Tag: neela

Looking for baby names that are associated with blue — including baby names that mean “blue”?

If so, you’re in the right place! I’ve collected dozens of ideas for you in this post.

Before we get to the names, though, let’s take a quick look at what the color blue represents…

Symbolism of blue

What does the color blue signify?

In Western cultures in particular, blue can be symbolic of:

• Trust
• Calm
• Sadness
• Peace
• Loyalty
• Depth
• Authenticity

It can also be associated with melancholy. “To have the blues,” for instance, is an expression meaning “to feel sad.”

Top baby names associated with blue

To determine the top blue names, I first took into account the fact that certain names have a stronger connection to the color than other names. (I also did this for the top purple names and orange names.)

With this in mind, here are the top baby names that have an obvious association with the color blue:

1. Ocean
2. Navy
3. Sky
4. Indigo
5. Sapphire

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Now here are the same five names again, but this time around I’ve added some details (including definitions, rankings, and popularity graphs).

Ocean

The word ocean refers to the vast body of salt water that covers over 70% of the earth’s surface — or to any of the five large bodies of water (Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Antarctic, or Arctic) into which it is divided.

Ocean is currently the 711st most popular boy name and 877th most popular girl name in the U.S.

Navy

In the mid-18th century, officers in Britain’s Royal Navy began wearing uniforms that were dyed blue with indigo. The pigment was particularly colorfast (i.e., able to withstand exposure to sun and salt water), so, over time, other countries began to use it for naval dress as well. The dark shade of blue eventually came to be known as “navy blue.”

The word navy refers to a country’s collective sea force. It comes (via French) from the Latin word navigia, meaning “vessels, ships, boats.”

Navy is currently the 452nd most popular girl name in the nation.

Sky

The word sky refers to the upper atmosphere, which is bright blue on clear days. It’s based on the Old Norse word ský, which meant “cloud” (ironically).

Sky is currently the 717th most popular girl name in the U.S.

Indigo

The word indigo refers to flowering plants of the genus Indigofera — particularly the species Indigofera tinctoria — or to the dye made from the leaves of these plants. By extension, it also refers to the purplish-blue color of this dye.

The name of the plant can be traced back to the ancient Greek word Indikón, meaning “Indian,” as the plant is native to India. (It’s no coincidence that the British Royal Navy began using indigo dye extensively during the years that the British East India Company was gaining control over the Indian subcontinent.)

Indigo is currently the 906th most popular girl name in the nation.

Sapphire

The word sapphire refers to the blue variety of the mineral corundum. By extension, it also refers to the blue color of these crystals.

The name of the stone can be traced back to the ancient Greek word sappheiros, which is thought to have referred to lapis lazuli originally (not to sapphire as we know it today).

Sapphire is currently the 1,103rd most popular girl name in the U.S.

More names associated with blue

All the names below have an association with the color blue. The names range from traditional to unusual, and their associations range from strong to slight.

Those that have been popular enough to appear in the U.S. baby name data are linked to their corresponding popularity graphs.

• Aciano is the Spanish word for cornflower (Centaurea cyanus), a species of plant with flowers that are usually blue.
• Afina is a Romanian feminine name meaning “blueberry.”
• Alice is part of “Alice blue” — a shade of blue named after Alice Roosevelt (the oldest daughter of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt) in the mid-1910s. It was inspired by either the blue of Alice’s eyes or the blue of one of her dresses, sources disagree. The name Alice ultimately derives from the Germanic name Adalheidis, meaning “noble character” or “nobleness.”

• Ao is a Japanese name that can mean “blue,” depending upon the kanji being used to write the name.
  • Aomi is a Japanese name that can include the element Ao.
  • Aori is another Japanese name that can include the element Ao.
• Aqua is a greenish-blue color. The name of the shade comes from the Latin word aqua, meaning “water.”
• Asuman is a Turkish feminine name meaning “sky.”
• Azure is a sky-blue color. The name of the shade ultimately derives from the Persian word lazaward, which referred to lapis lazuli.
  • Azul is the Spanish word for Azure.
  • Azur is the French word for Azure.
  • Azzurro (masculine) and Azzurra (feminine) are the Italian words for Azure.

