Winter Baby Names: Cold-Season Inspired Names for Girls and Boys

A winter due date often leads to frost, snow, and plants that stay green. Our database can support some of that with a sourced gloss: winter, frost, ice, or cold; a winter month; a Christmas birthday; ivy, pine, or yew; the word white; or the north. Spellings that only feel wintry are separated below, and this article gives them no meaning.

Every meaning below comes from our name database, and every name links to the page with its source and its popularity history. Autumn tree and harvest names are in fall baby names.

Names that mean winter, frost, ice, or cold

Five sourced names use one of those words. None of them is common in a classroom.

Shishir means "winter, frost," from Sanskrit. Both words belong on the card. Fewer than five boys received it in 2025. The high in the file is 8 boys in 2007. Tushar means "frost, rime," from Sanskrit. A line that keeps only frost has shortened it. It was under five in 2025. The high is 21 boys in 2003.

Isolde means "ice + battle," as a German form of Iseult. Ice is half the gloss. Isolde had 20 girls in 2025, rank #5,997. Iseult was under five. The high for Iseult is 5 girls in 2016.

Colbert means "cool, cold; calm + bright," from Proto-Germanic. Cold sits beside cool and calm, and bright is the other half. It was under five in 2025. The high is 17 boys in 1954. No girls' name we publish is glossed as the word winter.

December, January, and Christmas Day

February is not in our name database, so this article gives it no meaning. December and January are.

December means "tenth month," from Latin, because the early Roman calendar began in March. October and November use that same count on the fall list. December had 21 girls in 2025, rank #5,768. The high is 46 girls in 2012. Boys were under five. January means "(month) of Janus." The page does not call it the first month. Nine girls received it in 2025, rank #10,448, down from a 1978 high of 257. The file has no boys' count. Janus means "the Roman god Janus" and was under five in 2025. The high is 16 girls in 1956 and 6 boys in 1997.

Read the Christmas names as a short line plus an etymology note. The two lines do not always use the same words.

Natalie shows "Born on Christmas Day," with Latin on the card. The note says Late Latin, "birthday [of Christ], Christmas." Natalie ranked #89 in 2025 with 2,736 girls. Boys were under five. The girls' high is 10,951 in 2006. Natalia uses the same short line. The note says "birthday (of the Lord)" and does not use the word Christmas: 2,028 girls in 2025, rank #144. Natasha shows the same short line, with Russian on the card. The note calls it a diminutive of Natalia, "birthday (of the Lord)": 202 girls, rank #1,148.

Natalya, Nathalie, Nataly, Natalee, Natali, and Nathaly keep "birthday [of Christ], Christmas" in the gloss. In 2025 the girls' counts were Nataly 292, Nathaly 187, Nathalie 145, Natalya 74, Natalee 63, and Natali 45. None had a published boys' count.

In U.S. births from 1994 to 2014, December 25 ranks 366th of 366 days, with 1 as the most common: about 6,601 births, against about 11,175 on an average day. Any date is on the birthday tool.

Evergreens and birch

Holly is not a name we publish. The plants we can source are ivy, pine, yew, and birch.

Ivy shows "Ivy vine; faithfulness." The etymology note names the English word ivy and stops there. Ivy ranked #39 in 2025 with 5,117 girls and 7 boys. The girls' high is 5,343 in 2024. In 2015 it ranked #130, with 2,507 girls. Iveigh is a variant whose short line is "ivy." It was under five in 2025. The high is 10 girls in 2018.

Oren means "pine tree," from Hebrew. 2025 is its high: 174 boys, rank #1,184, up from 128 in 2015. Ivo means "yew, bow": 11 boys, rank #7,370. Yvonne means "yew": 92 girls, rank #2,063, down from a 1953 high of 3,686. Vonnie is a diminutive of Yvonne: 7 girls and 5 boys in 2025. Berkeley means "birch + meadow, leigh": 71 girls and 10 boys, girls' rank #2,490.

Juniper, Daphne, and Olivia are evergreens already covered in fall baby names.

White, silver, and grey

Snow is a picture. White, silver, and grey are words a page can use.

Blanche means "white," from Old French: 16 girls in 2025, rank #6,892. The high is 483 girls in 1942. Albin means "white": 14 boys, rank #6,159. Albina means "white": 8 girls, rank #10,966. Candida means "shining white" and was under five in 2025. The high is 222 girls in 1971. Whitney means "white + island": 238 girls and 13 boys, girls' rank #1,046. The girls' high is 9,536 in 1986.

Gwendolyn means "white, fair, blessed + ring, bow, hair, brow," a variant of Gwendolen. The whole phrase is the meaning: 848 girls in 2025, rank #360. Olwyn means "footprint + fair, white" and was under five in 2025. Barry means "white + head": 114 boys, rank #1,520. Rajat means "silver" and was under five in 2025. The high is 10 boys in 1999.

Lloyd means "grey, grey-haired": 111 boys in 2025, rank #1,549. Griselda means "gray + battle": 47 girls, rank #3,309.

North, storms, and a February stone

Norris means "a northerner, a migrant from the north": 15 boys in 2025, rank #6,063. Norbert means "north + bright" and was under five in 2025. The high is 308 boys in 1942. Norton means "north + enclosure; settlement, town" and was under five. Stormy means "stormy": 98 girls and 11 boys, girls' rank #1,979.

