Meaning theme
30 Names That Mean Hope
Names that mean hope include Hope (English), Nadia (Slavic), Amal (Arabic), Esperanza (Spanish), Omid (Persian), and Nozomi (Japanese). Asha means hope in Sanskrit, Tikvah is the Hebrew word for hope found in Israel's national anthem, and Toivo is its sturdy Finnish equivalent.
Hope may be the most universal wish parents press into a name, and nearly every language keeps a word for it in its naming stock. The Puritans used Hope itself, Russians shortened Nadezhda to Nadia, and Swahili speakers gave the world Taraji. Each name here is a small act of optimism.
- Aisling FeminineIrish“dream, vision”
- Akari FeminineJapanese“light, brightness”
- Amal UnisexArabic“hope”
- Amets UnisexBasque“dream”
- Anastasia FeminineGreek“resurrection”
- Arman MasculinePersian“wish, ideal, aspiration”
- Asha FeminineSanskrit“hope, wish”
- Asher MasculineHebrew“happy, blessed”
- Dawn FeminineEnglish“daybreak”
- Dream FeminineEnglish“a vision in sleep; an aspiration”
- Elpis FeminineGreek“hope”
- Esperanza FeminineSpanish“hope”
- Evangeline FeminineGreek“bearer of good news”
- Ezekiel MasculineHebrew“God strengthens”
- Felicity FeminineLatin“happiness, good fortune”
- Hope FeminineEnglish“hope, expectation”
- Nadia FeminineSlavic“hope”
- Noor UnisexArabic“light”
- Nozomi FeminineJapanese“hope, wish”
- Omid MasculinePersian“hope”
- Sapna FeminineHindi“dream”
- Solomon MasculineHebrew“peace”
- Tara FeminineSanskrit“star”
- Taraji FeminineSwahili“hope, expectation”
- Tikvah FeminineHebrew“hope”
- Toivo MasculineFinnish“hope”
- Umut MasculineTurkish“hope”
- Varsha FeminineSanskrit“rain, the monsoon”
- Vesna FeminineSlavic“spring”
- Yume FeminineJapanese“dream”
Advertisement
Questions
Hope itself, a Puritan virtue name, remains steadily popular in English. Nadia comes from the Slavic word for hope, Esperanza is the Spanish word for hope, and Amal, famous through human-rights lawyer Amal Clooney, means hope in Arabic.
Omid is the Persian word for hope and a common male name in Iran. Toivo, meaning hope in Finnish, has a vintage charm in Finland, and Umut is the standard Turkish word for hope, used widely for boys.
Nozomi, usually written with the character for wish or hope, is a well-established Japanese girls' name. It is also famously the name of the fastest bullet-train service in Japan, which borrowed the same hopeful word.
Yes. Nadia is a short form of the Russian name Nadezhda, which is simply the Russian word for hope. The name spread internationally through figures like the gymnast Nadia Comaneci and works across many languages without alteration.