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

24 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Oaklynn Oaklynn is a girl's name of modern American coinage, combining the tree name Oak with the -lynn ending.
Modern coinage #153 in US
Rosemary Rosemary is not Rose and Mary joined together — it is the herb, from a Latin phrase meaning dew of the sea.
Latin #251 in US
Kailani Kailani is a girl's name built from genuine Hawaiian words, kai meaning sea and lani meaning sky or heaven.
Hawaiian #253 in US
Brooke Brooke is a girl's name from the English word for a small stream.
English #313 in US
Sabrina Sabrina is the Latin name of the River Severn, and the legend behind it is a drowning — a princess thrown into the river became its spirit.
Latin #321 in US
Madeleine Madeleine is a girl's name meaning "of Magdala," a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee, and it is a place name rather than a description.
French #454 in US
Meredith Meredith is a Welsh man's name that turned female in America — 95 percent of the births in our records are female, and the Welsh Maredudd it comes from was borne by princes of Deheubarth.
Welsh #469 in US
Marina Marina means of the sea, and it charts in five markets inside 276 places — Scotland 572nd, England and Wales 581st, the United States 602nd, Ireland 647th and France 848th, which is an unusually even international spread.
Latin #602 in US
Alara Alara is a girl's name from Turkic mythology, where she is a water fairy.
Turkish #653 in US
Romy Romy is a girl's name of Latin origin, a pet form of Rosemarie or Rosemary.
Latin #697 in US
Beverly Beverly is a name from an English town meaning beaver stream, and it began as a boys' name before crossing decisively to girls.
English #1,020 in US
Marlene Marlene was invented by the woman who made it famous — Marie Magdalene Dietrich contracted her own two names into one.
German #1,261 in US
Marissa Marissa is usually explained as of the sea, but that reading comes from the Latin stella maris — a title of the Virgin built on a mistranslation of Miriam that scholars abandoned centuries ago.
Italian #1,674 in US
Marnie Marnie is a girl's name of Hebrew origin, usually given as "of the sea."
Latin #2,177 in US
Ria Ria is a girl's name with two unrelated sources — a Spanish word for a river mouth, and a Dutch and German short form of Maria.
Spanish #2,337 in US
Tasnim Tasnim is a girl's name of Arabic origin naming a spring in paradise that the Quran describes.
Arabic #3,818 in US
Muriel Muriel means bright sea, from Gaelic, and it reached English twice — once through Irish and Scottish settlement and once through Breton, carried back across the Channel by the Normans.
Irish #4,420 in US
Magali Magali is Occitan rather than French, and it means of Magdala — a town on the Sea of Galilee, so the name is a place several removes back rather than any quality of its bearer.
French #4,528 in US
Rhonda Rhonda is a girl's name from a Welsh river valley, and the great spear reading usually given for it is wrong — the Rhondda is named for its own noisiness, not for a weapon.
Welsh #6,125 in US
Océane Océane means of the ocean, and it is almost entirely French — 283rd there against 2998th in England and Wales and 10001st in the United States.
French #10,001 in US
Marine Marine means of the sea, and it is a rare case of a French name that is also an ordinary English word — which is why it reads as a job title in one language and a girl's name in another.
French #13,701 in US
Lynne Lynne now ranks 2155th in France and 14047th in the United States, so a name that peaked in America at 2,471 births ranks far higher in a country that barely used it.
Welsh #14,047 in US
Morgane Morgane means sea-born, and its bearer in legend is Morgan le Fay — who begins in the earliest sources as a healer who takes Arthur to Avalon, and only becomes a villain centuries later.
French 76,696 births
Muireann Muireann is a girl's name from Irish meaning sea-fair, built from the words for sea and white.
Irish 1,822 births

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