This post contains affiliate links.
The 1960s and 70s counterculture didn’t just change music, politics, and fashion — it gave us some of the most interesting names in the American naming canon. Names that were handed to flower-crown-wearing, commune-living, peace-sign-flashing babies in 1969 are now being claimed with deliberate nostalgia by a new generation of parents who want something that feels rooted and free at the same time.
🔍 Curious how popular a name is?
Check any name's popularity trend since 1880 with our free Baby Name Popularity Checker.
When referencing popularity, I am referring to baby name data from Social Security Administration database in the United States for 2025, which is the most current year of data available.
Here’s what’s in store –
What makes a name feel hippie? It’s not just a flower or a season — it’s a particular sensibility. These names lean toward the natural world, toward Eastern spiritual traditions that were filtering into American culture at the time, toward freedom and peace and the idea that a name could be a whole philosophy. Sage, River, Lotus, Phoenix — names that were edgy in 1971 and now feel like the most natural things in the world to name a child.
The best hippie names have aged beautifully. Unlike some trends that feel trapped in their era, names from the counterculture movement tend to have deep roots — in Old English flora, Sanskrit spirituality, Greek mythology, or simple English vocabulary — that give them staying power. You’re not just picking something retro; you’re picking something with meaning layered into every syllable.
This list covers more than 200 names across every vibe within the genre — from the gentle floral names to the cosmic, from the earthy and wild to the peacefully spiritual. Some were genuinely popular at Woodstock. Others carry the same free-spirited energy in a more subtle package. All of them feel alive.
What’s Inside This Guide
– [Flower, Plant & Garden Names](#flower-plant-garden-names) — The original botanicals
– [Earth, Water & Wilderness Names](#earth-water-wilderness-names) — Rooted in the land
– [Sky, Stars & Cosmic Names](#sky-stars-cosmic-names) — For space-age dreamers
– [Peace, Love & Virtue Names](#peace-love-virtue-names) — Named for what matters
– [Birds & Wild Creatures](#birds-wild-creatures) — Free and untamed
– [Mystic, Spiritual & Eastern-Inspired Names](#mystic-spiritual-eastern) — From traditions the counterculture embraced
– [Counterculture Era & Musical Legacy Names](#counterculture-era-names) — Names that were *there*
– [Gender-Neutral Tree & Herb Names](#gender-neutral-tree-herb-names) — Earthy and unisex
Before we get into the full list — there are over 200 names here, which means at least a few will stop you mid-scroll. When one does, tap over to the Baby Name Checker to see how popular it is, whether it’s trending, and what real parents think of it.
Flower, Plant & Garden Names
The flower name tradition is older than the counterculture — Victorians were doing it a century before Woodstock — but the 1960s and 70s took it somewhere wilder. These weren’t the buttoned-up Rose and Lily of the parlor; these were Tansy and Rue and Bryony, names from hedgerows and meadows and apothecary shelves. They’ve aged gorgeously, and several are due for a serious comeback.
- Origin: Old English
- Meaning: From Old English *dæges ēage*, “day’s eye”
- Popularity: #76
The quintessential free-spirit flower name, warm and unassuming, never trying too hard.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: From *viola*, the small purple flower
- Popularity: #15
Elegantly pigmented, now in the top ten — and rightly so.
- Origin: Persian
- Meaning: From *yasamin*, a fragrant flowering vine
- Popularity: #199
The counterculture’s love of Eastern botanicals brought this name west in a wave of goodwill.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: The Greek goddess of the rainbow; also the purple bearded flower
- Popularity: #71
Timeless with a genuine wild streak.
- Origin: Latin: *Papaver*
- Meaning: The bright red field flower
- Popularity: #338
A beloved British hippie staple, now firmly crossing the Atlantic.
- Origin: Old English
- Meaning: The lucky three-leafed meadow plant
- Popularity: #618
Sweet, unusual, and genuinely vintage-feeling.
- Origin: Old English
- Meaning: A lush green woodland plant
- Popularity: #1261
Jane Eyre has it; Charlotte’s Web immortalized it — it belongs to the quiet and bookish free spirits.
- Origin: Old English
- Meaning: The flower of a fruit tree
- Popularity: #1952
Peak 1970s, cycling back with genuine force.
- Origin: Old English
- Meaning: A thorny wild plant of the rose family
- Popularity: #522
Edgy and pretty at once, like a rose that hasn’t been tamed.
- Origin: Old English
- Meaning: The graceful drooping tree
- Popularity: #41
One of the most beloved nature names of the past two decades, and it earned that affection.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: The Roman goddess of flowers
- Popularity: #648
Classical and earthy simultaneously — Botticelli’s Primavera energy in four letters.
- Origin: Old English/Latin compound
- Meaning: The vivid orange garden flower
- Popularity: #693
Warm, unusual, and not yet overused.
- Origin: German/Latin
- Meaning: A bright hardy garden flower named for German botanist J.G. Zinn
- Popularity: #1349
Spunky, colorful, and wildly underused.
- Origin: Swedish/Latin
- Meaning: The complex many-petaled flower named for Swedish botanist Anders Dahl
- Popularity: #240
Darker and richer than most florals.
