Names for the word life

Updated: January 30, 2023

150 Names That Mean Life for Boys and Girls

When you think of the word “life”, images of water, vegetation, animals, and babies all come to mind. Once a child is born, we celebrate this new life that has come into our world and the hope and love that surrounds them. 

Baby names that mean life, birth and creation are the perfect fit for your lively little one. Find 150 names that mean life for girls, boys, and gender-neutral name options below! 

Related: 75 Baby Names That Mean Rebirth or New Beginnings

Girl Names That Mean Life Starting with A to L

1. Adhaya — A Sanskrit name meaning “the first power” or “the first creator”.
2. Aisha — An Arabic name meaning “life”.
3. Anukriti — This is an Indian name that means “a small creation like that of a photograph”.
4. Asha — This African name that means “life”.
5. Aurora — This is the name of the Roman goddess of the dawn.
6. Ausra — A Lithuanian name that means “dawn”.
7. Ava — Of Hebrew origins, this name means “life”.
8. Beeja — A Hindi name that means “the beginning” or “happy”.
9. Betha — A Scottish name meaning “life”.
10. Bibiana — A Spanish name that means “lively” and an Arabic name that means “lady”.
11. Bophelo — This is a South African name that means “to live”.
12. Cansu — A Turkish name meaning «water of life”.
13. Chae-Won — This Sino-Korean name means “collect” and “beginning”.
14. Chivy — A Cambodian name that means “life”.
15. Daifa — This Arabic name means “a majestic creation”.
16. Dagian — An English name that means “beautiful dawn”.
17. Dajana — Of Serbian origin, this name means “creation of God”.
18. Dawn — An English name that means “daybreak”.
19. Éabha — An Irish name meaning “life”. Interestingly enough, this is pronounced ‘ay-ya’.
20. Eba — This Latin and Hebrew name means “life”.
21. Efa — A Welsh name that means “alive”.
22. Emmelina — This German name means “industrious” or “a desire to excel in life”.
23. Enid — A Welsh and Celtic name that means “soul”, “spirit”, or “life”.
24. Eos — This Greek name means “the dawn”.
25. Eshe — An African name meaning “life”.
26. Eva — A Hebrew name that means “life”.
27. Evacsa — Another Hebrew name meaning “life”.
28. Eve — Yet another Hebrew name that means “life”.
29. Evette — A French name meaning “living one”.
30. Evika — Of English origin, this name means “a little one who gave life to everything”.
31. Evita — A Hebrew name meaning “life”.
32. Evvy — A Hebrew and Latin name that means “life”.
33. Haya — A Hebrew name meaning “life” and an Arabic name meaning “humble”.
34. Hisa — This Japanese name means “long-lasting”.
35. Hiwot — An Amharic (Eastern African) name meaning “being” or «life».
36. Janya — A Hindu name meaning “life” and a Hebrew name meaning “gracious” and “merciful”.
37. Jivanta — This Indian name means “give life”.
38. Khepri — An Egyptian name that means “morning sun”, “to develop”, or “create”.
39. Liv — This is a Norwegian name that means “life”.
40. Luljeta — An Albanian name that means «flower of life».

Girl Names That Mean Life Starting with M to Z

1. Mika — This Japanese name means “new moon”.
2. Motoyo — A Japanese name meaning “generation” or “lifetime”.
3. Neoma — A Greek name that means “new moon”.
4. Nurcan — This Turkish name means “bright soul” or “light of life”
5. Odoti — Of Gujarati origins, this Indian name means “dawn”.
6. Oma — This Arabic name means “giver of life” or “commanding”.
7. Oriana — This beautiful girl’s name has Latin origins and means “dawn”.
8. Rachana — An Indian name meaning “creation”.
9. Roxanna — This Persian name means “brilliant one” or “dawn”.
10. Sahar — An Arabic name that means “just before dawn”.
11. Taisha — This Sanskrit name means “full of life”.
12. Thyia — This is a Greek name meaning “tree of life”.
13. Vita — A Latin name meaning “life”.
14. Vivia — This Latin name means “alive”.
15. Vivian — Of Latin origins, this name means “living” or “lively”.
16. Viviana — This is another Latin name that means “living” or “lively”.
17. Xiola — A Greek name that means “life” or “alive”.
18. Zera — This is the female version of the Hebrew name Zerah which means “rising light” or “dawn”.
19. Zerlinda — A Hebrew name meaning “, beautiful dawn”.
20. Zoe — Another Greek name that means «life».
21. Zorina — This Slavic name means “golden dawn”.

