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The moon has always been a naming muse. Long before Luna cracked the top five, women in ancient Greece named their daughters Selene. Mothers in Sanskrit-speaking households have called their girls Chandra for thousands of years. A Māori baby named Marama, a Turkish girl named Aylin, a Hawaiian girl named Mahina — these aren’t trends, they’re traditions so old they predate most written records. What unites them is the same instinct: the moon is luminous, cyclical, and profoundly feminine. It pulls tides and marks months and has been watching over us since before we had words for it.
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Here’s what’s in store –
Sanskrit and South Asian Moon Names
Persian, Turkish, and Arabic Moon Names
Celtic, Norse, and Northern European Moon Names
Hawaiian, Māori, Pacific, and Indigenous Americas
Luna is a beautiful name — but it’s also everywhere now. If you love what Luna represents and want something equally rooted but less expected, this list is for you. There are Sanskrit names that celebrate the full moon’s specific brilliance, Turkish names built from the word for the halo that rings the moon on a clear winter night, and Irish names that belong to goddesses who ruled the sky before the Romans arrived with their pantheons. The depth behind each of these names is part of what makes them so compelling.
A word on accuracy: every name in this list is real, documented in its culture of origin, and carries a genuine lunar meaning or strong mythological lunar association. No invented words dressed up as names. Where a name belongs to a deity rather than having a literal translation, the deity’s primary domain is the moon. Where a name has evolved into multiple spellings across cultures, the most common modern usage is noted.
Whether you’re drawn to the crystalline elegance of Selene, the warm familiarity of Diana, the lyrical complexity of Coyolxauhqui, or the minimalist beauty of Dal, you’ll find your moon here.
The Greek and Roman Classics
The oldest moon names most Western parents will recognize come from Greece and Rome, where the moon was a goddess with a name, a chariot, and a complicated love life. These names have been in continuous use for centuries and carry a weight of myth that newer coinages simply can’t replicate.
- Origin: Latin/Roman
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #13
The Roman moon goddess and the name most responsible for the current lunar naming wave; timeless because it actually is ancient.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #675
The Titaness who drove a silver chariot across the night sky; more deliberate and mythologically weighty than Luna.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: moon and hunt goddess
- Popularity: #1022
Twin of Apollo and guardian of wild things; fierce, independent, and climbing charts steadily.
- Origin: Latin/Roman
- Meaning: moon and hunt goddess
- Popularity: #243
The Roman Artemis; stately and evergreen in a way that crosses every era from ancient Rome to Princess Diana.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “from Mount Cynthus”
- Popularity: #826
An epithet for Artemis, born on the island of Delos; literary and quietly sophisticated with Cynnie as a sweet nickname.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “bright, shining”
- Popularity: #183
A moon Titaness whose light is literally in her name; beloved by poets and now by a new generation of parents.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “divine, goddess”
- Popularity: #1844
Mother of Selene, Helios, and Eos — she generated all the great lights of the sky; rare and mythologically extraordinary.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “far-reaching”
- Popularity: Rare
Goddess of magic, crossroads, and the crescent moon; dark and dramatic without being gloomy.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The primordial personification of the moon herself, before the Olympians reorganized everything; spare and striking.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “most beautiful”
- Popularity: #3889
A nymph companion to Artemis, whose story was written in the stars and moon; a softer entry point to classical naming.
- Origin: Latin/Roman
- Meaning: “light, moonlight”
- Popularity: #3141
Roman goddess of childbirth who worked by moonlight; lilting and feminine with a genuinely lovely sound.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “born on Delos”
- Popularity: #1522
An epithet for Artemis honoring her birthplace; short, bright, and less obviously lunar, which gives it range.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: Roman form of Leto
- Popularity: #12372
Mother of Diana and Apollo, who sheltered her divine children; unusual and beautiful with that distinctive -ona ending.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “gift of the moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Borne by a 4th-century Christian martyr; almost unknown in modern use, which makes it extraordinary.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “moon,” Jovian satellite
- Popularity: #1156
One of Zeus’s mortal loves, whose name now belongs to a moon of Jupiter; gaining quiet traction.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “white goddess”
- Popularity: Rare
A sea deity with lunar associations to her whiteness and night-sea domain; wildly uncommon and hauntingly beautiful.
- Origin: Latin/Roman
- Meaning: “shining by night”
- Popularity: Rare
A Roman epithet for the moon personified; bold and unusual, with Nocti as an unexpected nickname.
- Origin: Italian
- Meaning: “from Mount Cynthus”
- Popularity: Rare
The Italian form of Cynthia; instantly warmer with a Mediterranean lilt.
