Name Rainbow: Green

Names with Green Meanings

Boys
Berilo - A Pale Green gemstone, the name is Spanish and Greek. Related to the feminine Beryl. The stone is thought to be good luck.
Denver - While this will stick out as a Place name to most, the word itself is actually old English for green valley.
Irvin - A Gaelic name meaning "green waters". Can also be spelled Earving.
Greeley - An old English name meaning green meadow.
Hewney - An Irish name meaning simply green.
Vardon - An old french name meaning Green Knoll. The emphasis is on the second syllable.
Verdell - Another French name, again emphasis on the second syllable, meaning green.
Verlyn - Uncertain origin, but with root Ver, may be interpreted as Green
Vermont - Another place name, with actual meaning Green Mountain.
Vireo - A name that references a small green bird.

Girls
Beryl - A Pale Green gemstone, the name is Spanish and Greek. Related to the masculine Berilo. The stone is thought to be good luck.
Cheryl - The origins of Cheryl are unclear, but one theory is its a variant of Beryl.
Chloe - This is a Greek name meaning "green shoot" and meant to symbolize fertility.
Chloris - Another greek name, this one meaning  a greenish yellow shade, related to the goddess of vegetation
Esmerelda - A Spanish variant of the name/gemstone Emerald, with much more feminine
Fern - a word name referring to a luscious green plant
Jade - a deep green stone used similarly to gold (decoratively and to display wealth) by Asian cultures
Midori - A Japanese name meaning green, this name is also associated with many products and places.
Olive - a shade of green, or a word name referring to a food that is often green, this name is RAPIDLY rising in popularity (it has going for it that its a word name, which are trending, it is a nice stand in for Olivia, which is top ten, and it has some celebrity/hollywood usage recently) - it has climbed from unranked to 368th in six years. If it keeps up that rate, it will be top 100 in 2-3 years.
Teal - A shade of bluish green, and a bird of the same color.
Turkessa - An opaque blue-green stone mined in Turkestan and Persia
Verde - The word for green in Spanish, also could be spelled Verda
Verna - Of Latin origin, this name means spring green, related to the masculine Vernon
Viridiana - Another Latin name meaning green, I love the flow and phonetic sound of this name. Other variants include Virdis, Viridia, and Viridian
Yara - A Brazilian pagan goddess with green hair

Shades of Green
Brunswick - a series of green pigments made using copper
Celadon - a pale greyish shade of Green often used in Asian pottery
Emerald - light and bright, also a gemstone
Harlequin - more strongly associated with a diamond pattern, but also a bright yellowish green
Hunter - word/job as name? Or a beautiful dark shade of green.
Kelly - the name Kelly doesn't mean green, but it is the same word as the traditional Irish "true" green.
Malachite - a green mineral, similar in sound to Malcom, Micah, or the biblical Melchior
Neon - I know it can be applied to any color, but could it also be a quirky name?
Paris - besides a city, and epic character from Troy, Paris is a blue-green shade.

What do you think? Any keeps? The discovery of Viridian was one of the things that inspired me to create a baby name rainbow! I also love the name Verdi for a boy, which while it technically is after a composer, conjures up images of green due to its similarity to the Spanish Verde. 

Name Rainbow: Yellow

Yellow is the most cheerful color. It offers some interesting name choices

Shades of Yellow
Aureolin - This reminds of of Aurelia or Aurora combined with Lynn. The color meaning is a bonus!
Citrine - For some reason, I have been loving the "soft" c names lately, and this fits right in. Why not twin girls - Cerise and Citrine. Too out there?
Ecru - A quirkier shade that would make a quirkier name.
Gold (Goldie) - One of the few actual "real" name options, makes me think of Goldie Hawn.
Goldenrod - A longer more floral way to get to Goldie?
Jonquil - This one sounds very masculine and could fit in quite well in some areas.
Mikado - Actually a Japanese word meaning emperor, yellow being the royal color.
Naples - This would be seen more as a place name than a color name
Sunglow - This definitely comes off more as "word as a name", but gives you a warm feeling.
Maize - Beware Ohio State fans (this is one of the official colors of their rival Michigan). I have seen interesting discussions about the use of Mace as a boys name due to its violent nature, Maize seems like a nice alternative Maizie could also be cute for a girl.
Gamboge - This is the color yellow used to dye Buddhist robes.
Lemon - A nice "word as name" shade.

Things that are Yellow (that could make good names)
Daffodil, Sunny/Sunshine, Marigold, Oxalis, Dandelion, Celandine, (Black Eyed) Susan, Turmeric, Curry, Oriole

Would you use any of these yellow names? I especially like Citrine, Celandine, and Jonquil.

Name Rainbow: Orange

Welcome to any new readers that may be visiting! And much thanks to Disney Baby for including me in a list of The Best Blogs for Baby Name Inspiration! I was pleasantly surprised to see so much traffic from a new source! Onto the baby names...

