Names that mean sun: 70+ sun and sunshine names
78 names · Updated · By The Nomezo Editors · Save to Pinterest
Names that mean sun include Soleil (French), Ravi (Sanskrit) and Sunniva (Old English, sun gift), and many languages have their own: Güneş in Turkish, Inti in Quechua, Langa in Zulu and Shams in Arabic.
Below are more than 70 real names with a documented sun meaning. They are grouped into girl names, boy names and unisex names, then sun gods and goddesses, and names that mean sunshine or sunrise. Each note gives the meaning and the language of origin, with a pronunciation where English speakers may stumble.
Can't decide? Shuffle 6 random picks
Dinkar
Day-maker, the sun; Hindi, the pen name of a national poet
Elio
Italian form of Helios, the sun, and of the Roman name Aelius. Say EL-yoh
Günay
Sun and moon; Turkish and Azerbaijani
Areg
Sun, bright; Armenian, a poetic word. Say ah-REG
Xu
Rising sun, written 旭; Chinese. Say shyoo
Sunday
Day of the sun; English, popular in Nigeria
Find a sun name on this page
Narrow 78 names by how common they were for US babies in 2025, by section, length or first letter, or search the meanings.
Sun names for girls
Girl names that mean sun, from French and Old Norse to Amharic, Japanese and Luo.
- Sole 18 in 2025: The sun; Italian. Say SO-leh
- Sunniva 25 in 2025: Sun gift; Old English, the patron saint of western Norway
- Solveig 17 in 2025: Sun strength; Old Norse, the heroine of Peer Gynt
- Solfrid Under 5 in 2025: Beautiful sun; Norwegian, coined in the 1800s from Old Norse words
- Güneş Under 5 in 2025: The sun; Turkish. Say gew-NESH
- Tsehay Under 5 in 2025: The sun; Amharic, from Ethiopia
- Aygün Under 5 in 2025: Moon and sun; Turkish and Azerbaijani
- Savita Under 5 in 2025: The sun; Sanskrit, from the sun deity Savitr
- Bhanupriya Under 5 in 2025: Beloved of the sun; Sanskrit, from bhanu, sun, and priya, beloved
- Achieng Under 5 in 2025: Born when the sun shines; Luo, from Kenya
- Heliodora Under 5 in 2025: Gift of the sun; Greek, used in Spanish and Portuguese
Boy names that mean sun
Boy names that mean sun are especially rich in Sanskrit, where the sun has dozens of poetic titles.
- Ravindra Under 5 in 2025: Lord of the sun; Sanskrit, as in the poet Rabindranath Tagore
- Suraj 13 in 2025: The sun; Hindi, from Sanskrit surya
- Bhanu Under 5 in 2025: Light, the sun; Sanskrit. Say BHAH-noo
- Dinesh Under 5 in 2025: Lord of the day, the sun; Sanskrit
- Mihir 30 in 2025: The sun; Sanskrit, related to Mithra. Say mi-HEER
- Divakar Under 5 in 2025: Day-maker, the sun; Sanskrit, a classic Hindu name
- Dinkar Under 5 in 2025: Day-maker, the sun; Hindi, the pen name of a national poet
- Bhaskar Under 5 in 2025: Light-maker, the sun; Sanskrit, the name of the 12th-century mathematician Bhaskara II
- Prabhakar Under 5 in 2025: Light-maker; Sanskrit, a name for the sun and the moon in Hindu texts
- Anshuman Under 5 in 2025: Full of rays, the sun; Sanskrit
- Suryansh 10 in 2025: Part of the sun; Sanskrit, a modern favorite
- Suryakant Under 5 in 2025: Beloved of the sun; Sanskrit, also the word for sunstone
- Arka 8 in 2025: The sun, a ray of light; Sanskrit, used in Bengal
- Heliodoro Under 5 in 2025: Gift of the sun; Greek, used in Spanish and Portuguese
- Langa Under 5 in 2025: The sun; Zulu and Xhosa, from South Africa
- Eguzki Under 5 in 2025: The sun; Basque. Say eh-GOOS-kee
- Haul Under 5 in 2025: The sun; Welsh, a rare and simple choice
- Yota Under 5 in 2025: Great sun, written 陽太; Japanese
- Yosuke Under 5 in 2025: Sun and helper, written 陽介; Japanese
- Haruto 15 in 2025: Soaring sun, written 陽翔; Japanese, a top boy's name
- Haruki 18 in 2025: Sun and radiance, written 陽輝; Japanese
- Willka Under 5 in 2025: The sun; Aymara, from the Andes of Bolivia
- Antinanco Under 5 in 2025: Eagle of the sun; Mapuche, from Chile
- Antiman Under 5 in 2025: Condor of the sun; Mapuche, from Chile
- Shamsuddin Under 5 in 2025: Sun of the faith; Arabic, a classic honorific name
- Yang Under 5 in 2025: Sun, light, written 阳; Chinese, mostly for boys. Say yahng
- Elio US #388: Italian form of Helios, the sun, and of the Roman name Aelius. Say EL-yoh
- Areg 25 in 2025: Sun, bright; Armenian, a poetic word. Say ah-REG
Unisex names that mean sun
Gender-neutral sun names used for girls and boys.
