Baby Names That Mean Hope: Sourced Picks for Girls and Boys

Parents who want a name that means hope are usually chasing the word itself. Wish and ambition show up on the same cards, and they are different words. Expectation and optimism do not appear as a gloss on any name we publish.

Every meaning below comes from our name database, and every name links to its source page. Spellings we cannot confirm sit in their own section. See also baby names that mean peace, baby names that mean love, baby names that mean light, baby names that mean strong, and baby names that mean moon.

Girls' names that mean hope

These five pages use hope on its own. Asha and Akansha keep a second word, so they are in the next section.

Nadia shows "Hope" on the short line, with Slavic as the origin. The etymology note says the name is from Russian, and the meaning is hope. A card that keeps only one of those lines has dropped the other. Nadia ranked #565 in 2025 with 531 girls, down from 953 in 2015 (rank #345) and from 1,923 girls in 2005, the high in the file. The 2025 file has no boys' count.

Nadine shows "Hope" on the short line, with French as the origin. The etymology note calls it a form of Nadia, from Russian, meaning hope. The table follows the origin field. Nadine ranked #1,627 in 2025 with 128 girls, down from 162 in 2015 (rank #1,432) and from 1,011 girls in 1958, the high in the file.

Amal ("hope," Arabic) ranked #1,241 in 2025 with 181 girls, up from 117 in 2015 (rank #1,779) and down from a 2021 high of 241. Sixteen boys received it in 2025, matching the 2002 boys' high. The page lists Amal as a girls' name. One rank follows the sex with more babies, so the table shows the girls' rank.

Nadiya ("hope," Ukrainian) had 30 girls in 2025, rank #4,629, down from 44 in 2015 (rank #3,579) and from a 2003 high of 78. Nadezhda ("hope," Russian) had 6 girls, rank #14,395, down from 8 in 2015 (rank #12,661). It was under five in 2024. The high in the file is 17 girls in 2010.

Hope next to a second word

A card that keeps only "hope" has shortened these. Print the whole phrase.

Asha means "hope, wish," from Sanskrit. Both words belong on the card. Asha ranked #1,373 in 2025 with 160 girls, down from 201 in 2024, from 181 in 2015 (rank #1,311), and from a 2000 high of 250. Boys were under five in 2025. The boys' high in the file is 9, in 1989.

Akansha means "hope, ambition," from Sanskrit. Ambition is half the gloss. Five girls received it in 2025, rank #15,025. It was under five in 2024 and in 2015. The high in the file is 10 girls in 2003.

Boys and hope

No boys' name in our database has hope as its meaning. The seven names above are all listed as girls' names. Amal is the only one with a published boys' count in 2025: 16 boys, beside 181 girls.

If hope is the reason, use a name from the tables. A boy can still be given Nadia, Amal, or Asha. That does not turn the page into a boys' name. Wilmer, below, includes the word wish and does not say hope.

Wish, desire, and longing

Wish is a neighbor of hope. The page has to say wish before this article will.

Wilmer means "mind, will, determination, purpose, desire, wish" plus "famous," from Old English. Wish is one gloss in that list. Printing only "wish," or only "hope," drops the rest, and the page never says hope. Wilmer had 94 boys in 2025, rank #1,742, down from a 1943 high of 189.

Abhilash means "desire, longing," from Sanskrit, which is neither hope nor wish. It was under five boys in 2025, so the table says "Not ranked." The high in the file is 6 boys in 1999.

Evelyn is the familiar name people sometimes connect with a wish. The origin is debated, so this article gives Evelyn no meaning. The theory is "wished-for child." Asha is the name sourced with wish in the gloss. Evelyn ranked #8 in 2025 with 9,123 girls and 8 boys, down from a 2017 high of 10,748.

Dawn and beginning are not hope

These pages say dawn or beginning. None of them says hope, and none of them says "new beginning."

Dawn ("dawn," English) had 85 girls in 2025, rank #2,174, down from 15,681 girls in 1970, the high in the file. Alba ("dawn," Spanish) ranked #1,261 with 177 girls, down from a 2024 high of 205. Sahar ("dawn," Persian) had 43 girls, rank #3,565, down from a 1996 high of 83. Adah means "ornament, dawn." Dawn alone drops ornament. Adah had 110 girls in 2025, rank #1,818, with a high of 121 in 2020.

Genesis means "creation, beginning, origin," from Ancient Greek. Beginning is not hope, and the page does not call Genesis a dawn. It ranked #66 in 2025 with 3,527 girls and 149 boys, down from a 2016 high of 4,351 girls.

Aurora is the spelling people expect to mean dawn. The origin is debated, so this article gives Aurora no meaning. The theory is "Dawn." Dawn, Alba, and Sahar are the dawn names we can source, and none of those pages says hope. Aurora ranked #15 in 2025 with 7,065 girls and 5 boys, the highest girls' count in the file, up from 3,654 girls in 2015 (rank #78).

Spellings we will not call hope

The page marks the origin debated, gives a different word, or the name is not one we publish. A hope gloss stays off the announcement.

Hope is the spelling this search usually means. The origin is debated, so this article gives Hope no meaning. The theory is "Hope." Nadia, Amal, and Asha are names we can source. Hope ranked #352 in 2025 with 868 girls and 5 boys, down from 1,453 girls in 2015 (rank #225) and from a 2000 high of 2,321 girls.