- Origin: Old French: *lavandre*
- Meaning: The purple aromatic herb
- Popularity: #998
Soft and dreamy, with centuries of healing association behind it.
- Origin: French, after botanist Pierre Magnol
- Meaning: The ancient flowering tree
- Popularity: #138
Southern Gothic meets cosmic expansion.
- Origin: Greek: *lōtos*
- Meaning: The sacred water lily central to Buddhist and Hindu iconography
- Popularity: #1663
One of the most spiritually loaded names on this entire list.
- Origin: Old English
- Meaning: The climbing evergreen vine
- Popularity: #36
Literary, tenacious, beautiful — and it has a great nickname situation.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: From Latin *ros marinus*, “dew of the sea”
- Popularity: #301
The herb-as-name tradition at its most timeless.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: The small citrus, from Clement meaning “mild, merciful”
- Popularity: #477
Sun-soaked and melodic — you can’t say it without smiling.
- Origin: from Greek *athanasia*, “immortality”) (Greek
- Meaning: A bitter folk-medicine herb
- Popularity: #12007
Rare, historical, and unusually pretty.
- Origin: Latin, after botanist G.J. Kamel
- Meaning: A glossy-leaved flowering shrub
- Popularity: #1539
Elegant and slightly exotic.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: A healing herb with small clustered flowers
- Popularity: Rare
Old apothecary energy in a beautiful three-syllable package.
- Origin: Latin: *prima rosa*, “first rose”
- Meaning: The early spring flower
- Popularity: #2106
Delicate and literary.
- Origin: Old French: *surele*
- Meaning: A tart edible herb with arrow-shaped leaves
- Popularity: #14992
Spunky and unusual — sounds more like a name than it has any right to.
- Origin: Old English: *gearwe*
- Meaning: A feathery white healing herb
- Popularity: #8922
Used in folk medicine for thousands of years; sounds wonderfully unexpected as a name.
- Origin: Old English/Greek
- Meaning: A bitter aromatic herb; also means “regret”
- Popularity: #1241
Shakespeare gave it to Ophelia; hippie parents reclaimed it.
- Origin: Old French
- Meaning: The sweetbriar rose, famously fragrant in the wild
- Popularity: Rare
Shakespeare’s Titania mentions it — romantic and untamed.
- Origin: Greek: *Paeonia*
- Meaning: The lush, ruffled flowering plant
- Popularity: #17033
Grand and fragrant, increasingly appearing on birth certificates.
- Origin: Greek: *bryonia*
- Meaning: A climbing hedgerow plant
- Popularity: #9816
Rare and musical, with a soft woody sound.
- Origin: French
- Meaning: French for “flower”
- Popularity: #8592
Simple, radiant, and unmistakably French.
- Origin: Latin, after anatomist Caspar Wistar
- Meaning: The cascading purple flowering vine
- Popularity: Rare
Dreamy and romantic, genuinely rare as a name.
- Origin: Greek: *kalos*
- Meaning: From the calla lily; meaning “beautiful”
- Popularity: #1514
Simple, sleek, and quietly lovely.
- Origin: Greek: *aster*, “star”
- Meaning: The star-shaped daisy flower
- Popularity: #2745
Bridges the botanical and the cosmic perfectly.
- Origin: Old Norse/Latin
- Meaning: After the linden tree and the botanist Carl Linnaeus
- Popularity: #1608
Common in Scandinavia, rare and charming in English-speaking countries.
Earth, Water & Wilderness Names
Beyond the garden, the counterculture was drawn to the raw landscape — the canyon, the moor, the unnamed creek running through the back of someone’s commune property. These names feel like places you’d want to live, not just sounds you’d want to carry.
- Origin: Old English
- Meaning: A flowing body of water
- Popularity: #112
Beautiful for any gender and now firmly in the mainstream, for good reason.
- Origin: Old French: *forest*
- Meaning: A dense woodland
- Popularity: #724
Wild, spacious, and completely free.
- Origin: Old English: *stān*
- Meaning: Rock
- Popularity: #1048
Cool, spare, and genuinely 1970s-feeling.
- Origin: Greek: *Okeanos*, the Titan who personified all water
- Meaning: The vast salt water
- Popularity: #591
Large and beautiful, for a large and beautiful child.
- Origin: Old English: *brōc*
- Meaning: A small stream
- Popularity: #5634
Gentle, melodic, and underused.
- Origin: Scottish Gaelic: *gleann*
- Meaning: A narrow mountain valley
- Popularity: #2315
Woodsy, calm, and thoroughly Scots-British.
- Origin: Old English: *hǣth*
- Meaning: Open uncultivated land
- Popularity: #848
Wuthering Heights energy in one syllable.
- Origin: Old English: *clæg*
- Meaning: The earth material from which things are made
- Popularity: #543
Simple and grounded.
- Origin: Old English: *flint*
- Meaning: Hard, spark-making rock
- Popularity: #1970
Sturdy and wild.
- Origin: Old English: *hreod*
- Meaning: A tall slender marsh grass
- Popularity: #421
Musical and natural — works beautifully.