- Sunday US #947: Day of the sun; English, popular in Nigeria
- Shams 49 in 2025: The sun; Arabic, the mystic who inspired the poet Rumi
- Günay Under 5 in 2025: Sun and moon; Turkish and Azerbaijani
- Tonalli 5 in 2025: Warmth of the sun, day; Nahuatl, from Mexico
- Anshu Under 5 in 2025: Sunbeam, ray of light; Sanskrit
- Asahi 13 in 2025: Morning sun, written 朝日; Japanese
- Khurshid Under 5 in 2025: The sun; the Urdu and Uzbek form of Persian Khorshid, for girls and boys
Sun gods and goddesses
Names of sun gods and goddesses from Greek, Hindu, Roman, Inca, Aztec, Tupi, Persian, Baltic and Japanese tradition.
- Surya 53 in 2025: The sun; Sanskrit, the Hindu sun god
- Aditya 83 in 2025: Son of Aditi, the sun; Sanskrit, a title of the sun god
- Savitri Under 5 in 2025: Of the sun; Sanskrit, a Rigveda hymn to the sun god Savitr, and his daughter in later myth
- Tonatiuh 7 in 2025: The sun; Nahuatl, the Aztec sun god. Say toh-NAH-teew
- Guaraci Under 5 in 2025: The sun; Tupi, the sun god of Brazilian legend
- Khorshid Under 5 in 2025: Shining sun; Persian, from an ancient Zoroastrian sun spirit
- Saulė Under 5 in 2025: The sun; Lithuanian, the Baltic sun goddess. Say SOW-leh
- Amaterasu Under 5 in 2025: Shining in heaven; Japanese, the Shinto sun goddess and mythical ancestress of Japan's imperial house
Names that mean sunshine and sunrise
Names for sunshine, sunbeams, sunny places and the rising sun.
- Heulwen Under 5 in 2025: Sunshine; Welsh, from haul, sun. Say HAIL-wen
- Aftab Under 5 in 2025: Sunshine, the sun; Persian and Urdu
- Xu 5 in 2025: Rising sun, written 旭; Chinese. Say shyoo
- Uday 10 in 2025: Rising, sunrise; Sanskrit, a classic Indian boy's name
- Ravikiran Under 5 in 2025: Sunbeam, ray of the sun; Sanskrit
- Duha 22 in 2025: Morning, the forenoon; Arabic, the name of Quran chapter 93
- Chenxi Under 5 in 2025: Morning sunlight, written 晨曦; Chinese. Say chun-SHEE
- Zhaoyang Under 5 in 2025: Morning sun, written 朝阳; Chinese. Read chaoyang, the same characters mean facing the sun
- Shurooq Under 5 in 2025: Sunrise; Arabic, also spelled Shorouk
- Ochieng Under 5 in 2025: Born when the sun shines; Luo, from Kenya, the boy's form of Achieng
- Hiyori 6 in 2025: Fine sunny weather, written 日和; Japanese
How to pick the right name
Pick the culture first
Sun names are everywhere, so start with a language that matters to your family. Sanskrit alone offers Ravi, Surya, Dinesh, Bhanu and more, while Norwegian tradition gives Sunniva and Solveig.
Choose the characters for Japanese and Chinese names
Haru means sun when written 陽 and spring when written 春. Pick the characters along with the sound so the meaning stays the one you want.
Try a sun and moon pair
Sun names pair well with moon names for siblings or twins: Sol and Luna, Ravi and Chandra, or Güneş and Aylin. Günay and Aygün even mean sun and moon on their own.
Save this list for later
Pin it to a naming board, or tap the heart next to any name to keep it in your favorites on this device.