Boy Names That Mean Life Starting with A to J

1. Aadi — A Sanskrit name meaning “beginning” or “first”.
2. Aarth — This Indian name means “supreme being” or “creator”.
3. Abtum — Of Parsi origins, this name means “the creator of plentiful waters”.
4. Ahaan — An Indian name meaning “first ray of light”, “dawn”, or “sunrise”.
5. Altan — A Turkic name that means “red dawn”.
6. Aroon — This is a Thai name meaning “dawn”.
7. Arun — A Sanskrit name that means “the morning sun”.
8. Asier — This is a Basque name meaning “the beginning”.
9. Baari — This is one of the names of Allah, the god of Islam. This Muslim name means “originator” or “creator”.
10. Balkar — An Indian name that means “mighty creator”.
11. Beathan — A name with Scottish and Gaelic origins that means “life”.
12. Bion — This is an Ancient Greek name that means “life”.
13. Brahma — This is the name of the Hindu god of creation and the creator of the universe.
14. Calian — A Native American name meaning “warrior of life”.
15. Can — A Turkish name that means “spirit”, “life”, or “soul”.
16. Caner — This is another Turkish name meaning “soul” or “life”.
17. Chaim — A Hebrew name meaning “life”.
18. Dagian — An English name that means “beautiful dawn”.
19. Daxon — This is a French name that means “water” or “life giving drink”.
20. Ercan — Of Turkish origins, this name means “brave man”, “ soul”, or “life”.
21. Faatir — A Muslim name that means “creator” or “maker”.
22. Fajr — A Muslim and Arabic name meaning “daybreak” or “dawn”.
23. Haian — Of Arabic origins, this name means “beautiful” and “life”.
24. Hyman — A Hebrew name meaning “life”.
25. Inizio — This is an Italian name that means “beginning”.
26. Jaival — A Hindi name meaning “life giving”.
27. Janmay — An Indian name meaning “new born child”.
28. Janus — This name refers to the first month of the Ancient Roman calendar. In other words, the start of a new beginning.
29. Jeevan — A Hindi name meaning “life”.
30. Jeton — This is a Swiss name that means “life”.
31. Jivan — This name has Armenian origins and it means “giver of life”.

Boy Names That Mean Life Starting with K to Z

1. Kartaara — Of Indian origin, this name means “Lord of all creations”.
2. Ojas — This is an Indian and Sanskrit name that means “vitality”.
3. Omar — This Arabic name means “long-lived”.
4. Ordell — A Latin name meaning “beginning”.
5. Prabhat — This Indian name means “dawn” or “early morning”.
6. Rohit — A Sanskrit name that means “the first rays of the sun».
7. Urien — A Welsh name that means «of privileged birth» and a Greek name that means “heaven”.
8. Vidal — Of Spanish origin, this name means “full of vitality”.
9. Vihaan — An Indian name meaning “dawn”.
10. Vitale — This is an Italian, Jewish, and Russian name that means “life”.
11. Vitus — A French and Italian name that means “life”and a Latin name meaning “winning”.
12. Viviano — An Italian name meaning “living” or “alive”. Viano is an adorable nickname for this title.
13. Walid — Or Arabic origins, this name means “newborn”.
14. Yeong-Su — This is a Sino-Korean name meaning “perpetual” or “eternal” and “long life”.
15. Zoran — This Slavic name means “dawn” or “daybreak”.
16. Zorro — A Slavic name that means “golden dawn”.
17. Zoticus — A Greek name meaning “lively”.

Gender-Neutral Names That Mean Life

1. Bo — An Old Norse name that means “to live” or “dwell”. It also means “beautiful” in French.
2. Eloma — This Finnish name means “life”.
3. Genesis — Of Latin origin, this name means “birth”. It also means “origin” in Hebrew.
4. Hayat — An Arabic name meaning “life”.
5. Jiva — This Indian name means “living” or “existing”.
6. Tshering — This is a name with Tibetan origins that means “long life”.