- Origin: Greek/Spanish
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #245
The Spanish variant of Selene; forever linked to the iconic Tejano singer, which makes it feel full of life.
- Origin: Italian
- Meaning: “little moon”
- Popularity: #12885
The diminutive Italian moon name; charming and uncommon, with a vintage Italian elegance.
- Origin: French/Arthurian
- Meaning: “little moon”
- Popularity: #11692
An Arthurian character name and architectural term for a semicircular window shaped like the crescent; literary and layered.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: moon of Jupiter
- Popularity: #9867
One of Zeus’s loves and one of the four Galilean moons; the shortest moon name on this list, wildly ancient.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “gift of Artemis”
- Popularity: #11179
The feminine given name form of Artemis used historically; Artemisia Gentileschi, the Baroque painter, wore it magnificently.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “beautiful stream”
- Popularity: Rare
A nymph and moon of Jupiter; rare and gorgeous, with that rolling double-r sound.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “she who comes to aid”
- Popularity: Rare
Birth goddess linked to the lunar cycle’s role in human fertility; impossible at a pediatrician’s office but extraordinary.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: lunar associations
- Popularity: Rare
Mortal mother of Dionysus, her name appears in astronomical contexts as a Jovian moon; sounds like a name from another world entirely.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “radiant, moonlike”
- Popularity: Rare
Feminine form of Phoebus used as a lunar epithet by some ancient writers; barely known outside classics.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: title of Hecate and Diana
- Popularity: #15744
A Roman epithet for the moon goddess of crossroads; surprising, archaic, and secretly wonderful.
Sanskrit and South Asian Moon Names
Sanskrit gave the world some of the most beautiful moon vocabulary in existence, and South Asian naming traditions have been drawing from it for millennia. Chandra (the moon itself), Purnima (the full moon night), Jyotsna (moonlight flooding a room) — these names are precise in a way that Western lunar names rarely are.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #11381
The moon itself, and a Hindu deity; one of the most widely used names across India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, and for good reason.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “full moon night”
- Popularity: Rare
Specific to the night of the full moon rather than the moon in general; lyrical and meaningful in a way that rewards knowing what it means.
- Origin: Hindi
- Meaning: “moonlight”
- Popularity: #18182
The soft glow of moonlight on a surface; familiar across South Asia and instantly beautiful to English ears as well.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Literally “the one with the rabbit mark” — because Hindus see a rabbit in the moon’s surface, not a face; unusual and rich with myth.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Spare and minimalist; used for both boys and girls in India and carries the whole moon in two syllables.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moon deity”
- Popularity: #7645
The moon god in Hindu cosmology, associated with the sacred ritual drink; used for both genders.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moonlight”
- Popularity: Rare
The quality of light the moon casts; poetic and specific, with a rhythm that’s genuinely pleasing to say aloud.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moonlight, festival of the full moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Associated with the autumn full moon festival; celebratory and luminous.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moonlight”
- Popularity: #15917
A soft, feminine form derived from Chandra; very common in South India with a lovely diminutive feel.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “crescent moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Literally “a mark of the moon”; elaborate and beautiful, often shortened to Chandra in daily use.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “bright as the moon”
- Popularity: Rare
A classical South Indian name with a musical cadence; more elaborate than Chandra but equally rooted.
- Origin: Sanskrit/Tamil
- Meaning: “moonbeam”
- Popularity: Rare
“Moonbeam” is exactly what sasikala means; rare outside South India but entirely beautiful.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moonflower, night-blooming lotus”
- Popularity: Rare
The lotus that opens specifically at moonrise; precise and evocative.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moonlight, radiance”
- Popularity: Rare
Often used to mean the specific light of the moon; short and strong.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “night-fragrant flower”
- Popularity: Rare
The night-blooming jasmine that opens under the moon; a name that conjures a complete sensory experience.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “the red deer,” a lunar nakshatra
- Popularity: #17132
The lunar mansion where the moon is most exalted in Vedic astrology; one of the most auspicious nakshatra names.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “made of moon”
- Popularity: Rare
As if assembled from moonlight itself; rare and extraordinary.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moon-faced”
- Popularity: Rare
One of the oldest and most romantic of the lunar epithets; famously a character in classic Indian literature.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “beloved of the moon”
- Popularity: Rare
A gemstone that was said to form from moonlight; luminous and ancient.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “night”
- Popularity: Rare
The personification of night herself in the Rigveda; short, dark, and beautiful.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “night”
- Popularity: #6550
The gentler, more common sister of Ratri; widely used across South Asia as a standalone name.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “star”
- Popularity: #1021
In Hindu mythology, Tara was abducted by the moon god Chandra — her story is inextricable from lunar myth.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “wealthy”
- Popularity: Rare
A lunar nakshatra and the wife of Balarama in Hindu epics; musical and deeply traditional.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “crescent moon”
- Popularity: Rare
“A line of moonlight”; elaborate and rare, with that beautiful -rekha suffix.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “loved by the moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The gemstone moonstone was called shashikanta in Sanskrit because it was believed to form from moon rays.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “immortal nectar”
- Popularity: #11138
The divine nectar churned from the cosmic ocean, associated with the moon in Hindu cosmology — the moon was said to hold amrita.
