Lao 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.

Aloun dawn (the Lao form of Sanskrit aruna, cognate with Thai Arun; Lao pronunciation renders the r as l)

Anousone remembrance, memorial (from Pali anussarana); Lao families give it to keep a loved one's memory alive, a naming role as much as a meaning

Bouakham golden lotus (boua = lotus + kham = gold); a grandmother-generation classic among Lao Americans, the kind of name carried from Vientiane or Savannakhet through the Thai border camps to California and Minnesota

Bounkham golden merit (boun = merit + kham = gold)

Bounmy blessed with merit (boun = merit, from Pali punna, + mi = to have); boun is the single most common element in Lao given names, tied to Buddhist merit-making, and Bounmy was an everyman classic of the refugee generation that arrived after 1975

Chanthavy of the moon (chan, from Sanskrit chandra); a classic Lao girls' name

Dara star (from Pali-Sanskrit tara); in Laos as in Thailand it also means a screen star

Douangchanh the orb of the moon, the full moon (douang = orb, disc + chanh = moon)

Douangmala a cluster of garlands (douang = orb, cluster + mala = garland of flowers)

Keo crystal, precious stone; the Lao cognate of Thai Kaew and one of the most-used elements in Lao naming, standing alone as a given name or call-name for both sexes

Kesone the pollen at the heart of a flower (from Pali kesara)

Ketsana agarwood, the fragrant heartwood prized across Southeast Asia

Kham gold; the workhorse element of Lao naming (Bouakham, Khamphone), also given alone

Khamla golden; a compact everyday name on kham, gold

Khamphone golden blessing (kham = gold + phone = blessing)

Khamsing golden lion (kham = gold + sing = lion, from Pali siha)

Latsamy ray of light, radiance (from Sanskrit rasmi, in the Lao pronunciation that turns r toward l); also spelled Ratsamy

Mala garland of flowers (from Pali mala)

Manivanh jewel (from Sanskrit mani); a classic Lao girls' compound in its French-era spelling

Noy little one; the archetypal Lao call-name. Like Thai, Lao pairs a formal multi-syllable name with a short everyday nickname, and Noy is so widely used that many Lao American women go by it in every setting, whatever the birth certificate says

Oudom abundant, supreme, flourishing

Phet diamond (from Sanskrit vajra); a sturdy one-syllable name and call-name for both sexes

Phetmany diamonds and gems (phet = diamond, from Sanskrit vajra, + many = jewel)

Phetsamone precious as a diamond (built on phet, diamond); a formal name of the refugee-era generation, the cohort that rebuilt Lao life in Sacramento, Fresno, and the Twin Cities

Phonesavanh blessing from heaven (phone = blessing + savanh = heaven); also the main town of Xieng Khouang province, whose name many Lao American families carry as a memory of home

Phouvong mountain lineage (phou = mountain + vong = lineage, from Sanskrit vamsa)

Sengchanh moonlight (seng = light + chanh = moon)

Sengdao starlight (seng = light + dao = star, the same dao Thai families use)

Sisavath glorious well-being (si, from Sanskrit sri, + savath, from svasti, the same root as the Thai greeting sawasdee)

Somchit contented heart (som = fitting + chit = heart, mind, from Pali citta)

Somphone fitting blessing (som = worthy, fitting + phone = blessing, the Lao cognate of the Thai element phorn); the French-era Lao romanization spells the blessing element phone, which reads smoothly on an American roster

Somsack worthy of honor (som = worthy + sak = honor, power); the same name as Thai Somsak wearing its Lao-French spelling, with the -ck ending that marks many Lao American names in US records

Souksavanh heavenly happiness (souk = joy, well-being + savanh = heaven)

Souvanna golden (from Sanskrit suvarna); borne by Prince Souvanna Phouma, three times prime minister of Laos, and echoed in Suvannaphum, the golden land of old Southeast Asia

Thongsavanh golden heaven (thong = gold + savanh = heaven, from Sanskrit svarga)

Viengkham city of gold (vieng = walled city + kham = gold)

Vilay beautiful, fine (also spelled Vilai)

Vilayvanh radiantly beautiful (vilay = lovely, fair)

Vixay victory (from Sanskrit vijaya; pronounced vi-sai)

Xay victory (from Sanskrit jaya); the x of Lao romanization is pronounced like s, a French colonial convention, so Xay rhymes with sigh. A compact pick common among Lao American boys born in the 1980s and 90s

Which of these fits YOUR family? →