Orange is my favorite color. There are some great name options if I decide this is an inspiration to name our next child! The interesting thing about shades of orange is that many of them are actually the names of something else as well. When we did red names we had "Cherry" (or Cerise) red, but there were also many shades unrelated to a tangible red object. Orange does not have the same number of "unique" shade names. In fact, of the list below, only ONE is not also the name of a fruit, spice, mineral, or flower! 

Tenné/Tenny/Tawny - This brownish shade of orange is used by sports clubs, schools, and even the South African army at one time. Tenny is cute and has a nickname sounds. Tawny has a history of use as a name for girls and has a nice ring to it.

Minerals
Rust/Rusty - This strikes me as a "cowboy" name as my sister would call it, goes with names like Dirk, Wayne, Tex and Colt/Colton. Rusty was a ranked baby name in the U.S. from 1946-1995, topping out at 328th in 1961.
Amber - One of the more common "orange" color names, a semi-precious gem formed when tree resin petrifies. Amber was pretty popular back in the 80s and early nineties, currently ranked 260th. It might be a "Mom" name now, but its still beautiful.

Amber can come in a variety of shades.

Plants
Saffron - Commonly known as the most expensive spice, Saffron is derived from a Crocus. It would make a lovely name for boy or girl, though I particularly like it for a girl because for some reason I think of nicknaming her Sassy. (Though with Seb for Sebastian, and Sep for Septimus or Guiseppi and Sef (occasionally) for Joseph, a little Saf would fit in quite well).
Poppy - A beautiful vibrantly orange flower, Poppy has never been a top 1000 names, which sort of suprises me. It does have a "nickname" ring, but there are plenty nicknames that are ranked.
Ginger- I debated what color to put Ginger under. My husband thinks of it as red (as it is a nickname for red heads), it can be pink when pickled, yellow when ground and dried, with all that in mind I put it under orange. The main problem with using Ginger as name IS the fact it is derogatory slang for a red head. That said, it has quite a history of use.

Fruits
Pumpkin - This might be a bit of a stretch as a given name, but many previously "term of endearment" words have been used before.
Persimmon - While unique, I really like this option for a boy. While it is pronounced differently, (per- sim - um), it visually has the name Simon in it (pronounced Sigh-mon). You could use Simon as a nickname, or Pers. For a girl, nickname Simi. 
Clementine - I have been a fan of this name since seeing Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in college, a unique movie about love and memory. It is a name that everyone has heard but no one thinks of - thanks to the song "Oh my Darling Clementine". Admittedly not the most happy song. Clementine has not been in the top 1000 since 1953. but I knew a couple Clementine's born in the past year or two and I think its about to surge and make a reappearance.
Tangerine - If Clementine can be a name, why not Tangerine? Yes, a bit more of a stretch again. but still seems quite viable to me.

All the names above are actual shades of orange, or closely associated with a shade of orange. Below are three other options, all "real" names that have a connection to the color orange somehow. Coincidentally, all of them are girls names.
Lantana - A county in Florida, but also a small flower that can sometimes be orange. (Kind of a double orange meaning to me since Florida is known for oranges). Possible nicknames Lana or Ana.
Nerola- An Italian name meaning "orange flower"
Valencia - A type of orange (named for the region they come out of), or a girls name of Latin origin meaning "strong and healthy".

Do any orange names appeal to you?

Name Rainbow - Red

 I have stumbled upon a couple of new-to-me names recently that happen to have a color meaning. Color names are in a whole category of their own and can be quite wonderful. I know one family IRL that has four daughters, all of whom have color names! There is just something wonderful, bright, and playful about color names. So of course, I need to explore them more! I will start off by going in rainbow order- ROY. G. BIV, and then tack some additional colors on the end (black and white for sure! We will see what else gets left out...)

So, first up is red!

 

Let me first admit that the sex identification of these are totally of my making...

Boys

Shades of red: 

Cadmium

Cardinal 

Carnelian

Crimson

Garnett

Rufous

Rust

Vermillion

Other names that have red in the meaning: Clancy, Harkin, Jasper, Radcliff, Leroux, Phoenix Redley, Rogan, Rowan, Roy, Rufus, Ruston, Shani, Sorrell

My favorite name on this list is Vermillion. I love that it has elements of other masculine names like Vernon and Maximilian, but is unique. I also love Rufous, so close to Rufus but just a tad different.

 

Girls
Shades of red: 
Burgundy
Carmine
Cerise
Claret
Scarlett
Coral
Rose
Ruby

Other names that have red in the meaning: Begonia, Cinnabar,  Phoenix, Rowan, Rufina, Suri, Ula]

So many great options! Carmine is a "real" name with meaning of "garden orchard", but I might like this meaning more. Cerise is soft and flowing, and is again a "real" name, it is the French word for Cherry (and really that is the color it is as well). Claret is a different take on the "real" name "Clarette", it is a French version of Clare.