• Beryl is a mineral that can be blue. (Blue beryl is often called “aquamarine.”) The name of the mineral ultimately comes from the ancient Greek word beryllos.
• Blue, of course, refers to the color blue. :)
• Bluebell flowers are blue. “Bluebell” is the common name of plants of various genera (including Hyacinthoides).
• Bluebird is a type of bird with predominantly blue plumage. “Bluebird” is the common name of birds in the North American genus Sialia.
• Bluejay is another type of bird with predominantly blue plumage. “Bluejay” is the common name of the bird species Cyanocitta cristata.

• Caelum is the Latin word for “sky, heaven.” (Though it’s used as a name in modern-day America, it was simply a vocabulary word in ancient Rome.)
  • Cielo is a modern Spanish feminine name based on caelum.
• Cerulean is a sky-blue color. The word may ultimately be derived from caelum.
• Chicory flowers are typically blue. “Chicory” is the common name of the plant species Cichorium intybus.
• Chóro is a Hopi name meaning “blue-bird.”
  • Chórzhoya is a Hopi name meaning “little blue-bird.”
• Cobalt is a vivid shade of blue. Cobalt pigment was originally made from the metallic element cobalt.
• Cyan is the greenish-blue color halfway between blue and green on the visible spectrum. The name of the shade comes from the ancient Greek word kyanos, meaning “dark blue.”

• Darya (pronounced dar-YOH) is a Persian feminine name meaning “sea, ocean.”
• Denim fabric is traditionally blue, as it was originally dyed with indigo. The name of the textile is derived from the French phrase serge de Nîmes, which referred to fabric produced in Nîmes, a town in southern France.
• Deniz (pronounced deh-neez) is a Turkish gender-neutral name meaning “ocean.”

• Fayruz is an Arabic feminine name meaning “turquoise (the stone).”

• Gentian (pronounced jen-shun) flowers are often blue. According to Pliny, the genus Gentiana was named in honor of Illyrian king Gentius, who is said to have discovered the plant’s medicinal properties. The name Gentian is traditional in Albania, the territory of which was inhabited by Illyrian tribes during ancient times.
  • Gentiana is the modern Albanian feminine form of Gentian.
• Glory (besides being a vocabulary word) is part of “morning glory” — the common name of flowering plants in the family Convolvulaceae. Morning glory flowers are sometimes blue.
• Gökçe (pronounced gok-cheh) is a Turkish gender-neutral name meaning “sky blue.”

• Haneul is a Korean gender-neutral name meaning “sky.”
• Hyacinth flowers are sometimes blue. The genus Hyacinthus was named for the plant’s association with the myth of Hyacinthus (who was one of the lovers of Apollo in Greek mythology).

• Jurate (pronounced YOO-rah-teh) is a Lithuanian feminine name based on the word jura, meaning “sea.”

• Kekai is a Hawaiian gender-neutral name meaning “the sea.”
• Kallfu is a Mapuche feminine name based on the word kallfü, meaning “blue.”
  • Kallfuray is a Mapuche feminine name meaning “blue flower.”
• Kyanite is a mineral that is usually blue. The name of the mineral is based on the ancient Greek word kyanos, meaning “dark blue.”

