If you’re someone with a deep appreciation of symmetry, this list of palindrome names is for you!
A palindrome is a word or phrase that can be read the same way in either direction, i.e., both forwards and backwards. For instance, the words “civic,” “kayak,” and “wow” are all palindromes.
Here are over 130 names (collected from the SSA’s huge database of U.S. baby names) that happen to be palindromes.
Palindrome names
- Aba
- Abba
- Ada
- Adda
- Aenea
- Afa
- Afifa
- Ahsha
- Aia
- Aicia
- Aidia
- Ailia
- Aisia
- Aja
- Ala
- Alala
- Aleela
- Alela
- Alila
- Alla
- Alula
- Alyla
- Ama
- Amima
- Amma
- Ana
- Anana
- Anina
- Anna
- Anona
- Ara
- Arbra
- Ardra
- Arora
- Arra
- Artra
- Asa
- Assa
- Ata
- Atta
- Ava
- Aviva
- Avva
- Awa
- Axa
- Aya
- Aza
- Azeeza
- Aziza
- Azza
- Bob
- Divid
- Ebbe
- Ebe
- Ebube
- Ece
- Ede
- Eevee
- Efe
- Ege
- Eillie
- Eimie
- Ele
- Elle
- Eme
- Emme
- Ese
- Eve
- Eze
- Habibah
- Halah
- Hallah
- Hanah
- Hannah
- Havah
- Hawah
- Hayah
- Idi
- Ireri
- Iri
- Itati
- Ivi
- Izzi
- Kanak
- Kerek
- Kilik
- Lal
- Laval
- Layal
- Ledel
- Lemel
- Lennel
- Lil
- Lul
- Luul
- Maham
- Maram
- Nalan
- Naman
- Nan
- Natan
- Navan
- Nayan
- Neven
- Nin
- Nitin
- Nivin
- Nixin
- Nolon
- Noon
- Nosson
- Nylyn
- Ororo
- Oso
- Oto
- Otto
- Pip
- Ramar
- Reber
- Reinier
- Rekker
- Remer
- Rener
- Renner
- Rever
- Sabas
- Sahas
- Saras
- Savas
- Savvas
- Silis
- Siris
- Sylys
- Talat
- Umu
- Viv
- Yanay
Two of the above, Ava and Hannah, happen to be very popular choices for baby girls at the moment.
Which palindrome name do you like best?
(And, did you know that pairs of names can be palindromes as well?)
Image: Adapted from Male northern pintail at Llano Seco by Frank Schulenburg under CC BY-SA 4.0.
[Latest update: April 2023]
Here are some longer one’s:
7-letter:
Asotosa
Habibah
6-letter:
Aleela
Ununa
Hannah
Nurrun
Maarten discovered what could be the *ultimate* palindrome name: Otto Otto.
Here are two more palindromic names I just spotted in Scotland’s 2015 rankings: Otuto and Umema. Both were used just once in Scotland last year.