Amethyst means "amethyst," the February birthstone on our birthday tool: 181 girls in 2025, rank #1,242. Violet means "purple flower," and that tool lists violet as a February flower: rank #13 with 7,546 girls in 2025. Primrose means "wood, tree + moor, heath." Snowdrop is not a name we publish.

Spellings we will not call winter

The origin is debated, the gloss is a different word, or we do not publish the name.

Winter is the usual spelling in this search. The origin is debated, so this article gives it no meaning. The theory is "the winter season." Winter ranked #426 in 2025 with 732 girls and 77 boys. The girls' high is 1,053 in 2022, and 77 is the boys' high. Noel is debated. The theory is "Christmas." Noel had 635 boys and 157 girls in 2025, boys' rank #478. Hollis is debated. The theory is "near the holly trees." In 2025 Hollis had 266 boys and 206 girls, both highs for that sex, boys' rank #894. Cedar is debated. The theory is "cedar tree": 160 boys and 60 girls, boys' rank #1,244.

Elsa is debated. The theory is "pledged to God," from Elisabeth, and the page does not say ice. Elsa had 216 girls in 2025, rank #1,104. The high is 1,140 in 2014. Yuki is debated. The theory is "snow; happiness": 24 girls and 13 boys, girls' rank #5,399. Bianca and Ivory are debated, theory "white, pure." Bianca had 594 girls, rank #500. Ivory had 810 girls and 30 boys, rank #378. Finn and Fiona are debated, theory "fair, white." Finn had 1,702 boys, rank #206. Fiona had 654 girls, rank #470.

Nicholas means "victory of the people," not Christmas: rank #112 with 3,115 boys and 8 girls. Freya means "lady, noblewoman," from Scandinavian: rank #176 with 1,746 girls. Sterling is debated. The theory is "little star; of high quality," not silver. Sterling had 944 boys in 2025, rank #346, the boys' high, plus 218 girls. Star names we can source are in baby names that mean light.

Holly, Snow, Frost, Crystal, Noelle, Neve, Eira, Lumi, Aspen, North, and February are not in our database. Gwen is debated (theory "white, fair, blessed"): 384 girls, rank #725. Zelda is debated (theory "gray fighting maid"): 328 girls, rank #832.

Winter names by the numbers

Boys and girls are added together. Counts under five per sex are missing from the SSA file, so each true total is a little higher.

Frost set (Shishir, Tushar, Isolde, Iseult, Colbert): published totals were 27 in 2005, 21 in 2015, and 20 in 2025. All 20 in 2025 are Isolde. In 2005 the published counts were Tushar 14, Colbert 8, and Shishir 5.

Evergreen set (Ivy, Iveigh, Oren, Ivo, Yvonne, Vonnie): 2,788 in 2015 and 5,413 in 2025. Ivy was 5,124 of the 2025 total.

White set (Blanche, Albin, Albina, Candida, Whitney, Gwendolyn, Gwendolen, Olwyn, Barry): 1,452 in 2015 and 1,262 in 2025. Gwendolyn was 848 of the 2025 total.

Christmas set: the nine names whose short line or note includes Christmas or a birthday of Christ or of the Lord.

The high is 2006, when Natalie was 10,970 of 18,332. In 2025, Natalie and Natalia were 4,764 of 5,772, about 1 in 574 of the 3,315,343 babies in the file (1,708,076 boys and 1,607,267 girls). From 2015 to 2025, Ivy's girls' count went from 2,507 to 5,117. Natalie's went from 6,510 to 2,736. Winter's girls' count, origin still debated, went from 568 to 732. Noel's boys' count went from 862 to 635.

How to choose a winter name you will still like in July

1. Choose the volume. December and January say the month. Winter's origin is debated. Ivy, Oren, and Blanche do not name a date. Natalie's short line does, if you print it.
2. Print the whole gloss. Isolde is ice and battle. Colbert is "cool, cold; calm" plus bright. Gwendolyn's white is the start of a longer phrase. Hear the full name in the full name tester.
3. Try it as a middle name when the first name should stay quiet. The middle-name guide covers rhythm and initials.
4. Read the curve on the name page. Ivy is #39, near a 2024 high. Natalie is #89, down from #27 in 2015. Oren's 174 boys are its high. Shishir and Tushar were under five.
5. Pair what you can source: Ivy with Oren, Yvonne with Ivo, Blanche with Albin. A name bracket, a shortlist, or a partner match can finish the choice. The due date calculator dates the season, and the name generator can widen the list.

Putting a winter name on the welcome

Print a gloss when you would actually say it.

• Wall art can read "Ivy: ivy vine; faithfulness," "Oren: pine tree," "Blanche: white," or "Natalie: born on Christmas Day." Skip the line when the origin is debated. Isolde and Colbert need both halves.
• Announcements need the name and the date. Add a meaning only when the page states one. The wording guide covers the rest of the card.

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 names defined above, boys and girls together. Counts under five babies per sex per year are absent from the file. The 2025 file total is 1,708,076 boys and 1,607,267 girls.
• Birthdays and February's birthstone: U.S. births by date, 1994 to 2014, compiled by FiveThirtyEight from CDC/NCHS (1994–1999) and SSA (2000–2014), as used on our birthday tool. Rank 1 is the most common day. The birthstone list follows the Jewelers of America / American Gem Society modern list.