Meaning theme
24 Names That Mean Dark
Names that mean dark include Ciara and Kieran (Irish, from ciar, meaning black), Melanie (Greek, blackness), Donovan (Irish, dark-haired chieftain), Krishna (Sanskrit, the dark one), and Adham (Arabic, black). Raven and Jett are English word names drawn from the glossy black bird and gemstone.
Names meaning dark were rarely gloomy in origin; most began as affectionate descriptions of a child's black hair or deep brown eyes. Irish in particular is rich with them, from Ciara to Donovan, while Greek gave the world Melanie. These names carry shadow as elegance, not menace.
- Adham MasculineArabic“black”
- Anubis MasculineEgyptian“the jackal-headed god of embalming”
- Blake UnisexEnglish“black, or pale”
- Ciara FeminineIrish“dark, black-haired”
- Cole MasculineEnglish“coal-black, charcoal”
- Donovan MasculineIrish“descendant of the dark one”
- Douglas MasculineScottish Gaelic“dark stream”
- Duncan MasculineScottish Gaelic“brown-haired warrior”
- Esmeray FeminineTurkish“dark moon”
- Hades MasculineGreek“the unseen one”
- Hel FeminineOld Norse“hidden; ruler of the Norse underworld”
- Jett MasculineEnglish“jet black gemstone”
- Kali FeminineSanskrit“the black one”
- Kieran MasculineIrish“little dark one”
- Krishna MasculineSanskrit“black, dark”
- Layla FeminineArabic“night”
- Melanie FeminineGreek“black, dark”
- Morrigan FeminineIrish“phantom queen”
- Nisha FeminineSanskrit“night”
- Nyx FeminineGreek“night”
- Rajani FeminineSanskrit“night”
- Raven FeminineEnglish“the black bird”
- Samael MasculineHebrew“venom of God; an angel of death”
- Sauda FeminineSwahili“dark-complexioned”
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Questions
Ciara, an Irish name from the word ciar, meaning dark or black, originally described black hair and is pronounced KEER-ah in Ireland. Melanie comes from the Greek melaina, meaning black or dark, and Raven evokes the gleaming black bird.
Kieran, the masculine counterpart of Ciara, means little dark one and belonged to two important Irish saints. Donovan derives from an Irish surname meaning descendant of the dark or brown-haired one, and Cole traces back to an Old English byname linked to coal-black hair.
Blake is a famous etymological puzzle: it descends from two opposite Old English words, blaec, meaning black, and blac, meaning pale or fair. Either meaning is historically defensible, which gives the name a built-in bit of trivia.
Krishna literally means black or dark in Sanskrit, describing the beloved Hindu deity's dark blue-black complexion. Kali, the name of the fierce goddess, comes from the same root and means the black one.