- Origin: Tamil/Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moonlight, flame”
- Popularity: Rare
Southern variant of Jyotsna; widely used in Tamil Nadu with a bright, open sound.
Persian, Turkish, and Arabic Moon Names
The crescent moon has held a central place in Persian, Turkish, and Arab culture for centuries, and the naming traditions reflect that. Turkish names are particularly rich here — there’s a whole family of Ay- names (ay meaning “moon” in Turkish) that give you distinct, beautiful options with shared lunar roots.
- Origin: Turkish
- Meaning: “moon halo”
- Popularity: #386
The halo that appears around the moon on humid nights; one of the most common girls’ names in Turkey and increasingly used elsewhere.
- Origin: Turkish
- Meaning: “halo of moonlight”
- Popularity: #69
Close to Aylin but shorter and more international; also used in Hebrew with different roots.
- Origin: Turkish
- Meaning: “moonlight”
- Popularity: Rare
Combines ay (moon) + nur (light, from Arabic); a complete image in two syllables.
- Origin: Turkish
- Meaning: “moon flood, moonstream”
- Popularity: #2064
The way moonlight floods a room or a valley; unusual outside Turkey and genuinely lovely.
- Origin: Turkish
- Meaning: “as beautiful as the moon”
- Popularity: Rare
A comparison built into the name itself; warm and romantic.
- Origin: Turkish
- Meaning: “from the moon”
- Popularity: #1607
Direct and clean; works beautifully in English-speaking contexts as well as Turkish.
- Origin: Turkish
- Meaning: “moon crown”
- Popularity: Rare
The crown of light the moon wears at its fullest; less common internationally but striking.
- Origin: Turkish
- Meaning: “first moon, new moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Specifically the crescent of the new month, not the full moon; precise and beautiful.
- Origin: Turkish/Persian
- Meaning: “moon-faced”
- Popularity: Rare
The face of someone so beautiful it resembles the moon; an older poetic form.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #3360
The Arabic word for moon, used as a given name; used for both boys and girls across the Arab world.
- Origin: Arabic/Turkish
- Meaning: “crescent moon”
- Popularity: #10243
The thin sliver of the new moon; also used for boys.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “full moon”
- Popularity: #5916
Specifically the full moon, which is considered the most beautiful; used predominantly for boys in Arabic tradition.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “full moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The feminine form of Badr; less common than Badr itself, which makes it feel rare and special.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “lunar halo”
- Popularity: #3406
The ring of light that appears around the moon; short and beautiful.
- Origin: Swahili, from Arabic
- Meaning: “like the moon”
- Popularity: #2699
The Swahili version of the Arabic qamari; widely used across East Africa.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: “moonlight, moonbeam”
- Popularity: Rare
One of the most common Persian girl names and one of the most beautiful; mahtab floods Persian poetry.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: “like the moon”
- Popularity: #3466
Combines mah (moon) + sa (like); became internationally known during Iran’s 2022 protests.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: “moon-faced”
- Popularity: Rare
The moon-faced one; classical and poetic.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: “moon-cheeked”
- Popularity: Rare
Cheeks as luminous as the moon; used across Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: “moon face”
- Popularity: Rare
The shorter, more intimate version of Mahrukh; ancient and lovely.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Just the word itself used as a given name; minimal and striking.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “night”
- Popularity: #268
The night as the moon’s domain; made famous in Arabic poetry through the Layla and Majnun romance.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “entertainer by moonlight”
- Popularity: #773
Originally described someone who tells stories on moonlit nights; warm and evocative.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “light”
- Popularity: #1856
The light of the moon specifically in many poetic uses; short, universal, and deeply beautiful.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “moonlike”
- Popularity: Rare
The adjective form of qamar turned into a given name; elaborate and rare outside classical Arabic tradition.
- Origin: Malay/Indonesian, from Sanskrit
- Meaning: “full moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Southeast Asian lunar name carrying Sanskrit roots across the ocean.