Names That Mean Life Is Good

1. Gonora — Of British origin, this girl’s name means “a lively person who lives a life of joy”.
2. Gouti — A Hindi name that means “living a life with a love of serving others”.
3. Harshavardhan — This baby boy name has Indian origins and means “creator of life”.
4. Suchart — A Thai boy name meaning “born into a good life”.

Names That Mean Breath of Life

1. Abel — A Hebrew boy name that means “breath”. Since you need this to sustain life, it is a unique name for your little boy that honors the life theme.
2. Abelina — Of German origins, this name means “a breath”.
3. Abella — This beautiful name has Hebrew origins and means “breath”.
4. Ahelia — Of Hebrew origins, this name means “breath”.
5. Apela — This Hawaiian name means “breath of life”.
6. Avabelle — An American name that means “breathing in life”.
7. Avalyn — This Old English name means “breath of life” or “beautiful bird”.
8. Ettan — This Indian boy’s name means “breath”.
9. Hava — This Hebrew name means “breathe” and “life”.
10. Kahanu — A unisex Hawaiian name that means “the breath” or “he breathes”.
11. Keeaola — This Hawaiian girl’s name means “breath of life”.
12. Nefes — This Turkish girl’s name means “breath”.
13. Pran — An Indian name that means “life” and a Sanskrit name that means “breath”.

Names That Mean New Life & Reincarnation

1. Alba — This Spanish and Italian girl’s name means “dawn” and “new life”.
2. Anastasia — A Greek girl name that means “resurrection”.
3. Anastasius — This is a Greek boy name that means “reborn”. The female version of this name is Anastasia, making these great twin names.
4. Asia — A Greek name that means “resurrection”.
5. Dagny — An Old Norse name for a little girl that means “new day”.
6. Kia — Of African origins, this name means “new beginnings” or “season’s beginning”.
7. Naveen — This Hindi boy’s name means “new” or “modern”.
8. Navin — Another Hindi boy name that means “new” or “modern”.
9. Neo — A Greek name that means “new”.
10. Nouvel — This French unisex name that means “new”.
11. Nova — This is another girl’s name that has Latin origins and means “new”.
12. Nyssa — A Greek name meaning “new beginning”.
13. Phoenix — The phoenix has always served as a symbol of resurrection and new life. This Greek name means “mystical bird” or “dark red”.
14. Renata — This girl’s name has Latin and French origins meaning “reborn” or “born again”.
15. Renatus — Of Latin origins, this male name means “born again”.
16. Renée — This gender-neutral Latin and French name meaning “reborn” or “born again”.
17. Tadesse — This Ethiopian name means “revival” or “renewal”.
18. Tan — A Vietnamese name that means “new”.
19. Wahuj — A Muslim name meaning “new beginning”, “dawn”, and “first light of day”.

Why Pick a Name That Means Life?

There are several reasons that you may want to choose a name with a meaning related to life. Besides the fact that you and your significant other are welcoming and rejoicing the arrival of your precious little miracle, you are likely hoping for a vivacious little one, bursting with energy and good health.

The arrival of a new baby, especially your first one, changes your life forever. The family unit is “reborn” in a sense. A name that means “new life” can pay homage to this momentous transition.

Additionally, religious families and those who otherwise have an appreciation for the concept of resurrection may want to honor their belief system by choosing a title that means “resurrection” or “reincarnation”.

Choosing a Name — Start With Family Origins

We always love the idea of choosing a name from your child’s own heritage. If you’re intimately connected to your family’s roots, this might be second nature.

 But even if your ancestors emigrated long ago and you no longer speak their language, choosing a name based on cultural origins to honor your family history can be an exceptionally special tribute and it can help to teach your kids about their background as they grow.

When choosing a name inspired by this theme, also look for meanings that encompass creation, new light, dawn, sunrise, and rebirth. However, there are no rules when it comes to choosing baby names! 

Having a baby is a fresh start for a family! This new chapter is filled with hope and excitement making these names a fantastic choice! However, if none of them seemed like the perfect fit, then consider checking out our list of baby names that mean hope!

For more baby name inspiration check out these popular baby name lists:

• Top 1000 Most Popular Baby Girl Names in the U.S.
• Top 1000 Most Popular Baby Boy Names in the U.S.
• The Coolest Baby Names in the World