Names That Mean Water

Names meaning sea, river, wave, rain or water. The sea names are the oldest and the most literal — in a coastal naming culture the sea was a place of work, not a view.

Every name here has a researched page whose stated meaning carries this sense.

Rankings for

17 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Dylan Dylan is a boy's name of Welsh origin meaning "great tide" or "sea," from the elements dy and llanw.
Welsh #41 in US
Brooks Brooks is a boy's name of English origin meaning "of the brook" or "dweller by the stream," from the Old English broc. It began as a surname identifying a family by the water they lived beside.
English #64 in US
Lincoln Lincoln is a boy's name from the English city, whose name combines the Brittonic lindo, meaning pool, with the Latin colonia, a Roman settlement for retired soldiers.
English #69 in US
Banks Banks is a boy's name of English origin meaning someone who lived by a slope or a riverbank.
English #310 in US
Zyaire Zyaire is a boy's name of modern American coinage, built on Zaire — the former name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, itself from a Kikongo word for river.
Kikongo #317 in US
Marvin Marvin is a boy's name from the Welsh Merfyn, and the sea friend reading usually given for it is not supported — the Welsh elements point to marrow and eminent instead.
Welsh #699 in US
Clyde Clyde took nothing from Bonnie and Clyde.
Scottish #742 in US
Douglas Douglas is a boy's name from the Scottish Gaelic for dark water, originally a river and then a powerful border family.
Scottish Gaelic #807 in US
Dillon Dillon has two unrelated sources that English cannot separate — an Irish surname of uncertain meaning and the Welsh Dylan, a sea god from the Mabinogi.
Irish #930 in US
Kelvin Kelvin is the only name on this site that is also an SI unit, and the order runs river to man to measurement — a Glasgow river gave a physicist his title, and the title was given to the scale of absolute temperature.
Scottish #1,036 in US
Alton Alton means the settlement at the river's source, and that is more specific than the old town reading usually given — the Old English element is a spring or wellhead, not age.
English #1,605 in US
Irving Irving names a Scottish river valley, and it reached American use largely through one writer — Washington Irving, who gave English both Rip Van Winkle and the nickname Gotham for New York.
Scottish #1,789 in US
Irvin Irvin names a Scottish river valley, and the green water reading describes the water rather than the banks — Brittonic river names usually record color or behavior, not the land beside them.
Scottish #1,936 in US
Murray Murray is a boy's name of Scottish origin from Moray, the northern province, whose name means "sea settlement."
Scottish #2,610 in US
Moussa Moussa is a boy's name meaning "drawn out of the water," the Arabic form of Moses, who is named more often in the Quran than any other prophet.
Arabic #3,117 in US
Innes Innes is a boy's name from a Moray place name meaning "island," and in Scotland it has been used for both sexes.
Scottish 1,750 births
Struan Struan is a boy's name of Scottish Gaelic origin meaning "stream," taken from a Perthshire estate that is the seat of Clan Donnachaidh.
Scottish 1,665 births

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Names That Mean Water

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