Names that mean dawn
This list groups names by the literal gloss at the start of each meaning, not the cultural notes that follow. Closely related meanings are gathered under dawn. Tap any name for its story, or grow a tree and see which of them belong in your family.
Dawn English · daybreak, first light
Liwayway Filipino · dawn, early morning light
Sahar Arabic · dawn, the hour before sunrise
Asahi Japanese · morning sun
Lucero Spanish · morning star, bright light
Chen Chinese · morning (晨)
Sepideh Persian · dawn
Fajar Indonesian · dawn
Dawna Modern American · A modern American feminine elaboration of Dawn, the English word for daybreak.
Arunny Khmer · dawn light; from Sanskrit aruna
Tariq Arabic · morning star, one who knocks
Xiao Chinese · varies by character: often 晓, 'dawn, daybreak', or 笑, 'smile'; a pinyin-era given name
Tala Filipino · star, specifically the guiding morning star
Danica Slavic · morning star
Chenxi Chinese · first light of dawn (晨曦)
Zaria Modern · possibly based on Zahra or the Nigerian city of Zaria
Aurora Latin · "dawn," the Roman goddess who opened the gates of morning; poets kept it alive for centuries, Sleeping Beauty gave it a princess, and the celestial wave carried it into the top tier. Rory and Auri hide inside its four syllables
Arun Sanskrit · the reddish glow of dawn; in Hindu tradition Aruna is the charioteer of the sun (Sanskrit). A quiet crossover workhorse: two syllables, a near-homophone of Aaron, and common across three generations of Tamil families, which makes it one of the safest heritage-plus-playground picks in the tradition
Vihaan Sanskrit · dawn, morning (surged in U.S. birth records through the 2010s-2020s among Indian American families)
Aloun Lao · dawn (the Lao form of Sanskrit aruna, cognate with Thai Arun; Lao pronunciation renders the r as l)
Oriana Latin · traditionally 'golden' or 'dawn'; used in medieval romance literature
Danika Slavic · means 'morning star'
Usha Sanskrit · dawn (the Vedic goddess of dawn)
Zora Slavic · from a Slavic word meaning 'dawn'
Ruoxi Chinese · often 若曦, 'like dawn light', or 若汐, 'like the evening tide'; a favorite for US-born daughters of Chinese immigrants
Rohith Telugu · red, the reddish glow of dawn (Sanskrit rohita); the Telugu th spelling of the pan-Indian Rohit
Alba Latin · Latin for 'white' or 'dawn'
Embun Malay · morning dew (Malay word-name)
Ashwin Sanskrit · horse lord (the Ashvins are the twin gods of dawn and dusk)
Arunima Sanskrit · Sanskrit for the reddish light of dawn; famously borne by Arunima Sinha, the first female amputee to summit Everest.
Asia Greek · from the name of the continent, traditionally from Greek, possibly 'east' or 'sunrise'
Roxanna Persian · little star, dawn (variant of Roxana)
Hei-Yiu Cantonese · dawn light on fine jade (晞瑤); a distinctly 2020s Hong Kong coinage. The Yiu here is 瑤, precious jade, a different word from the 耀 (to shine) of boys' names like Yiu-Ming
Aahana Sanskrit · commonly glossed as 'early dawn light' in baby-name references, though the precise Sanskrit root is debated
Zariah English · modern name, a variant of Zaria or Sariah, finished with the fashionable '-iah' ending
Tarik Arabic · traditionally "morning star," linked to the historical figure Tariq ibn Ziyad
Xiaowei Chinese · varies by characters; often 晓伟 dawn greatness
Roxann Persian · A shortened spelling of Roxanne, from Old Persian roughly meaning bright or dawn; the name of Alexander the Great's wife Roxana.
Xiaolong Chinese · dawn dragon (曉龍)
Roxy Persian · diminutive of Roxanne, traditionally 'dawn' or 'bright star'
Roxana Persian · dawn, little star (Persian princess who married Alexander the Great)
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