- Origin: Old English: *æsc*
- Meaning: The graceful deciduous tree
- Popularity: #1147
Light, sleek, and beautiful for any gender.
- Origin: Old English: *elm*
- Meaning: The tall vaulting tree beloved for its canopy
- Popularity: Rare
Simple and strong.
- Origin: Old French: *baie*
- Meaning: An arm of the sea; also the bay laurel tree
- Popularity: #6954
Short and vivid.
- Origin: Old English: *storm*
- Meaning: A violent weather disturbance
- Popularity: #1621
Bold, fierce, unforgettable.
- Origin: Old English: *regn*
- Meaning: Precipitation
- Popularity: #1394
Dreamy and clean.
- Origin: Old English: *mist*
- Meaning: Fine water vapor in the air
- Popularity: Rare
Ethereal and rare as a name.
- Origin: Spanish: *cañón*
- Meaning: A deep, steep-sided valley
- Popularity: #1433
Wide open and Western.
- Origin: Old English: *dæl*
- Meaning: A broad valley
- Popularity: #1306
Gentle and pastoral — used across the American Midwest for decades.
- Origin: Dutch: *duin*
- Meaning: A hill of sand shaped by wind
- Popularity: Rare
Clean and evocative.
- Origin: French: *prairie*
- Meaning: A vast grassland
- Popularity: #4434
Unusual vocabulary name with a wide-open, American feeling.
- Origin: Old English: *val*
- Meaning: A valley
- Popularity: #6886
Soft and pastoral.
- Origin: Old English: *mōr*
- Meaning: Open rolling highland
- Popularity: Rare
Brontë energy and earthy freedom.
- Origin: Old English: *grāf*
- Meaning: A small group of trees
- Popularity: Rare
Quiet and wooded.
- Origin: Old English: *clif*
- Meaning: A steep rock face
- Popularity: #2995
Strong and natural.
- Origin: Old English: *hrycg*
- Meaning: The high line of a hill
- Popularity: #528
Strong and outdoorsy.
- Origin: Middle English
- Meaning: An open, light-filled space in a forest
- Popularity: #12705
Peaceful and dappled, like the name itself.
- Origin: Spanish: *mesa*
- Meaning: A flat-topped hill surrounded by desert
- Popularity: #5533
Southwestern and strong.
- Origin: Latin: *sylvanus*
- Meaning: Of or relating to a forest
- Popularity: #1911
More adjective than name on paper, but it lands beautifully as either.
- Origin: Old English: *mersc*
- Meaning: A wetland area
- Popularity: #8083
Unusual as a name, earthy and strong.
Sky, Stars & Cosmic Names
The counterculture was obsessed with astrology — and not just sun signs. The planets, the constellations, the cosmic order of things felt deeply spiritual to a generation that had just watched humans walk on the moon. These names carry that sense of wonder.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: The moon
- Popularity: #13
Once the domain of Italian grandmothers, now one of the most popular names in America — and it deserves every bit of it.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: The Roman goddess of the dawn
- Popularity: #16
Spectacular and luminous.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: Latin for “star”
- Popularity: #49
From Tennessee Williams to the 1970s communes and back into the mainstream.
- Origin: Latin: *nova stella*, “new star”
- Meaning: A star that suddenly blazes brighter
- Popularity: #39
Scientific and beautiful.
- Origin: French
- Meaning: French for “sun”
- Popularity: #824
Melodic, warm, and entirely sun-drenched.
- Origin: Latin: *caelestis*
- Meaning: Meaning “heavenly”
- Popularity: #198
Light and ethereal.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: The constellation named for Orpheus’s lyre
- Popularity: #482
Musical and celestial simultaneously.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: The great hunter constellation
- Popularity: #325
Mythological and strong, beloved by space-minded parents.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: The mythical bird that rises from ashes; also a Southern constellation
- Popularity: #275
Both cosmic and deeply symbolic of rebirth.
- Origin: Greek: *Zephyros*
- Meaning: The west wind, personified in Greek mythology
- Popularity: #1133
Breezy, free, and genuinely beautiful.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: From *kosmos*, “order, universe”
- Popularity: #1683
Wearing the whole universe as a name.
- Origin: Latin: *solstitium*
- Meaning: The longest or shortest day of the year
- Popularity: #6870
A bold vocabulary name with deep cosmic resonance.
- Origin: Greek: *alkyon*
- Meaning: A mythical bird believed to calm the winter seas around the solstice
- Popularity: Rare
Means peace and tranquility; the phrase “halcyon days” comes from this bird.
- Origin: Greek: *Seirios*, “glowing”
- Meaning: The brightest star in the night sky, in Canis Major
- Popularity: #2657
For the stargazing parent who means it.
- Origin: Arabic: *wāqi’*, “the falling eagle”
- Meaning: The fifth-brightest star, in the constellation Lyra
- Popularity: #3944
Clean, strong, and deeply starry.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Welsh for “star”
- Popularity: #4631
Small, perfect, and increasingly used beyond Wales.
