"Light" names (for Chanukah) again!

With Chanukah beginning tonight (and lots of other celebrations of light around this time), I like to reflect on and share my favorite multilingual names with light-related meanings from the past year! It was super fun for me to make this post last year, so I thought I’d make another one with my new favorites. Suggestions and opinions are very welcome!

Alemtsehay (አለምፀሃይ) - Amharic - “sun of the world”

Amandipa (अमनदीपा) - from Arabic and Sanskrit - “lamp of peace”

Ayşenur - Turkish and Arabic - “life, light”

[name_m]Bhaskara[/name_m] (भास्कर) - from Sanskrit - “light maker”

Chandrakala (चन्द्रकला) - from Sanskrit - “moonbeam, phases of the moon”

Hajnal - Hungarian - “dawn”

[name_f]Lesedi[/name_f] - Tswana - “light”

Narangerel (Нарангэрэл) - Mongolian - “sunlight”

Nishantha (නිශාන්ත) - Sinhala - “night’s end, dawn”

Pratibha (प्रतिभा) - from Sanskrit - “light, intelligence”

Sarvashri (सर्वश्री) - from Sanskrit - “whole, diffusing light”

Shamshira - Uzbek - “sweetness of light”

[name_u]Zohar[/name_u] (זוהר) - Hebrew - “brilliance"

last year's picks

Aberash, Ashraqat, Deepali, Mounira, [name_u]Or[/name_u], Roshni, Savitri, [name_u]Shachar[/name_u], Shamsuddin, [name_u]Sol[/name_u], [name_f]Suhaila[/name_f], [name_m]Surya[/name_m], & [name_f]Zahara[/name_f]

and some personal favorite suggestions were Kashi, [name_u]Nuri[/name_u], Shama, & Ilun (thanks @acajou), [name_f]Nadra[/name_f] (thanks @NameLover2020), [name_f]Laoise[/name_f] (thanks @ElrynTheBookdragon), and [name_f]Günay[/name_f]
(thanks @Poffin)!!

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chandrakala is gorgeous, wow! such a nice meaning, too

such a pretty collection of names overall!

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These are maybe even more beautiful than last years!

[name_m]Bhaskara[/name_m], Hajnal, [name_f]Lesedi[/name_f], Nishantha, Shamshira, and [name_u]Zohar[/name_u] are all gorgeous. :sparkles::sunny::first_quarter_moon_with_face::star2:

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Ooh these are gorgeous! Thank you for the introduction to a lot of them!

Amandipa is magical, [name_m]Bhaskara[/name_m] is powerful and intriguing, [name_f]Lesedi[/name_f] is gorgeous and distinctive, Sarvashri has such a pleasing sound, Nishantha has such a cool meaning and I like [name_u]Zohar[/name_u] a lot too!

Some I’ve found recently:

Ainura / Aynura / [name_f]Aynur[/name_f] (moonlight - met one and had to look it it up!)

Alinur (sublime light - it was suggested as a similar one to Aynur)

[name_m]Roshan[/name_m] / Roshni (bright light)

[name_f]Ziya[/name_f] (splendour, light, glow)

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What a great list. [name_f]My[/name_f] favorite is [name_u]Zohar[/name_u], we very nearly used it as a middle name for our daughter.

Some personal favorites:

[name_m]Shneur[/name_m] - Hebrew, “two lights”
Himinljómi - Icelandic, “radiance, light, brightness”
[name_m]Uriel[/name_m] - Hebrew, “God is my light”
[name_f]Glæma[/name_f] - Faroese, “ray of light”
Oryom - Hebrew, “daylight”
Bjarmi - Icelandic “gleam of light”
[name_f]Gerel[/name_f] - Mongolian, “light”
Yuvalor - Hebrew, “stream of light”
Photine - Ancient Greek, “light”
[name_m]Nohar[/name_m] - Hebrew, “soft light”
Orchen - Hebrew, “light of beauty”

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I love Amandipa and Shamshira

Some more recent loves:

Aftab- Persian, “sunshine”
Luminita- Romanian “little light”
Roshanara-Persian “to adorn with light” I’ve also seen “light of the assembly” listed as the meaning

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Aftab is new to me, and I’m absolutely in love!! Thank you!!

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:candle: I love all of these, but especially Narangerel!

And I love how Shamshira is reminiscent of sun (shams) and singing (shira).