Celtic, Norse, and Northern European Moon Names
Northern and Western European lunar naming is older and stranger than the Roman tradition — more tied to fairy queens, silver wheels in the sky, and goddesses who roamed forests at night. The Norse moon god Máni rode across the sky pursued by a wolf. The Welsh moon goddess Arianrhod ruled a castle of silver. These names carry that wildness in them.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “silver wheel”
- Popularity: Rare
The Welsh moon goddess whose name describes the wheel of the moon rolling across the sky; elaborate and extraordinary.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: lunar associations
- Popularity: #1310
The great queen of Welsh mythology whose name rides the edge of the moon’s sphere; White Mare, Night Rider.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: moon and inspiration goddess
- Popularity: Rare
Keeper of the cauldron of inspiration, she brews her magic under the moon; one of the most evocative names in this list.
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: fairy queen, moon goddess
- Popularity: #3112
The Irish goddess of love, light, and the summer moon; short, soft, and beautiful.
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: “jealousy” or “brightness”
- Popularity: Rare
A fairy queen with lunar luminance in her myth; one of the most romantic Irish mythological names.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “white ring”
- Popularity: #393
The white ring of the moon in the sky; classic without being dull, and Gwen is a perfect nickname.
- Origin: Welsh/Arthurian
- Meaning: “moonlike brightness”
- Popularity: #369
An Arthurian name with roots in a Welsh word for moon-brightness; used from medieval romance to the present.
- Origin: Old Norse
- Meaning: “daring, brave”
- Popularity: #15005
Wife of Baldr in Norse mythology, she chose to follow him into death; lunar associations in Norse astronomical tradition.
- Origin: Old English/Germanic
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #2224
The Old English word for moon used as a given name; simple, solid, and underused in the modern moment.
- Origin: Old French/Arthurian
- Meaning: “little moon”
- Popularity: Rare
A character in Chrétien de Troyes’s Arthurian romances; medieval and rare.
- Origin: Arthurian
- Meaning: Lady of the Lake
- Popularity: #4538
The Lady of the Lake’s name carries the moon’s mystery over water; Arthurian and deeply atmospheric.
- Origin: Arthurian
- Meaning: enchantress of the moon
- Popularity: #16954
Merlin’s pupil and captor; one of the most mysteriously beautiful Arthurian names.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “sea-bright, circling sea”
- Popularity: #276
Morgan le Fay’s connection to water and night sky gives her name lunar gravity.
- Origin: Germanic
- Meaning: Germanic moon and winter goddess
- Popularity: Rare
She shook the snow from her feather bed and filled the night sky; ancient and magical.
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: forest and moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
Irish goddess of the hunt and forest in Artemis’s tradition; wild and rare.
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: river goddess, lunar associations
- Popularity: Rare
The goddess of the River Boyne whose path through the sky echoes the moon’s arc.
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: “she who intoxicates”
- Popularity: Rare
The great queen of Connacht with lunar associations in early Irish cosmology.
- Origin: Germanic
- Meaning: Germanic winter and moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
She walked the land at midwinter when the moon rules longest; fearsome and unforgettable.
- Origin: Medieval Latin
- Meaning: medieval moon and abundance goddess
- Popularity: Rare
A goddess of moonlit fields and forests in medieval European folk tradition.
- Origin: Romano-Celtic
- Meaning: “white”
- Popularity: #10282
The whiteness of moonlight given a name; used in Romano-British inscriptions.
- Origin: Finnish
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Finnish word for moon used as a given name; minimalist and striking.
- Origin: Finnish
- Meaning: “moon spirit, moon maiden”
- Popularity: Rare
The spirit of the moon in Finnish mythology; rarely used as a name but extraordinary.
- Origin: Celtic
- Meaning: “the high one”
- Popularity: Rare
Celtic goddess with lunar aspects in her celestial domain; ancient and grand.
- Origin: Old Norse
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Norse god of the moon who drove his chariot while a wolf chased him; a strong, unusual boy’s name.
- Origin: Lithuanian
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The moon in Lithuanian mythology and a given name; used for both boys and girls historically.
East Asian Moon Names
The moon holds a particularly rich place in East Asian culture — the Mid-Autumn Festival, the tale of Chang’e, the Japanese tradition of moon-viewing (tsukimi) — and the naming traditions reflect it. Japanese names built on tsuki (moon) have their own internal logic and beauty, while Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Southeast Asian names add further dimension.