- Origin: Latin: *vesper*
- Meaning: The evening star — Venus at dusk
- Popularity: #2789
Darkly beautiful and underused in North America.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: A star in the Pleiades cluster; “bright, shining”
- Popularity: #9068
Dramatic and luminous.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: One of Jupiter’s largest moons; also a nymph in Greek mythology
- Popularity: #12592
Feminine and cosmic.
- Origin: Latin/Spanish
- Meaning: Latin and Spanish for “sun”
- Popularity: #819
Simple and radiant — the shortest possible sun name.
- Origin: Arabic: *samt*
- Meaning: The highest point in the sky directly overhead
- Popularity: #2906
Aspirational in the most literal sense.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: From Greek *Chryseis*, “golden”; the tragic Trojan princess of Shakespeare
- Popularity: #12408
Literary and unusual, with a timeless sound.
- Origin: Greek: *komētēs*, “long-haired”
- Meaning: A celestial body with a blazing tail
- Popularity: Rare
Rare and vivid as a name.
- Origin: Greek: *aithēr*, “upper air, pure light”
- Meaning: The pure upper sky in Greek cosmology
- Popularity: Rare
Celestial and philosophical.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: A variant of Stella, “star”
- Popularity: #501
Dickens’s Estella gets an icy reputation; the name itself is warm.
- Origin: Latin: *meridianus*
- Meaning: The arc the sun traces at solar noon
- Popularity: #9982
Unusual and striking.
- Origin: Latin
- Meaning: The constellation meaning “sails,” from the ancient Argo Navis
- Popularity: #5925
Rare and quietly beautiful.
- Origin: French: *rêverie*
- Meaning: A daydream, a state of blissful abstraction
- Popularity: #2291
Not a celestial name technically, but nothing feels more cosmic.
- Origin: Latin: *polaris*
- Meaning: The North Star; the fixed point around which all others rotate
- Popularity: Rare
Directional, ancient, and strong.
Peace, Love & Virtue Names
Some parents in the 1960s and 70s named their children directly for the values they were living and fighting for. These are real names with real histories — some very old, some genuinely coined by the counterculture. What they share is an aspiration: a name as a wish.
- Origin: Greek: *harmonia*
- Meaning: Musical or cosmic agreement
- Popularity: #264
Sweet and balanced; occasionally surprising in how well it wears.
- Origin: Latin: *serenitas*
- Meaning: The state of calm and peace
- Popularity: #117
Spiritually inclined and beautiful.
– **Peace** — English vocabulary, from Latin *pax*. Rare and powerful, genuinely used in the counterculture era.
- Origin: Old English: *frēodōm*
- Meaning: English vocabulary
- Popularity: #6255
Bold and unmistakably 1970s commune energy.
- Origin: Latin: *libertas*
- Meaning: Freedom personified
- Popularity: #982
Has strong early-American and counterculture layers at once.
- Origin: Latin: *unitas*
- Meaning: The state of being one
- Popularity: #4098
Simple, powerful, and meaningful.
– **True** — Old English vocabulary meaning faithful, genuine. Spare and sincere — says everything in four letters.
- Origin: Old English: *bliss*
- Meaning: Perfect happiness
- Popularity: #2192
Short, sweet, and completely on-theme.
- Origin: Old French: *joie*
- Meaning: Happiness personified
- Popularity: #442
One of the most enduring virtue names, never fully out of fashion.
- Origin: Latin: *amicitas*
- Meaning: Friendly, peaceful relations between people or nations
- Popularity: #3045
Genuinely rare and historic-feeling.
- Origin: Latin: *veritas*
- Meaning: Truth
- Popularity: #1875
British vintage with philosophical weight.
- Origin: Latin: *gratia*
- Meaning: Favor, blessing, elegance
- Popularity: #40
A virtue name that transcends any single era.
- Origin: Old English
- Meaning: Complete trust
- Popularity: #249
Foundational and warm.
- Origin: Old English
- Meaning: Optimistic expectation
- Popularity: #317
The most essential of the virtue names.
- Origin: Old English: *dufe*
- Meaning: The bird of peace
- Popularity: #1625
Rare as a given name but perfectly on-theme.
- Origin: Latin: *solacium*
- Meaning: Comfort in grief or difficulty
- Popularity: #6399
Unusual and deeply meaningful.
- Origin: Latin: *nobilis*
- Meaning: Of high moral character
- Popularity: #1233
Vocabulary-as-name tradition at its most direct.
- Origin: Latin: *justitia*
- Meaning: Fairness
- Popularity: #1079
Now very much a name, especially for boys.
- Origin: Latin: *claritas*
- Meaning: Clear, sharp, and honest
- Popularity: #2887
Unusual and purposeful.
- Origin: Old English: *eornest*
- Meaning: Serious and sincere
- Popularity: #5489
Victorian but sincere — Oscar Wilde notwithstanding.
- Origin: Latin: *valor*
- Meaning: Courage, bravery
- Popularity: #1463
Strong and meaningful, especially for boys.
- Origin: Old French: *loial*
- Meaning: Faithful
- Popularity: #877
More name than adjective when it lands right.
- Origin: Latin: *serenus*
- Meaning: Calm and peaceful
- Popularity: #1708
Quieter and more contained than Serenity.
