Names That Mean Darkness, Death, Night, or Dark & Meaning

Sanskrit and Greek supply the largest share of the names in this list while Egyptian, Slavic, Finnish, and Irish make up the rest. I selected 200 of them below with meanings.

List Of Names That Mean Darkness:

For Girls

Kauket

Kauket is Egyptian and is the feminine half of the darkness pair in the Ogdoad of Hermopolis.

Ombretta

Italian Ombretta is a diminutive of ombra, shade.

Achlys

Achlys is the personification of sorrow as well as the keeper of the Death Mist.

Timira

Sanskrit “darkness”. Ayurvedic medicine uses timira as the term for a clouding of vision.

Dubheasa

Dubheasa has Irish roots and is made of dubh (means ”dark”) and eas (“waterfall”). It is pronounced as duv-AH-sa.

Tamasi

Tamasi comes from the Sanskrit tamas, the dark that Hindus consider one of the three qualities of matter.

Skia

Skia is Greek for shadow and has origins in skiagraphia, “shadow drawing”.

Tamala

It is a dark-barked Indian tree.

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Fusca

Latin, feminine of fuscus, dusky.

Melanippe

It is composed of the Greek elements melas and hippos so is meaning ”black mare.”

Kalika

Kalika means “the black one” in Sanskrit and is in the feminine form.

Chhaya

”Shadow” in Sanskrit.

Melantha

Greek roots for dark and flower.

Yamuna

Yamuna is the sister of Yama, the god of death.

Shyamala

Shyamala is an epithet of Parvati and means ”dark” or ”blackish”.

Zillah

Hebrew Tsillah, “shade”.

Corva

Latin, feminine of corvus, raven.

Sauda

Sausa is a good Arabic girl’s name and means black. Sawda bint Zam was a wife of Muhammad.

Neela

Neela is from the Sanskrit nila, ”dark blue.” Save

Kajal

“Kohl.”

Yin

Yin is Chinese for the shaded slope that is the dark half of the yin-yang pair.

Nigella

Latin diminutive of niger.

Sable

Sable comes from Slavic via fur trading.

Ebony

“dark, dense hardwood”.

Kali

Kali is the feminine variant of kala, ”black.”

Boys

Kek

Kek is the Egyptian god of primordial darkness and is one quarter of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Save

Melanthios

In Greek, Melanthios is ”dark flower.”

Chernobog

Slavic for black god.

Andhaka

“he who darkens”.

Melampus

“Black-footed.”

Kaliya

The black serpent of the Yamuna.

Melanion

”Black” or ”ink.”

Zalmon

Zalmon is Hebrew for shady or dark.

Karahan

Karahan is composed of the Turkish kara (that means ”black”) and han (”ruler”).

Kalidas

Servant of Kali.

Asita

Sanskrit “not white” so is symbolizing black by negation.

Dubhán

Dubhán is Irish for ”little dark one.”

Rahu

Rahu is symbolizing the ascension of the Moon.

Ketu

Ketu is a shadow planet with no physical form.

Corvin

It is from the Latin corvus.

Aswad

Arabic for black.

Duff

It has Scottish roots and comes from dubh.

Moro

Moro is Italian and Spanish for a Moor.

Shyam

Sanskrit for dark and is used for Krishna in poetry and songs.

Shani

Saturn in Indian astrology, son of the sun god and his shadow-wife Chhaya.

Kohl

The powdered antimony used as eyeliner.

Tamas

In Sanskrit Tamas is symbolizing the dark inertia of matter and is also the Hungarian form of Thomas.

Erebus

In Greek mythology, Erebus is the personification of darkness.

Krishna

Dark blue-black, in Sanskrit.

Nero

Nero is Italian for black however the Roman name has origins in the Sabine word for ”strong.”

Names That Mean Death

Girls

Tuonetar

Tuonetar is the Queen of the Underworld in Finnish legends.

Giltine

Giltiné is a traditional representation of death.

Kebechet

Kebechet assists her father in his role as the god of embalming.

Anput

The feminine of Anubis.

Mictecacihuatl

Nahuatl for ”lady of the dead,” and Mictecacihuatl ruler of Mictlan with her husband. It is pronounced meek-teh-kah-SEE-wahtl.

Kalma

Finnish for the smell of a corpse.

Libitina

Libitina is the Roman goddess of funerals and burial.

Macaria

Macaria means “blessed one”; however, it is an euphemism, a way of not saying death out loud.

