By your fourth baby name list, the moon names blur together, and Diana, Artemis and Phoebe sit beside Luna as if they all mean "moon."
This guide separates names that mean moon, star, sun and sky from the celestial names that share a myth with them. Each meaning comes from a named reference, each table shows a 2025 US rank from the Social Security Administration (SSA), and the last column says whether the name is in our Baby Name Finder yet.
Luna (Latin), Selene (Greek) and Chandra (Sanskrit) each mean "moon" as a word. Diana, Artemis and Phoebe belong to moon goddesses, and their own meanings are "divine, goddesslike," unknown and "bright, pure."
Key Takeaways
- Names that mean moon include Luna (Latin, "the moon"), Selene (Greek), Chandra (Sanskrit), Qamar (Arabic) and Mahina (Hawaiian and Māori), according to Behind the Name.
- Moon goddess names carry other meanings: Diana is "divine, goddesslike," Artemis is unknown and Phoebe is "bright, pure."
- Four favorites need a second look. Astrid is "god" plus "beautiful, beloved," Orion's meaning is uncertain, Atlas may mean "enduring" and Skye comes from an island.
- Luna ranks 27th among girls' names on the SSA's 2025 list. Most other names in this guide fall outside its top 1,000.
Girl Names That Mean Moon
Each table gives the meaning and root from Behind the Name, the name's rank on the SSA's list of the 1,000 most common girl and boy names for babies born in 2025, and whether the name is in our Baby Name Finder. "Outside top 1,000" means the name is on neither list.
| Name | Meaning and root | Origin | US rank (SSA, 2025) | In our Name Finder? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Luna | "The moon" in Latin; also the Roman moon goddess | Latin; used in Italian, Spanish and English | 27 (girls) | Yes |
| Selene | "Moon" in Greek; a Greek moon goddess | Greek | 623 (girls) | Not yet |
| Selena | Latinized form of Selene | Greek, Latinized | 268 (girls) | Not yet |
| Mahina | "Moon, month" in Hawaiian and Māori | Hawaiian, Māori | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Aylin | Elaborated form of ay, "moon" | Turkish, Azerbaijani, Kazakh | 345 (girls) | Not yet |
| Ayla | "Moonlight, halo" in Turkish | Turkish, Azerbaijani | 77 (girls) | Not yet |
| Levana | Hebrew form of Lebanah, "moon" in Hebrew, a poetic word from lavan, "white" | Hebrew | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
The SSA counts spellings, and Behind the Name lists Ayla as three separate names (Hebrew, Turkish and a literary one), so the rank of 77 cannot tell you which one a family means. Levana has a twin too: a Roman goddess associated with newborn babies whose name comes from Latin levo, "to raise, to lift." The moon meaning belongs to the Hebrew Levana.
Luna is in our Baby Name Finder, along with 200+ names you can filter by gender, origin or first letter, each shown with its meaning.
Boy Names That Mean Moon
Moon names for boys come from Sanskrit, Arabic and Turkish. Behind the Name labels most of them masculine and feminine, so the origin column shows who uses each one.
| Name | Meaning and root | Origin and use | US rank (SSA, 2025) | In our Name Finder? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chandra | "Moon" in Sanskrit, from cand, "to shine" | Sanskrit, Hindi and other Indian languages; boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Qamar | "Moon" in Arabic | Arabic, Urdu; boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Badr | "Full moon" in Arabic | Arabic; boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Hilal | "Crescent moon" in Arabic, also the new moon on the Islamic calendar | Arabic, Turkish; a boy's name in Arabic and a girl's name in Turkish | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Ayhan | Turkish ay, "moon," plus han, "khan, ruler, leader" | Turkish; boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
Names That Mean Moon in Japanese
Japanese names take their meaning from the kanji a family chooses, and the sound alone leaves it open. Behind the Name lists the characters for each name below.
| Name | Kanji and meaning | Origin and use | US rank (SSA, 2025) | In our Name Finder? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tsukiko | 月子: 月 tsuki, "moon," plus 子 ko, "child"; other kanji combinations are possible | Japanese; girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Mitsuki | 美月: 美 mi, "beautiful," plus 月 tsuki, "moon"; or 光希: 光 mitsu, "light," plus 希 ki, "hope" | Japanese; boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
Mitsuki shows why the characters matter: one sound reads as "beautiful moon" or as "light" and "hope." Behind the Name's entries for Yuzuki and Mizuki list spellings built from 柚 ("citrus") and 瑞 ("felicitous omen"), each paired with 希 ("hope"), and none uses 月. Ask which kanji go with a Japanese name before you write the moon into its story.