- Origin: Old French: *tendre*
- Meaning: Gentle, caring
- Popularity: Rare
Unusual as a name, but it has been used — and the meaning is the most beautiful thing imaginable to name someone.
Birds & Wild Creatures
There’s something perfectly hippie about naming a child after a creature that can’t be owned — that belongs to the sky and the field and the forest floor. These animal names carry that same free-ranging energy.
- Origin: Old English: *wrenna*
- Meaning: A small, feisty songbird with an outsized voice
- Popularity: #213
Compact and musical.
- Origin: Old French: *Robin*
- Meaning: The red-breasted songbird
- Popularity: #799
Classic in England; the counterculture had it before gender-neutral naming was mainstream.
- Origin: Old English: *lǣwerce*
- Meaning: A cheerful songbird associated with dawn
- Popularity: #3534
Cheerful and literary — Edith Wharton used it.
- Origin: Old English: *spearwa*
- Meaning: A common, resilient songbird
- Popularity: #3554
Captain Jack Sparrow complicated this briefly; it’s recovering beautifully.
- Origin: Old English: *stærlinc*
- Meaning: A small, iridescent, murmuring songbird
- Popularity: #10730
Musical and free.
- Origin: Old French: *criquet*
- Meaning: The chirping insect of summer nights
- Popularity: #8148
Small, lively, and unexpected.
- Origin: Old English: *fox*
- Meaning: The cunning wild mammal
- Popularity: #1111
Cool, sleek, and increasingly popular.
- Origin: Old English: *wulf*
- Meaning: The wild predator that travels in community
- Popularity: #1812
Powerful and untamed.
- Origin: Old English: *bera*
- Meaning: The large wild mammal
- Popularity: #826
Strong, warm, and protective — this one has grandpa energy in the best way.
- Origin: Old English: *hafoc*
- Meaning: A bird of prey with extraordinary vision
- Popularity: #3343
Sharp, free, and strong.
- Origin: Old English: *hrǣfn*
- Meaning: The large black corvid of myth, magic, and intelligence
- Popularity: #388
Dark and mythological.
- Origin: Old English: *finc*
- Meaning: A small seed-eating songbird
- Popularity: #5101
Gentle and musical; Atticus Finch gave it moral weight.
- Origin: Old English: *swift*
- Meaning: The fast-flying, sky-dwelling bird
- Popularity: Rare
Quick and free — a bird that barely touches the ground.
- Origin: Old English: *cran*
- Meaning: A large, elegant wading bird
- Popularity: Rare
Graceful and ancient.
- Origin: Old French: *faon*
- Meaning: A young deer
- Popularity: #5656
Gentle, delicate, and nature-rooted.
- Origin: Old French: *linette*, “flax bird”
- Meaning: A small, sweet-voiced songbird
- Popularity: #19315
Rare and beautiful — Yeats wrote about Linnet in “The White Birds.”
- Origin: Latin: *Martinus*
- Meaning: A type of swallow, the house martin
- Popularity: #308
A saint’s name that doubles as a bird, with civil rights movement resonance through Dr. King.
- Origin: Old English: *colt*
- Meaning: A young male horse, wild and unbroken
- Popularity: #276
Free, Western, and genuinely strong.
Mystic, Spiritual & Eastern-Inspired Names
Perhaps the most distinctive contribution of the counterculture to baby naming: the wave of Sanskrit, Buddhist, Hindu, and Sufi-influenced names that came west with the Maharishi, Ram Dass, and a generation of seekers. These names carry extraordinary depth of meaning. They deserve to be used thoughtfully — and when they are, they’re among the most beautiful names in any tradition.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: Peace
- Popularity: #6339
From the Hindu and Buddhist closing mantra *shanti, shanti, shanti* — peace at every level of being.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: Bliss, divine happiness
- Popularity: #13561
The name of the Buddha’s most devoted disciple; means joy that doesn’t depend on circumstances.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: The spiritual principle of cause and effect
- Popularity: #1464
Now so thoroughly in Western vocabulary that it functions easily as a name.
- Origin: Sanskrit/Hebrew/Greek
- Meaning: In Hindu philosophy, the cosmic illusion; also “water” in Hebrew and “good mother” in Greek
- Popularity: #51
Richly layered across three traditions.
- Origin: Sanskrit/Pali
- Meaning: Awakening, enlightenment
- Popularity: #302
The Bodhi tree was where the Buddha became enlightened — this is the moment of becoming.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: A ray of light
- Popularity: #1344
Warm and luminous, widely beloved in South Asia.
- Origin: Sanskrit/Pali
- Meaning: The state of liberation from suffering
- Popularity: #2204
The ultimate spiritual goal — and one of the greatest bands ever. Both meanings land.
- Origin: Sanskrit/Celtic/Irish
- Meaning: Star; also the Buddhist bodhisattva of compassion; also the Irish sacred hill
- Popularity: #1021
This name holds multiple traditions in one word.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: The earth mother goddess in Greek cosmology
- Popularity: #1147
The planet as deity — the name that best embodies ecological consciousness.
