Boy names that mean forest
The forest gives up more usable boy names than any other landscape, because three separate things can be named after it: the wood as a whole, the clearing or holding inside it, and one particular tree. Finnish supplies a forest god; English supplies a great many hedgerows.
- AarniAHR-neeFinnish
Treasure hidden in the deep forest — and, in older usage, the spirit set to guard it.
- TapioTAH-pee-ohFinnish
The forest god of the Kalevala; lord of the woods and of the game in them. Hunters addressed him by name.
- SilasSY-lusBiblical
Of the forest, through Latin Silvanus — though an Aramaic reading, “asked for”, is also defended.
- SilvioSEEL-vyoItalian
Of the woods, from Latin silva. Silvius was the line of kings born in the forest at Alba Longa.
- ForrestFOR-istEnglish
Woodland, plainly. The surname belonged to families living inside a royal forest.
- WoodrowWOOD-rohEnglish
The row of houses by a wood — an address that hardened into a family name.
- KeithKEETHScottish
A wood in East Lothian, by the usual reading, from a Brittonic word for a forest.
- OakleyOHK-leeEnglish
Oak clearing — the glade the oaks were felled to make.
- NashNASHEnglish
At the ash tree. The N is a stray from Middle English atten ash.
- AshtonASH-tunEnglish
The settlement among the ash trees.
- YorkYORKEnglish
Place of the yew trees, from Brittonic Eburacon, before Latin and Norse reshaped it.
- LennoxLEN-uksScottish
Place of elms — the district north of Loch Lomond.
- VernonVUR-nunEnglish
Place of alders, by way of a Norman village in the Eure.
- AritzAH-reetsBasque
Oak — the tree of Gernika, and one of the plainest nouns in modern Basque naming.
- BirkBEERKDanish
Birch.
- VideVEE-dehSwedish
Willow — the Salix that grows along Swedish water.
- ArvidAHR-vidSwedish
Eagle tree, from ǫrn and viðr: the eagle of the wood.
- TerhoTEHR-hohFinnish
Acorn — the whole oak in one syllable and a half.
- ItsukiEE-tsoo-keeJapanese
A standing, living tree — 樹, distinct from 木 (timber) and 森 (forest).
- HarukiHAH-roo-keeJapanese
Character-dependent; the familiar writing 春樹 is spring tree.
- TungTOONGVietnamese
The pine — the tree Vietnamese poetry uses for endurance.
- YvesEEVFrench
Yew, from a Germanic root: the wood longbows were cut from.
- KoaKOH-ahHawaiian
The great Hawaiian hardwood, and by the same word a warrior. Canoes and courage from one tree.
- RowanROH-unIrish
The rowan tree, whose berries were hung against harm. The Irish name is separately read as “little red one”.
Wood, clearing, tree
The forest as a whole. Silas and Silvio both descend from Latin silva, Forrest and Woodrow say it in English, and Keith says it in Brittonic. Tapio and Aarni go further and give the wood a will of its own — Finnish is the rare naming tradition that kept its forest deity in active use.
A place cut out of it. Oakley is a clearing, Nash a single landmark ash, Ashton, Lennox, Vernon and York settlements named for whatever grew there. These are the softest-sounding options and the ones least likely to be read as a statement.
One tree. Aritz, Birk, Vide, Tung, Yves, Itsuki and Koa are single-species names, and the species carries the character: oak for steadiness, birch and willow for lightness, pine and koa for hardness. Terho is the whole thing in miniature. For the ground the wood stands on, see earth.