Behind the Name has no definition for Hazuki or Tsukito, so they are left out.
Names That Mean Star
The star names below range from Latin Stella to Japanese Hoshi. The table covers girls and boys, with the reference's gender label in the origin column.
| Name | Meaning and root | Origin and use | US rank (SSA, 2025) | In our Name Finder? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stella | "Star" in Latin; the name was created by the poet Philip Sidney for the subject of his sonnets Astrophel and Stella | Latin; girls | 52 (girls) | Not yet |
| Estelle | An Old French name meaning "star," from Latin stella | Old French; girls | 573 (girls) | Not yet |
| Estrella | Spanish form of Stella, and the Spanish word for "star" | Spanish; girls | 612 (girls) | Not yet |
| Astra | "Star," from Greek aster; used, rarely, only since the 20th century | English (rare); girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Aster | The flower's name, from Greek aster, "star" | English (rare); boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Seren | "Star" in Welsh; a modern Welsh creation | Welsh; girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Tara | "Star" in Sanskrit; a Hindu astral goddess and a Buddhist bodhisattva | Sanskrit; girls | 847 (girls) | Yes |
| Danica | From a Slavic word meaning "morning star, Venus" | Serbian, Croatian, Slovene and other Slavic languages; girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Najm | "Star" in Arabic; Najma is its feminine form | Arabic; boys | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Hoshi | 星 hoshi, "star"; other kanji with the same sound exist | Japanese; girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
Behind the Name lists two unrelated names spelled Tara. The Sanskrit one means "star." The English one is the Anglicized Irish place name Teamhair, "possibly elevated place," the sacred hill near Dublin where Irish high kings resided. The Tara in our Baby Name Finder is the Sanskrit "star" name.
Esther is a star name by one theory only, covered in the section on names that aren't what they seem. If the wish matters more to you than the star, names that mean hope is the next list to read.
Names That Mean Sun
Several sun names double as sun gods in their home traditions: Helios in Greek myth, Surya and Ravi in Hindu tradition, and Shams, a pre-Islamic Arabian sun goddess. Britannica names Helios as Selene's brother, so the two make a moon-and-sun pair for siblings.
| Name | Meaning and root | Origin and use | US rank (SSA, 2025) | In our Name Finder? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helios | "Sun" in Greek; the young Greek sun god, a Titan | Greek; boys | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Soleil | "Sun" in French; uncommon as a name in France itself | French; girls | 758 (girls) | Not yet |
| Surya | "Sun" in Sanskrit; the Vedic Hindu sun god | Sanskrit; boys | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Ravi | "Sun" in Sanskrit; a Hindu sun god, sometimes equated with Surya | Sanskrit; boys | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Shams | "Sun" in Arabic; a pre-Islamic Arabian sun goddess | Arabic, Persian, Urdu; boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Solveig | Old Norse sól, "sun," plus veig, "strength" | Old Norse; Norwegian, Swedish, Danish; girls | Outside top 1,000 | Yes |
| Sunniva | Scandinavian form of Old English Sunngifu, "sun gift" | Norwegian; girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
Solveig, "sun strength," also fits names that mean strength. For names about brightness and the first light of morning, see names that mean light and dawn.
