Burmese baby names

Handpicked for families who want names with roots: the beloved classics, what parents in the culture choose today, and the cool discoveries most US name sites never surface.

Aung success, victory (အောင်); the most recognizable Burmese name in America, carried by independence hero Aung San and Burmese American MMA champion Aung La Nsang. Burmese tradition ties names to the birth day: each day of an eight-day week owns a set of letters, and Sunday children receive vowel names like Aung

Aye cool, calm, peaceful (အေး); a Sunday vowel name of the grandparent generation, often doubled as Aye Aye

Cho sweet (ချို); often doubled as Cho Cho in the affectionate Burmese doubling pattern

Hein mighty, resounding (ဟိန်း); a staple of the millennial and Gen-Z cohort in Myanmar and the diaspora

Hla beautiful, pretty (လှ); a grandparent-era classic for daughters and sons alike (U Hla, Daw Hla Hla)

Hnin snow, mist (နှင်း); the soft hn- opening has no English equivalent, so US families answer to 'nin'

Htet sharp, surpassing, at the peak (ထက်); a defining element of the 2010s generation, in names like Htet Aung and Kaung Htet

Kaung good, worthy (ကောင်း); among the most popular elements for boys born in the 2010s and 2020s, as in Kaung Myat and Kaung Htet; a Monday-letter name

Khaing firm, steadfast (ခိုင်)

Khant dignified, stately (ခန့်); a signature element of 2010s and 2020s boys' names like Min Khant

Khin affectionate, friendly (ခင်); a Monday-letter classic of the grandparent generation, as in Khin Kyi, mother of Aung San Suu Kyi

Kyaw famous, renowned (ကျော်); pronounced closer to 'chaw'. A Monday name in the day-of-week tradition, which gives Monday children names beginning with k or kh sounds

Kyi clear, pure (ကြည်); pronounced 'chee'. The Kyi of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose name honors three relatives: grandfather Aung San, grandmother Suu, mother Khin Kyi. Burmese names carry no surnames, so families weave ancestors' names in instead; in the US, where forms demand a family name, the name itself usually gets split across the blanks

Lin bright, clear (လင်း); spelled Lin, Linn or Lynn in the US, where it slides neatly into American name patterns

Marlar garland of flowers, from Pali mala (မာလာ)

Maung Maung literally young brother (မောင်မောင်); Maung alone is the boys' honorific, but doubled it becomes a true given name, borne by a president of Burma. Doubling is a beloved Burmese pattern, as in Cho Cho, Hla Hla and Win Win

Min king, ruler (မင်း); the royal word of the old Burmese court, now a favorite opener in modern boys' names like Min Khant and Min Thant

Moe rain, sky (မိုး); a Thursday-letter name for boys and girls alike. In the US it lands as the friendly American nickname Moe, an easy bridge for a Burmese name

Mya emerald (မြ); a Thursday-letter classic. In the US it doubles as the familiar American name Mya, so a Burmese American daughter can carry her grandmother's name and never have it misspelled

Myat noble, excellent (မြတ်); a workhorse element of modern names for both sexes, as in Kaung Myat and Myat Noe

Myint high, noble, elevated (မြင့်)

Nandar joy, delight, from Pali nanda (နန္ဒာ)

Nay sun (နေ); a Saturday-letter name, familiar from award-winning actor Nay Toe

Nilar sapphire, from Pali nila, deep blue (နီလာ)

Nyein calm, at peace (ငြိမ်း); a Tuesday-letter name (the ny sound)

Phyo to thrive, to prosper (ဖြိုး); pronounced 'pyo', also spelled Phyoe. A Thursday-letter name popular with parents of the 2000s and 2010s

Phyu white, fair, pure (ဖြူ); pronounced 'pyu'

Pwint to bloom, to blossom (ပွင့်); a fresh, modern pick

San one spelling, several words: ဆန်း, extraordinary (the San of General Aung San), and စံ, exemplar, standard; both Tuesday-letter names

Sanda moon, from Pali canda (စန္ဒာ)

Sein diamond (စိန်); a sparkler of the grandparent generation

Shwe gold (ရွှေ); the word that names Myanmar's greatest pagoda, the Shwedagon

Su one spelling, two names: စု, to gather (the Suu of Aung San Suu Kyi), and ဆု, a wish or reward; both are Tuesday-letter names, and both usually end up written Su or Suu in US records

Thandar coral (သန္တာ)

Thant pure, clean (သန့်); the name of U Thant, UN Secretary-General from 1961 to 1971. The U was never part of his name: U, Daw, Ko and Ma are honorifics (roughly Mr., Ms., elder brother, young woman), so in the US the bare given name stands alone

Thazin orchid (သဇင်); the thazin orchid is Myanmar's most cherished blossom, worn in the hair for festivals, which makes this the signature Burmese flower name

Thiha lion, from Pali siha (သီဟ)

Thiri splendor, glory, from Pali siri (သီရိ), the same root as Sri

Thura hero, brave one, from Pali sura (သူရ); also awarded as a gallantry title in Myanmar

Tun to shine, to flourish (ထွန်း); spelled Tun, Htun or Htoon across US records, all the same name

Win bright, radiant (ဝင်း); a Wednesday-morning name (letters l and w). It reads as the English word win, one reason Burmese American families keep it unchanged on US paperwork

Yadana jewel, treasure, from Pali ratana (ရတနာ)

Ye brave (ရဲ); a name for the eighth day. Burmese astrology splits Wednesday in two, and children born Wednesday afternoon, under Yahu, receive names starting with y or r

Zaw outstanding, distinguished (ဇော်); a Tuesday-letter name (s and z sounds)

Zeya victory, from Pali jaya (ဇေယျာ)

Which of these fits YOUR family? →