100+ Names That Mean Sun From Around the World (2026)

This list has 104 names that mean sun, drawn from more than twenty languages and sorted into girl, boy and unisex sections, followed by sun deities and names that mean sunshine, dawn or gold. Every entry gives the language of origin and the accepted meaning, and where the etymology is contested the entry says so.

How to use this list

The first three sections hold names whose literal meaning is “sun” or a direct compound of it, such as “sun gift” or “sun child”. The last two sections are looser. Deity names are included because people search for them, but a god of the sun does not always have a name that means sun, and the entries say when that is the case. Dawn and gold names are flagged as adjacent rather than literal.

If you want to shortlist quickly, pick a section, note the four or five that read well with your surname, then run them through the Baby Name Generator to find siblings and variants in the same register. For other themes, the hub page collects more names by meaning.

Girl names that mean sun

Latin and Romance names

The Latin word sol survives almost unchanged in the Romance languages, which is why these names are so transparent.

Soleil — French, “sun”; the vocabulary word used as a name, mostly in North America
Solana — Spanish, “sunshine, sunny place”; also a surname and place name
Sole — Italian, “sun”; rare as a given name
Marisol — Spanish, “sea and sun” (mar y sol); some sources derive it from María de la Soledad instead, so the meaning is debated
Sorina — Romanian, feminine of Sorin, possibly from soare “sun”; origin debated

Norse, Germanic and Celtic names

Sunniva — Old English via Norwegian, “sun gift” (sunne + giefu); Norway's patron saint of Bergen
Solveig — Old Norse, “strength of the sun” (sól + veig); some scholars read the first element as salr “hall”, so the sun link is debated
Sunna — Old High German and Old Norse, “sun”; the Germanic sun personified
Heulwen — Welsh, “sunshine” (haul “sun” + gwen “white, blessed”)
Tesni — Welsh, “warmth of the sun”
Grian — Irish, “sun”; also the name of an Irish sun goddess or fairy queen
Áine — Irish, “radiance, brightness”; a goddess linked to summer and the sun, though the name itself does not mean sun
Saulė — Lithuanian, “sun”; also the Baltic sun goddess

Names linked to Helios (debated)

These are among the most searched sun names, but the connection to the Greek helios is uncertain in every case. They sit just as comfortably on the list of names that mean light.

Helen — Greek, possibly “torch” or “bright”; the derivation from helios “sun” is debated
Elaine — Old French form of Helen; carries the same debated sun or torch meaning
Elena — Italian, Spanish and Slavic form of Helen; meaning debated as above
Eliana — Hebrew, “my God has answered”; a separate Latin Aeliana is sometimes traced to helios, so the sun meaning is debated
Cyra — Persian and Greek, feminine of Cyrus; sometimes glossed “sun”, sometimes “lady”, meaning debated

Sanskrit and Indian names

Savita — Sanskrit, “sun”; feminine use of Savitr, the Vedic solar deity
Savitri — Sanskrit, “belonging to the sun”; the heroine who outwitted death in the Mahabharata
Bhanupriya — Sanskrit, “beloved of the sun” (bhanu + priya)
Tapati — Sanskrit, “warming”; a daughter of the sun god Surya

Middle Eastern, Caucasian and Central Asian names

Shamsa — Arabic, “sun”; feminine of Shams
Mehrnaz — Persian, “grace of the sun” (mehr + naz)
Arevik — Armenian, “little sun”
Mzia — Georgian, from mze “sun”
Kunsulu — Kazakh, “beautiful sun” (kün + sulu)
Narantsetseg — Mongolian, “sun flower” (naran + tsetseg)

East Asian and other names

Yoko — Japanese, “sun child” when written 陽子; other kanji give other meanings
Haruko — Japanese, “sun child” when written with 陽; the more common 春子 means “spring child”
Malina — Greenlandic Inuit, name of the sun goddess who flees her brother the moon; literal meaning not established
Kalinda — attributed to an Australian Aboriginal language with the meaning “sun”; the attribution is poorly sourced, treat as debated

Boy names that mean sun

Sanskrit names

Sanskrit has more words for the sun than any other language on this page, most of them epithets of Surya that describe what the sun does. If you like this pattern, the same tradition supplies many of the names that mean fire.