- Origin: Egyptian: *Auset*
- Meaning: The Egyptian goddess of magic, healing, and motherhood
- Popularity: #1082
A name of extraordinary power and antiquity — parents today often use it as a middle name given recent associations, but its 5,000-year history is profound.
- Origin: the Byzantine world) (Persian/Turkish
- Meaning: The 13th-century Sufi poet and mystic Jalāl ad-Dīn Rūmī; the name means “from Rum”
- Popularity: #1718
Literary and spiritual.
- Origin: Multi-cultural
- Meaning: Eternal, immortal — appears in Igbo, Sanskrit, Greek, and Yoruba traditions
- Popularity: #121
Beautifully multi-rooted.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: Beloved
- Popularity: #1857
Warm and tender, one of the most common names in South Asia for good reason.
- Origin: Sanskrit/Hindi
- Meaning: Love
- Popularity: #6376
Simple and profound — love itself as a name.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: A divine being or deity
- Popularity: #10457
Celestial and powerful.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: The sun; the Hindu sun deity
- Popularity: #2696
Radiant and mythological.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: The moon; the Hindu moon deity
- Popularity: #11381
Beautiful and cosmic — the gentle counterpart to Surya.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: Bright, shining; the great hero of the Bhagavad Gita
- Popularity: #7785
Strong and storied.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: The pole star; unwavering, immovable
- Popularity: #2794
In Hindu mythology, the boy Dhruva became the north star for his devotion — celestial and profound.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: The lord of heaven, thunder, and lightning in Hindu cosmology
- Popularity: #5736
Powerful and cosmic.
- Origin: Phoenician
- Meaning: The Phoenician and Canaanite goddess of love and war
- Popularity: Rare
One of the oldest goddess names in recorded history.
- Origin: Arabic/Hebrew
- Meaning: Brightness, flower in Arabic; “princess” in Hebrew
- Popularity: #234
Translucent and beautiful across two traditions.
- Origin: Arabic/Persian
- Meaning: One who has memorized the Quran; the name taken by the beloved 14th-century Persian poet
- Popularity: #10221
Literary, reverential, and profound.
- Origin: wool, the cloth of mystics); relating to the Islamic mystical tradition (Arabic
- Meaning: From Arabic *sūf*
- Popularity: Rare
Rare and deeply meaningful, especially for families with a connection to this tradition.
- Origin: Sanskrit
- Meaning: One who has attained spiritual perfection
- Popularity: Rare
Unusual, profound, and genuinely beautiful.
Counterculture Era & Musical Legacy Names
Some names are inseparable from the era itself — they were coined by commune-dwellers, popularized by musicians, or became symbols of the movement so thoroughly that to use them now is a deliberate act of nostalgia. A few are surnames reclaimed as first names, honoring specific figures who shaped the counterculture sound.
- Origin: Old English: *mona*
- Meaning: Earth’s natural satellite
- Popularity: #3355
Frank Zappa named his daughter Moon Unit in 1967; nothing is more deliberately counterculture.
- Origin: Old English: *regnboga*
- Meaning: The arc of spectral colors after rain
- Popularity: #9392
Joyful, colorful, and definitively 1970s.
- Origin: Old English compound
- Meaning: The light and warmth of the sun
- Popularity: #2682
Warm and optimistic — and there were genuinely children named this.
- Origin: Arabic: *za’farān*
- Meaning: The golden spice from crocus stamens
- Popularity: #5564
Groovy and golden, popularized further in Britain by The Young Ones’ hippy character.
- Origin: Greek: *indikon*
- Meaning: The deep blue-purple dye from the indigo plant
- Popularity: #923
Rich and unusual; increasingly popular now.
- Origin: Greek
- Meaning: Clear quartz; from Greek *krystallos*
- Popularity: #1176
Quintessentially 1970s and experiencing a genuine revival.
- Origin: Arabic: *anbar*
- Meaning: The fossilized tree resin
- Popularity: #541
Warm, golden, and deeply 1970s — one of the defining names of the era.
- Origin: Old English: *sumor*
- Meaning: The warm season
- Popularity: #142
Nostalgic and warm, always feels sun-drenched.
- Origin: Latin: *autumnus*
- Meaning: The harvest season
- Popularity: #79
Melancholy and beautiful, beloved by the more literary end of the counterculture.
- Origin: Spanish: *brisa*
- Meaning: A gentle wind
- Popularity: #3794
Light and carefree.
- Origin: Old Norse: *ský*
- Meaning: The upper atmosphere
- Popularity: #828
Simple and expansive — few words carry more freedom.
- Origin: Old English: *frēo*
- Meaning: The English adjective as a name
- Popularity: #14000
Pure and direct — it was genuinely used in the 1970s.
- Origin: Italian: *sonetto*
- Meaning: A fourteen-line poem
- Popularity: #6106
Literary and musical.
- Origin: Greek: *lyrikos*
- Meaning: A musical poem or verse
- Popularity: #594
Musical and free-spirited; the most used of the artistic vocabulary names.
- Origin: Greek: *poiētēs*
- Meaning: One who writes poetry
- Popularity: #4822
Rare and intentional — for the parent who means it.