Esperanza is debated. The theory is "Hope." When the meaning is the reason, use a name from the tables above. Esperanza ranked #1,209 in 2025 with 188 girls, down from 298 in 2015 (rank #922) and from a 2000 high of 499.

Aisha is debated. The theory is "alive, living." It is not Asha, and this article does not give Aisha a hope meaning. Aisha ranked #337 in 2025 with 910 girls, up from 650 in 2015 (rank #494).

Jamal means "beauty," from Arabic. It sits next to Amal in sound and does not mean hope. Jamal had 169 boys in 2025, rank #1,197, down from 330 in 2015 (rank #739). Kamal means "perfection": 43 boys in 2025, rank #2,907. Kamala shares that root, and the short line is perfection: 10 girls, rank #9,767.

Amalia means "vigor, bravery," from Proto-Germanic. That meaning is why it appears in baby names that mean strong, not in the hope tables. Amalia ranked #566 in 2025 with 530 girls. Natasha shows "Born on Christmas Day" on the short line. The etymology note calls it a diminutive of Natalia, "birthday (of the Lord)." The page does not say hope. Natasha had 202 girls in 2025, rank #1,148.

Faith is a different word, often paired with hope in ordinary speech and not on these pages.

Faith is debated. The theory is "faith, trust." Faith ranked #254 in 2025 with 1,212 girls and 8 boys, down from a 2003 high of 5,597. Vera means "Faith," from Russian: 1,482 girls in 2025, rank #205, the highest girls' count in the file. Imani shows "Faith" on the short line. The etymology note says "faith, belief." Imani had 512 girls and 41 boys in 2025, girls' rank #579. None of the three says hope.

Elpida, Elpis, Tikvah, Tikva, Umut, Speranza, Spes, Toivo, Nada, Nadja, Nadya, Nadiyah, Promise, and Akanksha are not in our name database, so this article gives them no meaning. Akansha, with a single k, is the spelling we publish, and its gloss is hope plus ambition.

Hope names by the numbers

Boys and girls are added together for the seven names whose gloss includes hope: Nadia, Nadine, Amal, Nadiya, Nadezhda, Asha, and Akansha. Wish-only names, dawn, beginning, faith, and the debated spellings are left out. Counts under five babies per sex are missing from the SSA file, so the true total is a little higher.

The high for this set is 2005, when Nadia (1,923) was 1,923 of the 2,448. In 2025, Nadia (531), Amal (197), Asha (160), and Nadine (128) were 1,016 of the 1,057. Those 1,057 babies were about 1 in 3,137 of the 3,315,343 babies in the 2025 SSA file (1,708,076 boys and 1,607,267 girls).

How to choose a hope name you will still like next year

Five checks before you print the meaning:

1. Keep the birthday and the name separate. Nadia, Amal, and Asha do not announce a date. In U.S. births from 1994 to 2014, January 1 ranks 365th of 366 days, with 1 as the most common. An average January 1 had about 7,827 births, against about 11,175 on an average day. Check a date on the birthday tool.
2. Print the whole gloss. Asha is hope and wish. Akansha is hope and ambition. Adah is ornament and dawn. Wilmer's wish sits in a longer list, then famous. A shortened card invents a meaning the page does not use.
3. Match the spelling to the meaning you want. Nadia, Amal, and Asha are sourced with hope. Hope and Esperanza are debated. Dawn, Alba, and Sahar mean dawn, and Aurora is debated. Amal means hope, and Jamal means beauty. Then hear the full name in the full name tester.
4. Say Nadezhda, Nadiya, and Akansha out loud before you commit. If the hope name works better in the middle, the middle-name guide covers rhythm and initials. Nora Nadia, Maya Amal, and Elena Asha are the shape to test.
5. Read the curve. Nadia is #565, down from the mid-2000s. Amal is #1,241, higher than in 2015 and off a 2021 high. Asha is #1,373. Nadine is #1,627, far below the 1950s. Hope is #352, and its origin is debated. Every name page has the SSA history.

A name bracket compares two finalists, a shortlist lets family vote by link, and a partner match keeps the overlap. The name generator suggests more names in the same style. For a due date, the due date calculator gives the date and the trimester marks.

Putting the meaning on the welcome

A sourced gloss is a useful extra line when you would actually say it:

• Wall art: "Nadia: hope," "Amal: hope," or "Asha: hope, wish." Skip the caption when the gloss is a phrase you would not want shortened, and skip it when the origin is debated.
• Announcements: name, date, and a meaning only when the name page states one. The wording guide has the rest of the card.
• Middle names: Nadiya, Nadine, or Akansha behind a more familiar first name.

The Baby Kit puts the name, the meaning, and the origin on the announcements and the wall art together, in one style and palette.

Sources

• Meanings: our name database. Entries marked "Wiktionary" are adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0). Each name page links its source, and our sources page explains the method. Debated origins are labeled on the name page and are not stated as fact here.
• Popularity: U.S. Social Security Administration baby name data, 1940 to 2025. Group totals sum the seven names whose gloss includes hope, boys and girls together. Counts under five babies per sex per year are absent from the file. The 2025 file total is the sum of published counts that year, 1,708,076 boys and 1,607,267 girls.
• Birthdays: U.S. births by date, 1994 to 2014, compiled by FiveThirtyEight from CDC/NCHS (1994–1999) and SSA (2000–2014). January 1's rank is the figure behind our birthday tool. Rank 1 is the most common day.