Melinoe

Melinoë is a bringer of nightmares and madness in Greek myths.

Badb

Badb is Irish for crow.

Nirriti

Nirriti is the Vedic goddess of decay and dissolution.

Ereshkigal

Sumerian for queen of the great earth, and in this case, the great earth is the underworld.

Selket

Serqet is the Egyptian scorpion goddess whose name means “she who causes the throat to breathe”.

Marzanna

Marzanna is symbolizing the death of nature in winter and its rebirth in spring.

Izanami

Japanese for ”she who invites.” After dying in childbirth, Izanami vowed to kill 1,000 people a day.

Morta

In Roman mythology, Morta was the goddess of death.

Kalaratri

”Black night” in Sanskrit. Kalaratri is the 7th form of Durga worshipped during Navaratri.

Mrtyu

Mṛtyu or Death is personified as the deity Mara.

Oya

Oya means “she tore” in Yoruba.

Atropos

Atropos is the third of the Three Fates or Moirai.

Styx

Greek gloom or hatred, the river of oaths.

Nephthys

Nephthys is an Egyptian goddess linked with night/darkness or mourning.

Morrigan

The Morrígan is connected with war and fate and means “great queen.”

Persephone

Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and her abduction myth symbolizes the cycle of life and death.

Hel

Norse ruler of the dead.

Boys

Mictlantecuhtli

Mictlāntēcutli is a god of the dead and the king of Mictlan, the ninth and lowest layer of the Aztec underworld

Tuoni

Lord of the Finnish underworld and the husband of Tuonetar.

Wepwawet

Wepwawet was originally a jackal deity of funerary rites.

Ah Puch

Yucatec Maya death god of the lowest level of Xibalba. Save

Erlik

Siberian shamans negotiated with Erlik for the return of stolen souls. He is the Turkic and Mongolian lord of the underworld.

Dumah

Dumah is an angel who has authority over the wicked dead.

Ankou

The last person to die in a parish each year becomes the Ankou.

Nergal

Nergal is the Mesopotamian god of war and disease.

Surma

Finnish for violent death.

Mot

Mot is the god who swallowed Baal and brought drought.

Arawn

Arawn is the Welsh king of the otherworld realm of Annwn.

Abaddon

Hebrew for destruction.

Donn

Irish for brown or dark, the first ancestor to die.

Orcus

Orcus is the Roman god of the underworld. The word ogre most likely has roots in his name as well as Tolkien’s orc.

Kala

Kala is Sanskrit for time and black.

Mors

Mors is the personification of death and is equivalent to the Greek Thanatos.

Azrael

Azrael is the canonical angel of death in Islam.

Samael

Samael has Hebrew origins and is meaning ”venom of God.”

Charon

The ferryman.

Mortimer

Mortimer is a Norman place name from Mortemer in Normandy and is symbolizing ”dead water” or ”still water.”

Yama

Yama is the Hindu god of death and justice and it means ”twin.”

Anubis

Anubis is the god of funerary rites.

Osiris

Osiris is the god of fertility, the dead, resurrection, life, and the afterlife.

Thanatos

Greek death, twin of Sleep.

Hades

The unseen one.

Names That Mean Night

Girls

Noctiluca

Noctiluca is Latin for night shining as well as an epithet of the moon goddess.

Yoruko

Japanese, yoru (night) with the suffix ko.

Nyctimene

“She who stays up at night.”

Nuit

French for night and also the French spelling used for the Egyptian sky goddess Nut.

Yamika

“Nighttime”.

Shabana

Night in Persian and Urdu.

Gece

Gece is Turkish for night.

Yalda

Syriac for birth and reached in Persian for the longest night of the year.

Nishita

Sanskrit for midnight.

Nata

It is a variation of the Sanskrit nakta, night. In Slavic Nata is a short form of Natalia.

Hespera

Greek for evening.

Layali

Arabic, the plural of layla and means ”nights.”

Nott

Norse Nótt, mother of Day.

Ilta

Finnish for evening.

Nishi

”Night” in Sanskrit.

Shabnam

Shabnam is Persian for dew and the compound is meaning ”night moisture.”

Sandhya

Sanskrit for twilight, the time when day meets night.

Ratri

Ratri is also referred to as Nakt.

Yami

Yami is the twin sister of Yama in Rigveda.

Yamini

Another Sanskrit night word.