- Origin: Old English: *stær*
- Meaning: A narrative
- Popularity: #1590
Warm, open, and deeply meaningful for a generation that believed in personal narrative.
- Origin: Old English: *lēaf*
- Meaning: Part of a plant
- Popularity: #13277
Simple and natural — Joaquin Phoenix was born Leaf Phoenix before reclaiming his name.
- Origin: French: *turquoise*, “Turkish stone”
- Meaning: The blue-green mineral
- Popularity: #19394
Southwestern and psychedelic; genuinely striking as a name.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Son of the sea” in Welsh mythology
- Popularity: #28
Bob Dylan gave this name its counterculture immortality in the early 1960s.
- Origin: Irish
- Meaning: From Irish *leanán*, “sweetheart, lover”; a surname made famous by John
- Popularity: #237
Peace, music, and activism all at once.
- Origin: Old English/Jamaican
- Meaning: A meadow near a lake; the surname Bob Marley made synonymous with peace and liberation
- Popularity: #287
Warm and musical.
- Origin: Henry); immortalized by Jimi Hendrix (Dutch/Germanic
- Meaning: Derived from Hendrik
- Popularity: #296
Musical and effortlessly cool.
Gender-Neutral Tree & Herb Names
Trees and herbs were the herbalists’ pharmacy, the commune garden’s backbone, and the forest walker’s constant companions. These names feel earthy and unisex, belonging to everyone and no one in particular.
- Origin: Latin: *cedrus*, from Greek
- Meaning: A fragrant, durable evergreen
- Popularity: #1197
Unisex and wonderfully earthy.
- Origin: Latin: *juniperus*
- Meaning: A spiny evergreen shrub with aromatic berries
- Popularity: #111
Sharp, woodsy, and growing fast in popularity.
- Origin: Old English: *beorc*
- Meaning: The silver-barked deciduous tree
- Popularity: #9873
Clean, spare, and Scandinavian-feeling.
- Origin: Latin: *Salvia*/Old French: *sage*
- Meaning: An aromatic healing herb; also meaning “wise one”
- Popularity: #146
Both a botanical and a virtue name at once.
- Origin: Old English: *hæsel*
- Meaning: The nut-bearing shrub, used to make divining rods
- Popularity: #19
Perfectly balanced between vintage and modern.
- Origin: Old Norse: *reynir*
- Meaning: The mountain ash tree with protective red berries in Celtic lore
- Popularity: #71
Beautiful for any gender.
- Origin: Old English: *alor*
- Meaning: The moisture-loving tree of riverbanks
- Popularity: #1421
Less common than its cousins but strong and earthy.
- Origin: Old English: *æspe*
- Meaning: The trembling poplar whose leaves quiver in the slightest air
- Popularity: #265
Delicate and musical.
- Origin: Old English: *mapultreow*
- Meaning: The syrup-producing tree of the northern forest
- Popularity: #1188
Sweet and strong simultaneously.
- Origin: Latin: *pinus*
- Meaning: The fragrant evergreen
- Popularity: Rare
Spare and aromatic — one syllable, one image.
- Origin: Old High German: *linta*
- Meaning: The lime tree, associated with love and healing across European folk traditions
- Popularity: #1548
Soft and melodic.
- Origin: Greek: *kyparissos*
- Meaning: The tall, elegant dark evergreen of Mediterranean landscapes
- Popularity: #1416
Elegant and unusual as a name.
- Origin: Old English: *thistel*
- Meaning: The spiky Scottish wildflower
- Popularity: Rare
Bold and wild — the national flower of Scotland.
- Origin: Greek: *basileus*, “king”
- Meaning: The aromatic culinary and sacred herb
- Popularity: #2009
Classic name plus beloved herb — a happy accident.
- Origin: Greek: *thymos*, “courage, spirit”
- Meaning: The fragrant culinary herb
- Popularity: Rare
Spare and aromatic; the meaning is hidden treasure.
- Origin: Latin: *Salvia sclarea*
- Meaning: A variety of flowering sage
- Popularity: #7648
Rare and herbal, with a soft sound.
- Origin: Greek: *anison*
- Meaning: The licorice-flavored herb and seed
- Popularity: #15431
Sweet, unusual, and quietly striking.
- Origin: Old English: *hǣddre*
- Meaning: The flowering shrub of Scottish and English moors
- Popularity: #1352
A 1970s name that’s slowly, quietly returning.
- Origin: Old Norse: *mosi*
- Meaning: The soft green ground-cover plant
- Popularity: #6065
Simple, soft, and wonderfully earthy — rare as a name but memorable.
- Origin: Old Norse: *brakni*
- Meaning: A large coarse fern found on hillsides and open moors
- Popularity: #12497
Wild and unusual.
- Origin: from Old French *Pruce*, “Prussia”
- Meaning: The tall fragrant evergreen of northern forests
- Popularity: Rare
Clean and aromatic, with a spare, strong sound.
How to Choose a Name From This List
With 200+ names in front of you, the instinct is to compare and rank. Don’t. Instead, read through the list once quickly and note every name that creates a physical reaction — a small jolt, a warmth, an “oh.” Those are your real candidates.