- Origin: Chinese
- Meaning: Chinese moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
The goddess who drank the elixir of immortality and floated up to live on the moon with her jade rabbit; poetic and deeply storied.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “shining moon princess”
- Popularity: Rare
From the classic tale of the bamboo princess who came from the moon; romantic and otherworldly.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The word itself used as a name; spare and modern-feeling despite being ancient.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “moon child”
- Popularity: Rare
The -ko suffix means child; a classic feminine Japanese construction with a luminous meaning.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “moon viewing”
- Popularity: Rare
Named for the annual tradition of watching the harvest moon; lyrical and culturally specific.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “beautiful moon”
- Popularity: #11782
Combines mizu (water, or beautiful in some readings) + ki (moon); widely used in Japan with genuine charm.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “leaf moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The traditional Japanese name for August — the moon of falling leaves; seasonal and evocative.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “moon of April”
- Popularity: Rare
The traditional name for April’s moon; gentle and underused outside Japan.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “gentle moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Combines yu (gentle, tender) + zuki (moon); soft and beautiful.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “moonlit night”
- Popularity: Rare
The entire experience of a moonlit night compressed into a name.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “morning moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The moon still visible at dawn; unusual even in Japan and quietly beautiful.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “water moon” or the month of June
- Popularity: Rare
The traditional Japanese name for June, which means “waterless moon”; poetic and specific.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: “beautiful moon-flower”
- Popularity: #11893
One reading of Reika combines rei (moonlike beauty) + ka (flower); elegant and feminine.
- Origin: Korean
- Meaning: personification of the moon
- Popularity: Rare
The Korean name for the moon maiden of folklore; rare as a given name but deeply rooted.
- Origin: Korean
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #11187
The word for moon used as a minimalist given name; short, strong, and increasingly used.
- Origin: Korean
- Meaning: “moonflower”
- Popularity: Rare
A flower that blooms in moonlight; poetic and rarely used outside Korea.
- Origin: Tagalog/Filipino
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Tagalog word for moon used as a given name; uncommon and beautiful.
- Origin: Tagalog
- Meaning: Filipino moon goddess
- Popularity: #4721
The daughter of Bathala who rules the moon after a negotiation with her brother who rules the sun; powerful and mythologically rich.
- Origin: Filipino
- Meaning: “star”
- Popularity: #1336
In Philippine mythology, Tala presides over stars and works alongside the moon; her story is inextricable from lunar myth.
- Origin: Malay/Indonesian
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Malay and Indonesian word for moon; also the name of a moon deity in Philippine-Malay tradition.
- Origin: Malay/Indonesian, from Sanskrit
- Meaning: “full moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The full moon specifically; carries Sanskrit roots across the ocean to Southeast Asia.
- Origin: Vietnamese
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Vietnamese Sino-word for moon; beautiful in writing and sound, deeply embedded in Vietnamese culture.
- Origin: Vietnamese
- Meaning: “silver”
- Popularity: Rare
Silver as the color of moonlight; short, soft, and melodic.
- Origin: Khmer/Cambodian
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #11143
The Khmer word for moon used as a given name, especially for girls born under a full moon.
- Origin: Chinese
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #14169
The Chinese character for moon used directly as a name; simple and elegant.
Hawaiian, Māori, Pacific, and Indigenous Americas
The moon was a navigator, a calendar, a god, and a grandmother across Pacific and Indigenous American cultures. These names don’t translate into English cleanly because the concepts behind them are richer than any single word — Marama in Māori means moon, light, understanding, and clarity simultaneously.
- Origin: Hawaiian
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #3672
The Hawaiian word for moon, and the name of the moon goddess in Hawaiian tradition; gentle, beautiful, and meaningfully grounded.
- Origin: Hawaiian/Polynesian
- Meaning: moon goddess
- Popularity: #4687
One of the most important deities across Polynesia — Hina of the moon, Hina who pounded tapa cloth by moonlight; deep and oceanic.
- Origin: Māori
- Meaning: “moon, light, understanding”
- Popularity: Rare
Rare outside New Zealand but extraordinary — a word that means moon and clarity at once.
- Origin: Hawaiian
- Meaning: “full moon night”
- Popularity: #8220
The traditional Hawaiian name for the full moon night of the month; elaborate and luminous.
- Origin: Māori
- Meaning: “dark Hina”
- Popularity: Rare
The dark moon phase personified as a goddess; rare and atmospheric.
- Origin: Samoan
- Meaning: moon goddess
- Popularity: #7175
The Samoan equivalent of Hina; she lives in the moon and has the same mythological weight across Samoa.