Twyla

A form of twilight.

Rajani

In Sanskrit Rajani (रजनी) means “night”.

Vesper

Vesper or Noctifer is the Evening Star.

Chandni

Hindi for moonlight.

Amaya

Amaya means “night rain” in Japanese.

Nox

Nyx is the personification of the night

Lilith

“Belonging to the night”.

Nisha

Sanskrit night.

Nyx

Nyx is the Greek equivalent of Nox.

Layla

Arabic for night.

Boys

Nyctelius

”Nocturnal.”

Vakaris

Lithuanian, from vakaras, evening.

Nyctimus

Arcadian, son of Lycaon.

Nycteus

Greek, from nyx.

Gaueko

Gaueko is the spirit of the night who returns anything left outside overnight in worse condition.

Narfi

Narfi is the reason night is older than day in Norse timekeeping.

Shabahang

”Nightingale.”

Shabdiz

Persian for the shade of night.

Shabrang

Persian for night coloured.

Nocturnus

Nocturnus is the god of the night invoked in a Plautus comedy.

Astraeus

Titan of dusk.

Iravan

Iravan is a character from the epic Mahabharata.

Nishikar

Maker of the night.

Rajanikanta

”Lord of the night” or “beloved of the night”.

Nisheeth

”Midnight.”

Nishikanta

Lord of the night.

Yoru

Japanese for night.

Lail

Nighttime.

Tariq

Tariq is Arabic and means ”one who knocks at night.”

Noctis

”Of the night.”

Names That Mean Dark

Girls

Chernava

Slavic, from the root for black.

Celaeno

Celaeno is Greek for the dark one.

Nilambari

Blue sky, in Sanskrit.

Donella

”Lady” or “dark-haired elfin maiden”.

Ciarnait

“Little dark one”.

Asikni

Sanskrit for the dark one.

Krishnaveni

Krishnaveni is Sanskrit for dark braid.

Nigrina

Latin, from niger.

Huyen

Vietnamese for ”deep black.”

Esmeray

Esmeray means “dark moon” in Turkish.

Mavra

Mavra is the feminine form of mavros, ”black.”

Xuan

In Chinese Xuan 玄 means dark and obscure.

Samra

“Dark-skinned” in Arabic.

Merle

French for blackbird and comes from Latin merula.

Jetta

”Jet black.”

Morena

Morena is Spanish for dark haired or dark skinned.

Bruna

Italian and Portuguese for brown.

Kerry

”The dark one.”

Maura

Maura comes from the Latin Maurus, a Moor, so is meaning ”dark complexioned.”

Onyx

Onyx refers to the black gemstone.

Kara

Turkish for black, as in Karadeniz, the Black Sea.

Raven

Old English hræfn.

Melanie

Greek melaina, black.

Ciara

It is the feminine form of the Irish ciar and is meaning “little dark one”. Saint Ciara founded a monastery at Kilkeary in Tipperary.

Boys

Siyamak

Persian, from siyah, black.

Siyavash

Siyavash means ”black stallion” in Persian.

Vran

Slavic for raven.

Dubhaltach

“Black-jointed”.

Sanwal

In Punjabi and Urdu, Sanwal means ”dark complexion.”

Asmar

”Brown” or ”tawny.” It is the masculine of samra above.

Adham

Arabic for a deep black.

Dwyer

Dwyer comes from Ó Duibhir and is meaning ”descendant of the dark-colored or sallow one”.

Phineas

”The dark skinned one.”

Bran

Welsh and Irish for raven.

Kedar

Hebrew for dark.

Fiachra

”Raven” in Irish.

Dougal

Dougal is from the Gaelic dubhghall, ”dark stranger.”

Corbin

Corbin initially started as a nickname for someone with black hair.

Jett

“Jet black”.

Sullivan

Sullivan means “dark eyes.”

Nigel

Nigel is a Latinisation of Irish Niall.

Donovan

“Dark warrior.”

Ciaran

Irish, the dark one.

Blake

Blake is from blæc (that means ”black”) and blāc (”pale”).

Duncan

”Brown warrior.”

Cole

Cole has roots in the Old English cola, ”coal.”

Maurice

Latin Maurus, a Moor. Saint Maurice is depicted as a Black knight in German art for almost 800 years.

Bruno

It comes from the Germanic brun, brown. In 1600 Giordano Bruno was burned in Rome.

Douglas

Dark stream.