• Lafken is a Mapuche name meaning “sea, ocean.”
• Larimar is a light blue variety of the mineral pectolite. Its name, coined in the 1970s, is a combination of Larissa (the name of the daughter of one of the stone’s discoverers) and mar, the Spanish word for “sea.”
• Lazuli is part of “lapis lazuli” (pronounced LA-piss LA-zuh-lee) — the name of a deep-blue gemstone. The word lazuli can be traced back (via Latin lazulum and Persian lazaward) to the place-name Lajward — a region in central Asia where the stone was mined. (The Latin word lapis simply means “stone.”)
• Livia (feminine) and Livio (masculine) are the modern Italian forms of the Roman family name Livius, which is thought to derive from the Latin word lividus, meaning “bluish.”
• Lobelia (pronounced loh-BEEL-ee-uh) flowers are often blue. The genus Lobelia was named in honor of Flemish botanist Matthias de l’Obel.
• Lupine flowers are sometimes blue. The genus name Lupinus is derived from the Latin word lupinus, meaning “wolfish” (from lupus, “wolf”).

• Mayim is the Hebrew word for “water.” (Though it’s used as a name among English speakers, it’s simply a vocabulary word among Hebrew speakers.)
  • Maya is a Hebrew feminine name based on mayim. It also happens to be a Zuni word meaning “crested blue-jay.”
• Mira (also spelled Meera) is a Hindi feminine name based on the Sanskrit word mira, meaning “sea, ocean.”
• Moana is a gender-neutral name meaning “ocean” in Hawaiian, Maori, Samoan, Tongan, and other Polynesian languages.
• Myosotis (pronounced my-oh-SOH-tiss) flowers are frequently blue. The genus name Myosotis, meaning “mouse’s ear” in Latin, refers to the shape of the petals.
  • Miosotis is the Spanish form of Myosotis.

• Nila (also spelled Neela) is a Hindi feminine name based on the Sanskrit word nila, meaning “dark blue” or “blue.”
• Nilam (also spelled Neelam) is another Hindi feminine name based on the Sanskrit word nila.
• Nilgün is a Turkish feminine given name based on the Persian word nilgun, meaning “indigo (the color).”

• Safira is the Portuguese word for “sapphire.”
• Sagar is a Hindi masculine name meaning “sea, ocean.”
• Shyam is a Hindi masculine name based on the Sanskrit word shyama, meaning “dark blue”.
• Sini is a Finnish feminine name meaning “blue.”
• Sora is a Japanese gender-neutral name meaning “sky.”
• Sunil is a Hindi masculine name derived from the Sanskrit word sunila, meaning “very blue.”

• Tchelet is a Hebrew feminine name meaning “sky blue.”
• True (besides being a vocabulary word) is part of “true blue” — an expression that means “loyal, faithful.” The association between the color blue and the idea of loyalty or constancy may been inspired by the unchanging blue of the sky.
• Turquoise (pronounced TUR-koyz) is a mineral that is typically greenish-blue. The name of the stone can be traced back to the Old French term pierre tourques, meaning “Turkish stone.” Though it was mined in Persia, the stone was introduced to Europe in the 13th century by Turkish traders.

• Umi is a Japanese feminine name that can mean “sea,” depending upon the kanji being used to write the name.
  • Umiko is a Japanese name that can include the element Umi.

• Zafiro is the Spanish word for “sapphire.”

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Can you think of any other names that have a connection to the color blue?

Sources:

• Ammer, Christine. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013
• Color Symbolism – Interaction Design Foundation
• Dutfield, Scott and Natalie Wolchover. “The meaning of colors: How 8 colors became symbolic.” Live Science 28 Jan. 2022.
• History of Turquoise – American Gem Society
• Nordic Names
• Online Etymology Dictionary
• Sappheiros – Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon
• Simpson, Paul. The Colour Code: Why We See Red, Feel Blue and Go Green. London: Profile Books, 2021.
• SSA
• Turquoise History and Lore – GIA
• Voth, H. R. “Hopi Proper Names.” Field Columbian Museum Publication 100, Anthropological Series, vol. 6, no. 3, 1905, pp. 65-113.
• Wikipedia
• Wiktionary
• Wisdom Library

Images by borislagosbarrera, Naturelady, Pexels, and Eiji Kikuta from Pixabay