Names That Mean Sea
16 names whose etymology relates to “sea” — drawn from documented origins, sorted by all-time U.S. popularity.
MargaretFrom the name of 3rd century Saint Margaret the Virgin, from Middle English Margaret, from Old French Margaret (French Marguerite), from Latin Margarita, from Ancient Greek μαργ…
DylanFrom Welsh mythology; possibly from Celtic for "son of the sea" or "born from the ocean." Unrelated to the name Dillon, although the homophony may result in the two being consid…
Morganfrom Old Welsh Morcant, possibly from *mor (“sea”) (Welsh môr) or *mọr (“great”) (Old Welsh maur) + *kantos (“circle”) (Welsh cant), meaning “great chief” or “sea chief”.
RosemaryA combination of Rose +‎ Mary, referring to the flower as a symbol of Virgin Mary, first recorded in the eighteenth century. It is found in continental Europe as Rosemarie a…
KaiTaken into regular use in the 1990s, with earlier popularity peaks in Scandinavia and Germany. The medieval Danish Kaj is possibly of Roman origin, Latinized as Caius, like the …
MurielAnglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Muireall, from muir (“sea”), from Old Irish muir, from Proto-Celtic *mori, from Proto-Indo-European *móri; + geal (“white, bright”), from Old …
JuniorFrom junior. The town in West Virginia was established on November 13, 1897, and named after Henry G. Davis Jr. (1871–1896), a son of United States Senator from West Virginia He…
MarinaName of an early virgin martyr venerated in the Orthodox Church, Latin Marīna, probably a feminine form of Marīnus, from marīnus (“of the sea”), or a variant of Marīa.
MurrayScottish surname derived from the place name Moray in northeastern Scotland, from Medieval Latin Moravia, Morauia, from Scottish Gaelic Moireibh, Moireabh, Moreb, ultimately fro…
MerlinFrom Middle English Merlyn, from Medieval Latin Merlinus and Old French Merlin, from Proto-Brythonic *Mor-ðin (literally “sea-hill”), from Proto-Celtic *mori (“sea”) + *dūnom (“…
DelmarContraction of Delamare and de la Mare, from places in Normandy named La Mare (“the pond”). In the US, also borrowed from Catalan del Mar (“of the sea”).
KailaniFrom Hawaiian Kailani, from kai (“sea”) + lani (“sky”).
OceanFrom ocean (“sea”), inspired by the fashionable French female name Océane.
ArnavFrom Sanskrit अर्णव (arṇava, “ocean, sea”). Doublet of Arnab.
NerissaCoined by Shakespeare for The Merchant of Venice, apparently from Ancient Greek Νηρηΐς (Nērēḯs, “sea-nymph”).
MoanaFrom Hawaiian Moana (“sea, ocean”), Māori moana, and other Polynesian languages.
More meanings
Etymologies adapted from Wiktionary, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
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