Ravi — Sanskrit, “sun”; one of the most common sun names in India
Aditya — Sanskrit, “son of Aditi”; the collective name of the solar deities and a standard word for the sun
Surya — Sanskrit, “sun”; the Vedic sun god, used as a given name across India
Bhaskar — Sanskrit, “light-maker”; an epithet of the sun
Dinesh — Sanskrit, “lord of the day” (dina + isha), meaning the sun
Dinkar — Sanskrit, “day-maker”, the sun
Divakar — Sanskrit, “day-maker”, the sun; a near twin of Dinkar
Prabhakar — Sanskrit, “light-maker”; an epithet of the sun and moon
Bhanu — Sanskrit, “sun, light, ray”
Mihir — Sanskrit, “sun”; borrowed from Persian Mithra
Arun — Sanskrit, “reddish”, the colour of dawn; charioteer of the sun god, so the sun link is by association
Anshuman — Sanskrit, “radiant, having rays”; an epithet of the sun
Martand — Sanskrit, an epithet of the sun god Surya; literal meaning debated

Hebrew, Persian, Arabic and Turkic names

Samson — Hebrew, from shemesh “sun”; usually glossed “sun child” or “of the sun”
Cyrus — Old Persian Kurush, meaning debated; Greek writers claimed it meant “sun”, modern scholars are unconvinced
Aftab — Persian and Urdu, “sun”
Mehrdad — Persian, “given by the sun” or “given by Mithra”
Mehran — Persian, “of the sun” or “of Mithra”
Shamsuddin — Arabic, “sun of the faith”
Naranbaatar — Mongolian, “sun hero”

European names

Elio — Italian and Spanish, from Greek Helios “sun”; also traced to the Roman family name Aelius
Hélio — Portuguese, from Helios “sun”
Ilios — Modern Greek, “sun”; the everyday word used as a name
Sulien — Welsh, “sun-born” (haul + geni); a sixth-century saint
Heulyn — Welsh, “ray of sunshine”
Sorin — Romanian, possibly from soare “sun”; origin debated

East Asian and African names

Taiyo — Japanese, “sun” (太陽); the plain word for the sun
Haruki — Japanese, “sun” plus “tree” or “shine” when written 陽樹 or 陽輝; with 春 it means “spring”, so check the kanji
Haruto — Japanese, commonly 陽翔 “sun soaring”; meaning depends on kanji
Yota — Japanese, “big sun” when written 陽太
Langa — Xhosa and Zulu, “sun”
Yang — Chinese, “sun, the bright principle” when written 阳; the common surname 杨 is unrelated

Unisex names that mean sun

Many languages simply use their word for the sun as a name for either sex. English word names and the Persian and Turkish entries below are the ones you will meet most often.

Sol — Spanish and Portuguese, “sun”; also the Latin and Old Norse word
Sunny — English, “bright with sunshine”; originally a nickname
Sunday — English, “day of the sun”
Sunshine — English, “light of the sun”; a 1970s word name still in quiet use
Kiran — Sanskrit, “ray of light, sunbeam”; used for boys and girls in India
Shams — Arabic, “sun”; the name of Rumi's teacher Shams-e Tabrizi
Mehr — Persian, “sun”, also “kindness”; the Persian name of Mithra and of the seventh month
Khorshid — Persian, “sun”; historically male, now used for girls too
Güneş — Turkish, “sun”
Arev — Armenian, “sun”
Naran — Mongolian, “sun”
Hinata — Japanese, “sunny place, facing the sun” (日向)
Asahi — Japanese, “morning sun” (朝日)
Haru — Japanese, “sun, sunlight” when written 陽; with 春 it means “spring”

Sun gods and goddesses as names

Deity names carry the theme even when the name itself does not mean sun. Each entry below says which is the case. Several of these gods have a lunar sibling, and those appear on the companion list of names that mean moon.