Names that mean sun, checked: the popular ones that don't, the true sun names at record highs, and why the characters matter
By The Nomezo Editors · Updated October 26, 2026 · How we research names
The name most often sold as a sun name, Eliana, does not mean sun: it is Hebrew for my God has answered, and it was No. 10 for US girls in 2025. True sun names are rising anyway: Samson, from Hebrew shemesh, sun, plus Solana, Soleil and Elio all hit their best US ranks ever in 2025.
In Japan the sun is in the top 10: names written with 陽 took five spots in 2025. The finder above narrows the names on this page by section, length or US popularity, and the tags show each name's 2025 US rank or count.
Names often called sun names that are not
| Name | US rank, 2025 | What it really means |
|---|---|---|
| Eliana | #10 for girls | Hebrew for my God has answered |
| Cyrus | #268 for boys | Possibly young, or humiliator of the enemy, from Old Persian |
| Apollo | #445 for boys | Of unknown meaning; he became a sun god only later |
| Oriana | 113 girls | Possibly from Latin aurum, gold |
| Domingo | 74 boys | From Latin Dominicus, of the Lord, for Sunday births |
Sources: Behind the Name: Eliana, Cyrus, Apollo, Oriana; US Social Security Administration.
Sun names in US data
- Sol was a boy's name first. As a Jewish short form of Solomon (Behind the Name), Sol peaked at No. 257 for US boys in 1913. Today the Spanish Sol, sun, is a girl's name, with 389 girls against 184 boys in 2025.
- Sunday is a sun name only in Germanic languages. English Sunday comes from Old English Sunnandæg, sun's day, but Spanish domingo and French dimanche mean the Lord's day (Wikipedia).
| Name | US rank, 2025 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Elio | #388 for boys | Its best ever |
| Sunny | #390 for girls | Just below its 2024 best, #370 |
| Samson | #477 for boys | Its best ever |
| Solana | #495 for girls | Its best ever |
| Sol | #722 for girls | Its best ever |
| Soleil | #758 for girls | Its best ever |
| Sunday | #947 for girls | Its best ever |
Source: US Social Security Administration, births 1880 to 2025. Samson comes from Hebrew shemesh, sun (Behind the Name), and Elio is the Italian form of Helios (Behind the Name).
The characters decide the meaning
- The sun leads Japan's names. In Meiji Yasuda's 2025 ranking, 陽葵 Himari was No. 2 for girls, 陽菜 Hina No. 6 and 心陽 Koharu No. 7, and 陽向 Hinata and 陽翔 Haruto tied at No. 8 for boys; Haruto has been the top boys' reading for 17 years running (Nippon.com).
- Same sound, different meaning. Yoko written 陽子 means sun child, but 洋子 means ocean child (Behind the Name), and Chinese Yang can be 阳, sun, or 洋, ocean (Behind the Name).
- Surnames that only look sunny. The US surname Yang (No. 199, 139,210 people) is usually 杨, poplar, and Sun (No. 929) is 孙, grandchild or descendant (Behind the Name; US Census Bureau, 2020).
Sources
Frequently asked questions
What name means sun?
Sol means sun in Latin and Spanish, Soleil means sun in French, Ravi and Surya mean sun in Sanskrit, Güneş means sun in Turkish and Shams means sun in Arabic.
What boy names mean sun?
Ravi, Suraj, Dinesh, Bhanu and Mihir are Sanskrit or Hindi boy names for the sun. Helios is the Greek sun god, Inti the Inca sun god and Langa means sun in Zulu.
What girl names mean sun?
Soleil, Sole and Sol mean sun in French, Italian and Spanish. Sunniva means sun gift, Solveig means sun strength, Güneş means sun in Turkish and Tsehay means sun in Amharic.
What name means sunshine?
Heulwen means sunshine in Welsh, and Aftab means sunshine or the sun in Persian and Urdu. Hinata means sunny place in Japanese.
Does Marisol mean sea and sun?
Marisol is a Spanish short form of María de la Soledad. It is often read as mar (sea) plus sol (sun), but that is a popular reading rather than its origin, so it is not listed here.
What is the most popular name that means sun?
For US girls, Sunny, at No. 390 in 2025. For boys, Elio (No. 388), the Italian form of Helios, and Samson (No. 477), from Hebrew shemesh, sun, both reached their best ranks ever in 2025.
Does Eliana mean sun?
No. Eliana is Hebrew for my God has answered. It is often listed as a sun name, perhaps through Éliane and the Roman name Aelius, but Behind the Name gives it no sun meaning. It was No. 10 for US girls in 2025.
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