- Origin: Maya
- Meaning: Maya moon goddess
- Popularity: #3232
Goddess of the moon, medicine, and weaving; ancient, powerful, and increasingly known outside Mexico.
- Origin: Nahuatl/Aztec
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #3354
The Aztec word for moon used as a deity name; specific, cross-cultural, and rarely used as a given name in English-speaking contexts.
- Origin: Quechua, Incan
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #10937
The Incan moon goddess’s name simply means “moon” in Quechua; clear, beautiful, and rarely encountered.
- Origin: Quechua
- Meaning: “Mother Moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The full name of the Incan moon goddess, wife of Inti the sun god; can be used as a double name.
- Origin: Tupi-Guaraní
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #3185
The moon in the indigenous languages of Brazil; short and striking, used for both boys and girls.
- Origin: Lakota
- Meaning: “night sun”
- Popularity: Rare
The Lakota name for the moon — literally “the sun of the night” — and the name of a moon goddess in Lakota tradition.
- Origin: Nahuatl
- Meaning: “golden bells”
- Popularity: Rare
The Aztec moon goddess whose shattered body became the moon; too elaborate for everyday use but magnificent on paper.
- Origin: Maya
- Meaning: Maya moon and birth goddess
- Popularity: Rare
A quieter Maya moon deity associated with childbirth; short, accessible, and carries real mythological weight.
- Origin: Nahuatl
- Meaning: earth and moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
An Aztec goddess with lunar aspects in her domain over cycles of purification; rarely used as a given name but culturally significant.
- Origin: Inuit
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Inuit moon spirit and hunter’s guide; used in Greenlandic and Canadian Inuit traditions.
- Origin: Akkadian
- Meaning: Babylonian moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
Wife of Marduk, associated with the crescent moon and fertility; ancient and almost unknown in modern naming.
- Origin: Etruscan
- Meaning: Etruscan moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
The Etruscan counterpart to Selene; extremely rare and genuinely from one of history’s most fascinating cultures.
- Origin: Punic/Phoenician
- Meaning: Carthaginian moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
The chief goddess of Carthage, depicted with the crescent moon; one of the ancient world’s most powerful female deities.
- Origin: Ugaritic
- Meaning: “great queen”
- Popularity: Rare
The moon goddess of Ugarit in ancient Syria, wife of the moon god Yarikh; rare and extraordinary.
- Origin: Thracian
- Meaning: Thracian moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
Goddess of the moon and hunt in ancient Thrace, similar to Artemis; mentioned by Plato, almost unknown as a baby name.
- Origin: Urartian
- Meaning: Urartian moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
The moon goddess of the ancient Kingdom of Urartu (modern Armenia/Turkey); as rare as it gets.
- Origin: Marshallese
- Meaning: moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
The moon deity in Marshall Islands mythology; minimal and beautiful.
- Origin: Blackfoot
- Meaning: moon deity
- Popularity: Rare
The moon in Blackfoot Indigenous tradition; rarely used as a given name but deeply rooted.
Ancient and Deep-Cut Moon Names
These are the names for parents who have done the research and want something that carries real history. Some belong to ancient deities; some are Hebrew names for the moon itself; some came from cultures that don’t get enough airtime in Western naming conversations.
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: “white, moon”
- Popularity: #7411
From the Hebrew levanah, meaning both “white” and “the moon”; used in modern Israel and by Jewish communities worldwide.
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: “the moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The full, formal Hebrew word for the moon used as a given name; more elaborate than Levana with the same luminous meaning.
- Origin: Hebrew
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The ancient Hebrew word for moon, distinct from levanah; biblical and rarely used as a given name in the modern world.
- Origin: Slavic
- Meaning: forest and moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
The Slavic equivalent of Artemis — goddess of the hunt, forests, and the moon; Polish in origin and extraordinary.
- Origin: Slavic
- Meaning: winter and moon goddess
- Popularity: Rare
The Slavic goddess whose effigy is drowned at winter’s end to bring spring; lunar and deeply traditional in Poland and Czechia.
- Origin: Georgian
- Meaning: “moon deity”
- Popularity: Rare
The chief god of pre-Christian Georgia was a moon deity; the name carries centuries of Caucasian history.
- Origin: Egyptian
- Meaning: “throne”
- Popularity: #1082
Isis wore the moon disk as her crown in Egyptian iconography; her lunar associations are inseparable from her identity.
- Origin: Punic/Phoenician
- Meaning: variant of Tanit
- Popularity: #14699
The name of the Carthaginian moon goddess in its other common spelling; slightly more accessible than Tanit.