Helios — Greek, “sun”; the Titan who drove the sun chariot, literal meaning intact
Ra — Egyptian, “sun”; the chief solar god, literal meaning intact
Aten — Egyptian, “sun disk”; the deity Akhenaten made supreme
Shamash — Akkadian, “sun”; Mesopotamian sun god and judge
Utu — Sumerian, “sun”; the earlier name of the same god
Amaterasu — Japanese, “shining in heaven”; the sun goddess of Shinto, rarely used as a given name in Japan
Inti — Quechua, “sun”; the Inca sun god, in use as a boy's name in the Andes
Sól — Old Norse, “sun”; the goddess who drives the sun's chariot, called Sunna in Old High German
Tonatiuh — Nahuatl, “he who goes forth shining”; the Aztec sun god
Xihe — Chinese, the mother of the ten suns in myth; the characters do not mean sun
Apollo — Greek, meaning debated; identified with the sun only from the fifth century BC onward and never literally “sun”
Belenus — Celtic, “bright one, shining one”; often called a sun god, though that role is debated
Lugh — Irish, meaning debated (older “light” readings are now doubted); popularly a sun god, which scholars dispute

Names meaning sunshine, dawn and gold

These are adjacent rather than literal. Dawn names describe the sun's arrival and gold names its colour, and baby name sites often blur the two into “sun”. They are listed here so you can use them knowingly. If you are drawn to the darker end of the sky, the meaning hub also has names that mean death.

Aurora — Latin, “dawn”; the Roman goddess of daybreak, adjacent not literal
Dawn — English, “daybreak”; a 20th-century word name
Alba — Spanish and Italian, “dawn”; from Latin albus “white”
Zora — Slavic, “dawn”; also Zorana and Zorica
Sahar — Arabic, “dawn, early morning”
Duha — Arabic, “forenoon brightness”; the name of a Quranic chapter
Eos — Greek, “dawn”; the goddess with rosy fingers
Ushas — Sanskrit, “dawn”; the Vedic dawn goddess
Arunima — Sanskrit, “reddish glow of dawn”
Roxana — Bactrian via Persian, usually “bright” or “dawn”; the exact meaning is debated
Oriana — Latin, either “golden” (aurum) or “rising” (oriens); origin debated
Aurelia — Latin, “golden”; a Roman family name
Aurelio — Italian and Spanish, “golden”; masculine form of Aurelia

Frequently asked questions

What girl name means sun?

The most direct options are Soleil (French), Solana (Spanish), Sunniva (Norwegian, “sun gift”), Heulwen (Welsh, “sunshine”) and Savita (Sanskrit). Helen and Eliana are often listed as sun names but their link to the Greek helios is debated, so treat them as sun-adjacent.

What boy name means sun?

Ravi, Surya, Aditya and Bhaskar are the standard Sanskrit choices. Samson comes from the Hebrew word for sun, Elio from the Greek, and Taiyo is simply the Japanese word for the sun. Cyrus is popular in English but its sun meaning is a Greek folk etymology.

Is Sunny a real name?

Yes. Sunny began as an English nickname for a cheerful child and has been used as an independent name for both sexes since at least the mid 20th century. It is also a common short form of Sunniva and of Indian names beginning with Sun-.

What name means sunshine?

Heulwen in Welsh means sunshine exactly, and Solana in Spanish means a sunny spot. English speakers use Sunshine itself as a word name. Hinata in Japanese means a sunny place, and Kiran in Sanskrit means a ray of sunlight.

Does Apollo mean sun?

No. The etymology of Apollo is unknown, and he was originally a god of prophecy, music and healing. Greeks began identifying him with the sun god Helios in the classical period, and later Roman poets made the pairing standard, which is why the name reads as solar today.