After that first pass, go back to your short list and say each name out loud. Not once, but many times: as a greeting, as a reprimand, as a whisper at three in the morning. A name that sounds beautiful in your head doesn’t always feel right in your throat.
Consider what the name will mean in the specific life your child will live — not just the feeling you want it to carry, but the real-world settings: the kindergarten classroom, the job interview, the introduction at a party. Many of these names have been given to real children who grew into real adults, and most of them report their unusual names as gifts, not burdens. But it’s worth thinking about.
Pay attention to what the name means rather than just how it sounds. A name like Ananda (bliss) or Verity (truth) gives your child a daily reminder of what you wished for them. That’s different from a name you liked because it sounded cool — and it tends to age better.
Finally, trust your gut over any external opinion. The people who have strong feelings about what you should name your baby will have forgotten their opinions within about six weeks of the birth. You will say this name ten thousand times.
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 exactly makes a baby name a “hippie name”?
There’s no official definition, but hippie names tend to share a few qualities: they draw from the natural world (plants, weather, landscapes), from Eastern spiritual traditions, from abstract values like peace or freedom, or from the music and culture of the 1960s-70s counterculture movement. The spirit is anti-establishment and pro-meaning — names that feel like they were chosen because of what they stand for, not because they were fashionable in a conventional sense.
Are hippie baby names still popular in 2026?
Many of them are at peak popularity right now. Names like Willow, Luna, Aurora, Bodhi, River, Sage, and Violet are in the top 100 in multiple English-speaking countries. The broader category of nature names, virtue names, and celestial names is arguably the dominant naming trend of the 2020s — which means that picking from this list today puts you firmly in the current mainstream, not outside it. The more unusual picks (Tansy, Halcyon, Yarrow, Aether) are genuinely rare and give you more distinctiveness.
Do hippie names work professionally? Will my kid be taken seriously?
The research on unusual names and professional outcomes is genuinely mixed, and names that seemed risky a generation ago are now completely normalized. River Phoenix became Joaquin Phoenix, a multiple Academy Award nominee. Luna, Violet, and Sage are used by senators, surgeons, and CEOs. The names on the unusual end of this list — Solstice, Halcyon, Aether — will stand out, but standing out is not the same as being taken less seriously. The bigger practical consideration: spell it clearly, make the pronunciation obvious, and your child will handle it fine.
Can boys have floral or traditionally feminine hippie names?
Absolutely, and the counterculture itself didn’t draw many of these lines. Boys named Sage, Cedar, Robin, Indigo, Bay, and even Briar were part of the original movement. Many of the nature names and virtue names on this list are completely unisex. The bird names (Wren, Lark, Robin) and tree names (Rowan, Cedar, Birch, Ash) in particular work beautifully for boys.
What are some good hippie middle name combinations?
Some pairings that work well: Luna Sage, River Stone, Violet Rain, Orion Fox, Bodhi Cedar, Aurora Wren, Juniper Moon, Phoenix Vale. The general principle: if the first name is long and flowing (Serenity, Magnolia, Lavender), the middle name can be short and grounded (True, Fox, Bay). If the first name is spare (Ash, Rain, Free), the middle name can expand (River, Canyon, Harmony).
Is it cultural appropriation to use Sanskrit or Eastern names?
This is a question worth sitting with honestly. Names like Bodhi, Shanti, Karma, and Maya are now so thoroughly part of Western culture — through decades of adoption, through the music and literature and spiritual practices that crossed over — that most people consider them freely accessible. Names that carry deep specific religious meaning within a living tradition (like names that are sacred titles rather than general vocabulary) deserve more thoughtfulness. The best approach: know what the name means, treat it with respect, and if someone from that tradition tells you the name carries significance you should understand, listen. Names like Maya and Kiran have been used by families of all backgrounds for fifty years without controversy.
What if I love the vibe but want something less unusual?
The good news: this category has a wide spectrum. If you want the energy without the risk, reach for the names that are currently popular — Willow, Luna, Aurora, Violet, Hazel, River, Bodhi, Phoenix. These carry all the hippie spirit and none of the “how do you spell that?” moment. If you want something slightly more distinctive without being truly rare, the botanical middle tier is excellent: Iris, Fern, Rowan, Cedar, Marigold, Lyra. Save Yarrow, Halcyon, and Aether for parents who are genuinely committed to the unusual.
Final Thoughts
The hippie naming tradition at its best was about one thing: intentionality. Choosing a name not because it was conventional or because it sounded impressive, but because it meant something — because it carried a wish, a worldview, a whole way of being in relation to the natural world and to each other. That intention is what makes names like Bodhi, Harmony, Willow, and Lotus feel just as alive today as they did fifty years ago. Whatever you choose from this list, choose it because you mean it — and your child will grow into the meaning.
Read next; 🌷 85 Cute Unisex Baby Names Going *Viral* in 2026 🎀 85+ *Beautiful* Black Baby Girl Names with Powerful Meanings 💖 100+ *Beautiful* Hawaiian Baby Names (with Meanings)
✨ Love these names? Create free printable nursery art for any name →