- Origin: Latvian
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The moon in Latvian mythology, considered masculine; a distinctive Baltic name with clean, modern sounds.
- Origin: Old Norse
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Norse moon god and twin of the sun goddess; worth repeating here for parents specifically seeking boy names with this root.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: “light-bearer”
- Popularity: #2766
Before its current associations, Lucifer was an epithet for the moon as the light-bearer of the pre-dawn sky; a name with extraordinary historical complexity.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “radiant, moonlike”
- Popularity: Rare
A feminine lunar epithet almost never used as a given name; for parents who want something genuinely rare.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: “beautiful-flowing”
- Popularity: Rare
A Jovian moon whose name belongs to a nymph of Greek mythology; rare and flowing.
- Origin: Medieval Latin
- Meaning: “abundance”
- Popularity: Rare
A European folkloric moon goddess who presided over moonlit harvests; found in medieval witch trial records and nowhere else.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: “of three roads”
- Popularity: #15744
A Roman title for Hecate and Diana as the triple moon goddess of crossroads; the most surprising entry in this list.
Moon Names for Boys
The moon has always had masculine identities too — the Norse Máni, the Egyptian Khonsu, the Arabic Badr, the Sanskrit Chandra. These boy names carry lunar meaning with the same depth as the girls’ names above.
- Origin: Old Norse
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Norse god who drove the moon chariot while a wolf pursued him; striking and unusual in English-speaking contexts.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: the mortal loved by Selene
- Popularity: Rare
Selene fell so deeply in love with the sleeping shepherd Endymion that she visited him every night; mythologically rich.
- Origin: Egyptian
- Meaning: “traveler”
- Popularity: Rare
The Egyptian moon god who traversed the night sky; ancient, powerful, and rarely heard.
- Origin: Egyptian
- Meaning: Egyptian moon and wisdom god
- Popularity: Rare
Thoth kept lunar time and recorded all knowledge; a name with immense mythological weight.
- Origin: Egyptian
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Egyptian moon deity; short, clean, and almost shockingly rare for a moon name.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “full moon”
- Popularity: #5916
The full moon specifically; used widely as a boy’s name across the Arab world.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “crescent moon”
- Popularity: #10243
The crescent that opens each Islamic month; widely used for boys in Turkey, Pakistan, and Arab countries.
- Origin: Arabic
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #3360
Used for boys more often than girls in Arabic tradition; short and strong.
- Origin: Tamil/Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Tamil masculine form of Chandra; widely used in South India.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “lord of the night”
- Popularity: Rare
A name for the moon as the ruler of the night sky; used in India.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Used for both boys and girls in India; the Vedic connotation of the rabbit-marked moon is in every syllable.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Used for both boys and girls; spare and ancient.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: “moon deity”
- Popularity: #7645
The moon god in Vedic tradition; used for boys in India with real mythological depth.
- Origin: Turkish
- Meaning: “first moon, new crescent”
- Popularity: Rare
Specifically the first crescent of the new month; used for boys and girls in Turkey.
- Origin: Turkish
- Meaning: “enlightened, bright as moon”
- Popularity: Rare
Aydın carries the root ay (moon) and means “illuminated”; widely used in Turkey.
- Origin: Tupi-Guaraní
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #3185
Used for both boys and girls in Brazil; short and cross-cultural.
- Origin: Dutch
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: #9497
The Dutch word for moon used as a minimalist given name; works internationally.
- Origin: Ugaritic/Canaanite
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The ancient moon god of Ugarit who wooed Nikkal; extraordinary for parents who want something truly deep-cut.
- Origin: Inuit/Greenlandic
- Meaning: moon spirit
- Popularity: Rare
The Inuit moon spirit who guides hunters; rarely used as a given name in English-speaking contexts.
- Origin: Sumerian/Akkadian
- Meaning: “moon god”
- Popularity: Rare
The Mesopotamian moon deity, one of the oldest moon gods in recorded history; very short, very ancient.
- Origin: Lithuanian
- Meaning: “moon”
- Popularity: Rare
The Lithuanian moon god who drove a chariot across the sky; used historically as a given name.
- Origin: Japanese
- Meaning: not canonical, but **Tsukimaro** — “moon circle”
- Popularity: Rare
A classical Japanese masculine name meaning “circle of the moon”; rare and elegant.
How to Choose a Name From This List
Start with sound, not meaning. The meaning of a name is what you know when you look it up; the sound is what your child will hear 10,000 times before they’re five. Say each name you love out loud with your last name. Say it tired, say it annoyed, say it the way you’d call across a playground. That’s the real test.
