister of Áine, making this a pair of sunny twin girls’ names.
73. Gry
Gry is a Scandinavian name meaning dawn.
Unlike many Scandinavian names, Gry is not an ancient name; it is relatively modern. The first recorded was in Norway in 1897, and it wasn’t used in Denmark until the 20th century.
74. Halo
Halo comes from the Latin halos, meaning disc of the sun.
2019 saw a sudden rise in the number of baby girls named Halo. That year, 272 newborn girls were given the name.
75. Haru
Haru is a Japanese name that means light or sun.
When written with the kanji, 陽, Haru means light, sun but also male. It is used as both a girls’ and a boys’ name in Japan, but the feminine use is more common.
76. Hathor
Hathor is an Ancient Egyptian name meaning from the house of Horus.
In Egyptian mythology, Hathor was the goddess of the sun, commonly referred to as the Golden One. References in her temple say that “her rays illuminate the entire Earth.”
77. Helie
Helie is an Ancient Greek name meaning of the sun.
In the mythological tales of Greece, Helie was one of the seven daughters of Helios, who were collectively known as the Heliades. Her name reflects that Helios was the sun god, and she was daughter of the sun.
78. Helene
Helene is an Ancient Greek name that means shining, bright, or radiating.
While Ancient Greek in origin, this name has become the modern and more popular form of Helen in Germany, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.
79. Helianthus
Helianthus is Greek and means sunflower.
There are approximately 70 species of Helianthus, with Helianthus annuus being the common sunflower. It is also part of the scientific name of the Jerusalem Artichoke, the Helianthus tuberosus.
80. Hemera
Hemera is a Greek name that means day.
In Greek mythology, Hemera was the daughter of Erebos and Nyx, who were darkness and night, respectively. Her brother was Aether, meaning light, so this could be a good brother/sister sun name combo.
81. Hesperia
Hesperia is a Spanish name that means evening.
As well as being a name, Hesperia was also the Ancient Greek name for Italy, which they referred to as the land where the sun sets.
82. Heulwen
Heulwen is a Welsh name meaning sunshine.
The pronunciation of this name depends on what part of Wales you are from. In the north of the country, you will hear HAYL-wen, while in the south, you’ll hear HIEL-wen.
83. Marici
Marici is a Sanskrit name that means ray of light.
In Buddhism, Marici is a superior being on the path to Buddhahood. She is depicted as having three faces and multiple arms. In each hand, she holds a different weapon.
84. Olwen
Olwen is a Welsh name that means white footprint.
The goddess Olwen was also referred to as the flower-bringing golden wheel of summer. This was a reference to her being the sun or the golden wheel of summer.
85. Ôstara
Ôstara is Old High German and means to shine.
The ancient Germans had their own calendar, and one of those months was called Ostermonat, which meant Ostara’s month. During Ostermonat, they celebrated the spring equinox, and the name evolved to mean Easter or Ostern.
86. Roxana
Roxana is an Ancient Greek name meaning bright or dawn.
Alexander the Great is said to have fallen in love at first sight when he met Roxana, Princess of Bactria. They met after Alexander defeated her father at Sogdian Rock.
87. Saulė
The Lithuanian name Saulė means sun.
Saulė can be pronounced as either SOW-lay or sow-LAY. Kazakh Saule, without the accent above the e, means ray of light or sunbeam and is instead pronounced SOW-la.
88. Shams
Shams is Arabic and means sun.
Pronounced SHEH-miss, Shams was a pre-Islamic Arabian sun goddess and the patron goddess of the Himyarite Kingdom. This was in the area we now call Yemen.
89. Shemesh
Shemesh is a Semitic name that means sun.
Shemesh was a sun goddess worshiped by the Canaanites, a group of settled and nomadic ethnic groups who lived in the Eastern Mediterranean in the pre-Iron Age period.
90. Sienna
Sienna is an English name meaning orange-red.
The word for the color sienna came from the name of a town in Italy, Siena, where the local land is a rich, red-orange clay.
91. Sol
Sol is a Spanish and Portuguese name meaning sun.
Although this may sound like a modern, trendy name, Sol was relatively popular in the U.S. during the early 20th century.
92. Solana
Solana is a Catalan name that means place exposed to the sun.
La Solana in Spain was said to come from a well used by shepherds and early settlers. They named the well “La Fuente de la Solana” because it was located on the sunny side of the hill.
93. Solbritt
Solbritt is a Swedish name that means sun of the exalted one.
First used in Sweden in 1909, this name was created by combining the Swedish word for sun, which is sol, and Britt, the Swedish form of Bridgit.
94. Sole
Sole is an Italian name meaning sun.
Until the 1990s, Sole was generally only used in combination with Maria. However, since it was used as a stand-alone name by a European celebrity couple, it has exploded in popularity.
95. Soleil
Soleil is the French word for sun.
Although this is the French word for sun, Soleil is not commonly used as a name in France. In the U.S., however, somewhere around 100 girls are named Soleil each year.
96. Sóley
Sóley is an Icelandic name that means buttercup.
Used across Iceland, Sweden, and Denmark, Sóley makes this list because the Icelandic word for buttercup actually means little island of sun.
97. Solfrid
Solfrid is a Norwegian name that means beautiful sun.
The earliest documented use of Solfrid was in 1891. However, the name fell out of favor in Norway during the 1960s and is rarely used today.
98. Solvita
Solvita is a Latvian name meaning life-giving sun.
In Latvia, the name day for Solvita is January 1st, making this a wonderful choice for the new life brought into the world on the first day of a new year.
99. Sun
Sun is an example of an English noun being used as a name.
As a word name, sun doesn’t have a strong history of being used predominantly for either boys or girls. In 2018, 5 girls and 18 boys were named Sun. An alternative to this might be the more popular name Summer, which conjures up images of sunny, warm weather.
100. Tesni
Tesni is a Welsh name that means warmth from the sun.
Pronounced TESS-nee, this word can also be taken to mean Indian Summer and could be a great sun name choice for a family with Welsh ancestry.
Baby Names For Your Ray Of Sunshine
It wasn’t difficult to find baby names associated with the sun. What we did struggle with was cutting down the hundreds of options we found to bring you a list of 50 names that mean sun for boys and 50 names for girls.
Perhaps one of the names on this list is the right name for your fiery new edition.
