Arata m JapaneseFrom Japanese
新 (arata) meaning "fresh, new". Other kanji or kanji combinations can also form this name.
Åsne f NorwegianFrom the Old Norse name
Ásný, derived from the elements
áss "god" and
nýr "new".
Athol m & f ScottishFrom
Atholl, the name of a district in Scotland, from Scottish Gaelic
Athall, possibly derived from Old Irish
ath Fhotla "new Ireland".
Haruki m JapaneseFrom Japanese
晴 (haru) meaning "clear weather" or
陽 (haru) meaning "light, sun, male" combined with
輝 (ki) meaning "brightness" or
生 (ki) meaning "living". Other kanji combinations are possible.
Hodesh f BiblicalMeans
"new moon, month" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, this is the wife of Shaharaim.
İlkay f & m TurkishMeans
"new moon" in Turkish, derived from
ilk "first" and
ay "moon".
Mei 2 f JapaneseFrom Japanese
芽 (me) meaning "bud, sprout" combined with
依 (i) meaning "rely on",
生 (i) meaning "life" or
衣 (i) meaning "clothing, garment". Other kanji combinations are possible.
Neonilla f Late Greek, Russian (Rare)From a Greek name derived from
νέος (neos) meaning
"new". This was the name of an Orthodox Christian saint, a 3rd-century Syrian woman martyred during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Decius.
Neville m English (British)From an English surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning
"new town" in Norman French. As a given name it is chiefly British and Australian.
Newton m EnglishFrom a surname that was originally derived from a place name meaning
"new town" in Old English. A famous bearer of the surname was the English physicist Isaac Newton (1643-1727).
Novak m SerbianFrom Serbian
нов (nov) meaning
"new". A notable bearer is the Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic (1987-).
Novella f ItalianDerived from Latin
novellus meaning
"new, young, novel", a diminutive of
novus "new". This name was borne by the 14th-century Italian scholar Novella d'Andrea, who taught law at the University of Bologna.
Quasimodo m LiteratureFrom the name of the Sunday that follows Easter, called Quasimodo Sunday, which gets its name from the opening words of the Latin chant
quasi modo (geniti infantes...) meaning
"like the way (that newborn infants do...)". It was used by Victor Hugo for his novel
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831), in which Quasimodo is a hunchbacked bellringer at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. He was named thus by Archdeacon Frollo because he was abandoned as a baby at the cathedral on Quasimodo Sunday, though Hugo states that Frollo may have been inspired by the alternate meaning for
quasi "almost", referring to the almost-complete appearance of the foundling.
Shin'ichi m JapaneseFrom Japanese
真 (shin) meaning "real, genuine" or
新 (shin) meaning "fresh, new" combined with
一 (ichi) meaning "one". Other kanji combinations are also possible.
Torny f Norwegian (Rare)From the Old Norse name
Þórný, which was derived from the name of the Norse god
Þórr (see
Thor) combined with
nýr "new".
Unni f NorwegianPossibly a modern coinage based on the Old Norse elements
unnr "wave" or
unna "to love" combined with
nýr "new".
Walid m ArabicMeans
"newborn", derived from Arabic
ولد (walada) meaning "to give birth". This was the name of the Umayyad caliph who conquered Spain in the 8th century.
Xavier m English, French, Portuguese, Catalan, SpanishDerived from the Basque place name
Etxeberria meaning
"the new house". This was the surname of the Jesuit priest Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552) who was born in a village by this name. He was a missionary to India, Japan, China, and other areas in East Asia, and he is the patron saint of the Orient and missionaries. His surname has since been adopted as a given name in his honour, chiefly among Catholics.
Yūki m & f JapaneseFrom Japanese
優 (yū) meaning "excellence, superiority, gentleness" or
悠 (yū) meaning "permanence" combined with
希 (ki) meaning "hope",
輝 (ki) meaning "brightness" or
生 (ki) meaning "living". Other combinations of kanji can form this name as well.