Japanese Names That Mean Sun
As with the moon, the kanji carry the meaning here.
| Name | Kanji and meaning | Origin and use | US rank (SSA, 2025) | In our Name Finder? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinata | 日向, "sunny place"; 陽向, "toward the sun"; or 向日葵, a non-standard reading, "sunflower" | Japanese; boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Asahi | 旭 or 朝日, both "morning sun" | Japanese; boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Haruto | 陽 haru, "light, sun, male," with 斗 (a Chinese constellation) or 翔, "soar, fly"; other haru kanji give 遥, "distant, remote," or 晴, "clear weather" | Japanese; boys | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
Names That Mean Sky
Sky names come from Japanese, Hawaiian, Sanskrit, French and Latin roots.
| Name | Meaning and root | Origin and use | US rank (SSA, 2025) | In our Name Finder? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sora | 空 or 昊, both "sky" in Japanese | Japanese; boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Yes |
| Lani | "Sky, heaven, royal, majesty" in Hawaiian | Hawaiian; girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Kalani | "The heavens," from Hawaiian ka, "the," and lani | Hawaiian; boys and girls | 387 (girls) | Not yet |
| Akash | From Sanskrit ākāśa, "open space, sky" | Hindi, Marathi, Bengali; boys | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Ciel | "Sky" in French; not used as a given name in France itself | French word, rare as a name; boys and girls | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Celeste | Form of Latin Caelestis, "of the sky, heavenly," from caelum, "heaven, sky" | Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, English; girls and boys | 188 (girls) | Not yet |
Skye and Skylar sound like sky names, and their sources differ. Both appear below.
Moon Goddess Names and What They Mean
In the table below, you can read each goddess's story beside what her name means. Britannica calls Selene the personification of the moon and says that by the fifth century BC she was sometimes identified with Artemis or Phoebe. Britannica says Diana probably had no original connection with the moon and later took on Artemis's identification with Selene (Luna).
| Name | The goddess | What the name itself means | US rank (SSA, 2025) | In our Name Finder? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selene | Greek moon goddess; sister of the sun god Helios | "Moon" in Greek | 623 (girls) | Not yet |
| Luna | Roman moon goddess | "The moon" in Latin | 27 (girls) | Yes |
| Diana | Roman goddess of wild animals and the hunt; took on the moon link from Artemis | "Divine, goddesslike," from Latin dia or diva, "goddess" | 244 (girls) | Not yet |
| Artemis | Greek goddess of the moon and hunting, twin of Apollo | Unknown, possibly pre-Greek | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
| Phoebe | A Titan, identified with the moon in later myth | "Bright, pure," from Greek phoibos | 157 (girls) | Not yet |
| Cynthia | An epithet of Artemis | "Woman from Cynthus," the mountain on Delos where Artemis and Apollo were born | Outside top 1,000 | Not yet |
Only Selene and Luna mean "moon." Choose Diana, Artemis, Phoebe or Cynthia for the goddess and the sound, and expect to answer "divine," "unknown," "bright" or "woman from Cynthus" when someone asks what the name means.
Celestial Names That Aren't What They Seem
These names look celestial, or sit inside celestial stories, and the references say something different or less certain.
| Name | Looks like | What the reference says | US rank (SSA, 2025) | In our Name Finder? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Astrid | Star | Old Norse áss, "god," plus fríðr, "beautiful, beloved" | 376 (girls) | Yes |
| Orion | Constellation | Meaning uncertain: possibly Greek horion, "boundary, limit," or Akkadian Uru-anna, "light of the heavens" | 334 (boys) | Yes |
| Atlas | Holder of the sky | Possibly "enduring," from Greek tlao, "to endure"; holding up the heavens is the myth | 75 (boys) | Yes |
| Skye | Sky | From the Isle of Skye; sometimes treated as a variant of Sky | 532 (girls) | Yes |
| Skylar | Sky | Variant of Skyler, a respelling of the Dutch surname Schuyler, "scholar" | 167 (girls) | Not yet |
| Tariq | Star | "Visitor, knocker at the door" in Arabic; also the Arabic name of the morning star | Outside top 1,000 | Yes |
| Esther | Star | Possibly "star" in Persian; or a derivative of the goddess Ishtar | 119 (girls) | Not yet |
| Nova | Star | Latin novus, "new"; first used as a name in the 19th century | 46 (girls) | Not yet |
| Elio | Sun | Italian and Spanish form of Aelius; also the Italian form of Helios | 388 (boys) | Not yet |
| Apollo | Sun | Meaning unknown; became a god of the sun and light later | 445 (boys) | Not yet |
The first letters of Astrid echo the Greek word for star, and the name has no star in it: neither Old Norse element means star. Skylar is a variant of Skyler, which Behind the Name describes as a respelling of Schuyler, a Dutch surname meaning "scholar," made to read like the English word sky. Skye comes from an island.