Think about wearability across a life. Kaguya is breathtaking and works beautifully on a baby, a teenager, and a 40-year-old professional. Coyolxauhqui is mythologically extraordinary but will require explaining in most English-speaking settings. Neither choice is wrong — they just suit different families. Know which family you are.
Consider cultural connection. If a name comes from a culture that’s yours by heritage, it carries meaning in a different way than a name you’re drawn to from outside your tradition. Both can be beautiful; they feel different to carry. A family with Indian roots naming their daughter Purnima honors a tradition. A family without that connection naming their daughter Purnima is making a genuine choice — and that choice is worth making consciously.
Don’t rule out the names that feel “too common” on paper. Luna is everywhere, yes. So is Emma. Common names became common because they’re genuinely good names. If Luna is the name that makes you feel something, use Luna. The goal is the right name for your child, not the rarest name.
Give yourself permission to pair a moon name with a grounding middle name. Selene Grace. Mahina Ruth. Arianrhod Clare. The moon name carries the poetry; the second name keeps things tethered to the earth.
Name Art for Your Favorite
Love a name from this list? MinimalistMama offers custom Name Art prints — personalized, minimalist nursery art with the name you choose, designed to match your aesthetic. A perfect gift for baby showers or to hang above the crib.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most popular baby name that means moon?
Luna is currently the most popular moon name in English-speaking countries, ranking in the top five for girls in the United States. Selene is the fastest-growing of the classical Greek moon names. In South Asia, Chandra and Purnima have been consistently popular for centuries. In Turkey, Aylin and Ayla dominate.
Is Luna a unisex name or only for girls?
Luna is used almost exclusively as a girls’ name in modern English-speaking countries. Its Latin root is grammatically feminine. If you want a moon name for a boy, consider Máni (Norse), Badr (Arabic), Chandran (Tamil), or Ilkay (Turkish) — all masculine moon names with genuine cultural roots.
What does the name Aylin mean, and how do you pronounce it?
Aylin is a Turkish name meaning “moon halo” — the ring of light that appears around the moon on humid nights. It’s pronounced roughly “EYE-leen.” The first syllable comes from ay, the Turkish word for moon. It’s one of the most common girls’ names in Turkey and has spread widely in Europe.
Are there any short moon names — two syllables or fewer?
Yes, many. One syllable: Luna (2 but fast), Mah (Persian), Dal (Korean), Kuu (Finnish), Io (Greek), Mene (Greek), Mona (Old English). Two syllables: Selene, Phoebe, Chandra, Ayla, Nour, Hina, Mahina, Tsuki, Leila, Badr, Chan. The list above includes names ranging from the ultra-minimal (Io, Dal, Mah) to the elaborate (Coyolxauhqui, Eileithyia).
What name means “moonlight” specifically, not just “moon”?
Several names specifically mean moonlight rather than the moon itself: Chandni (Hindi, “moonlight”), Jyotsna (Sanskrit, “moonlight”), Kaumudi (Sanskrit, “moonlight/full moon festival”), Mahtab (Persian, “moonlight”), Aynur (Turkish, “moonlight”), Chandrika (Sanskrit, “moonlight”), and Sasikala (Sanskrit, “moonbeam”). These are more specific than names meaning simply “moon” and carry a particular quality of light.
What Hawaiian name means moon?
Mahina is the Hawaiian word for moon and the name of the Hawaiian moon goddess. It’s gentle and beautiful and works easily in English-speaking contexts. Hina is the broader Polynesian moon goddess name used across Hawaii, Samoa, and other Pacific cultures. Mahealani is more elaborate, meaning “full moon night” — the specific night of the full moon in the traditional Hawaiian lunar calendar.
Is Selene or Selena the correct spelling of the moon name?
Both are correct — they’re two different names with a shared root. Selene is the original Greek spelling for the moon Titaness. Selena is the Spanish and English adaptation of that name, fully established as its own name in its own right. The two sound nearly identical in American English. Selena carries the cultural weight of Selena Quintanilla; Selene carries the weight of Greek mythology. Both are beautiful choices.
Final Thoughts
The moon rises every night without needing to explain itself. It’s been pulling the oceans and lighting the way home and giving people something to name their daughters (and sons) after since before there was a written language to record it. Whatever name you choose from this list — whether it’s a Sanskrit name your grandmother would recognize, a Welsh name from Arthurian legend, or a Hawaiian name that holds the Pacific in it — you’re giving your child something ancient and luminous. That’s not a small thing. The moon has staying power. So do the names that belong to it.
Read next;
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✨ Love these names? Create free printable nursery art for any name →