Orion and Atlas carry sky stories. For Orion, "uncertain, with two theories" is the honest answer when a relative asks what it means.
For Atlas, the sky comes from the myth: Zeus punished the Titan by making him support the heavens on his shoulders. Behind the Name also notes that the name is identical to the Greek name of the Atlas Mountains, and says it is uncertain which came first.
Tariq's star link is a second fact about the word: it is also the Arabic name of the morning star, while its meaning is "visitor, knocker at the door." Esther's star meaning is one of two theories. Nova, 46th among girls on the SSA's 2025 list, comes from Latin novus, "new."
How to Find More Celestial Names
Search a meaning like star or sky in the Baby Name Finder (Tara and Sora both come up) and save the ones you like on this device. The search box reads names, meanings and origins, so treat each hit as a lead and check it against a reference, as this guide does.
Before a name goes on your shortlist, try these checks:
- Check the root. Look up the language and the word a name comes from, as the tables here do, before it goes on the list.
- Match the spelling to one origin. Ayla and Mitsuki show that one spelling can hold several names, so decide which one you mean.
- Check the rank. The SSA's 2025 list shows whether a name is among the 1,000 most common for girls or boys. Luna is, at 27th among girls, and most names in this guide are not.
Behind the Name lists both Luna and Stella in use across several languages. For more of that, see our guide to names that travel across languages.
Frequently Asked Questions
What name means moon?
Luna means the moon in Latin, Selene means moon in Greek and Chandra means moon in Sanskrit. Qamar (Arabic) and Mahina (Hawaiian and Māori) also mean moon.
What is a girl name that means moon?
Luna (Latin), Selene (Greek), Mahina (Hawaiian and Māori) and Aylin (Turkish) all come from words for moon. Luna ranks 27th among girls' names on the SSA's 2025 list.
What is a boy name that means moon?
Chandra (Sanskrit), Qamar (Arabic), Badr (Arabic, full moon) and Hilal (Arabic, crescent moon) all mean moon. Behind the Name lists most of them for girls as well.
What Japanese name means moon?
Tsukiko can be written 月子, moon plus child, and Mitsuki 美月, beautiful plus moon. The kanji decide the meaning: Mitsuki can also be written 光希, light plus hope.
What name means star?
Stella means star in Latin, Estelle is its Old French form, Seren is Welsh, Najm is Arabic and Tara is Sanskrit for star. Hoshi, written 星, is the Japanese word for star.
What name means sun?
Helios means sun in Greek, Soleil in French, and Surya and Ravi in Sanskrit. Shams means sun in Arabic. Solveig joins Old Norse sól, sun, with veig, strength.
What name means sky?
Sora, written 空, means sky in Japanese. Lani means sky or heaven in Hawaiian, Akash comes from Sanskrit ākāśa, open space or sky, and Ciel is the French word for sky.
Does Astrid mean star?
No. Behind the Name derives Astrid from Old Norse áss, god, and fríðr, beautiful or beloved. Neither part of the name means star.
How This Guide Was Made
The Babysential Team wrote this guide from the references below, checked on October 14, 2026, with AI-assisted drafting. Meanings and roots come from Behind the Name, myths from Britannica, and ranks from the SSA's 2025 list of the 1,000 most common girl and boy names. If a reference calls a meaning uncertain, the guide says so. Names whose Behind the Name page gives no definition (Hazuki, Tsukito and Kochava) were left out.
A name's meaning is a fact about the word's origin, with no bearing on your child's personality, and nothing here is astrology.
Sources
- Popular Baby Names. U.S. Social Security Administration, 2025 birth-year data, accessed October 14, 2026
- Selene. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026
- Diana. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026
- Phoebe. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2026
- Behind the Name: Luna, Selene, Diana, Astrid, Tariq, Orion and Mitsuki. Behind the Name, consulted October 14, 2026
- Behind the Name entries for every other name in the tables, linked from each name
