Boy names that mean honor
Honour splits three ways in the world's naming vocabularies: something you hold, like Yoruba ọlá; something other people say about you, like Sanskrit yaśas; and something you owe, like Vietnamese hiếu, the reverence a child gives a parent. All twenty-one names below carry one of the three in their own language.
- CzesławCHEH-swahfPolish
Honour and glory, from cześć (honour, reverence) + -sław (fame). Polish cz is the ch of church.
- Sherifshe-REEFArabic
Noble, honourable, of high birth, from the root sh-r-f, to be exalted — the root that also gives sharaf, honour.
- Karimkah-REEMArabic
Generous, noble, honourable. The noun karam is open-handedness done because of who you are, not because anyone is owed.
- TimothyTIM-uh-theeGreek
Honouring God, from timao (to honour) + theos. The name existed before Christianity adopted it.
- Sebastianse-BAS-chunLatin
Venerable, revered: Greek sebastos, which was the Greek translation of the imperial title Augustus.
- Augustineaw-GUS-tinLatin
Venerable, majestic, from augustus — consecrated, worthy of honour. The diminutive of the emperor's title.
- GirmaGIR-mahAmharic
ግርማ — majesty, dignity, stateliness. The Geʽez sense leans towards awe and reverence rather than mere grandeur.
- Kebedekeh-BED-ehAmharic
He became weighty, meaning honoured and of consequence. The root k-b-d also gives kəbər, glory.
- Folarinfaw-LAH-rinYoruba
Walk with honour — fi (with) + ọlá (honour, dignity) + rìn (to walk). An instruction, not a description.
- Olayinkaoh-lah-YEEN-kahYoruba
Honour surrounds me: ọlá + yí (to encircle) + ká (all the way round).
- Olamideoh-LAH-mee-dayYoruba
My honour has come. Ọlá covers wealth, honour and standing together, which is the point of the word.
- Adeyemiah-deh-YEH-meeYoruba
The crown befits me — adé (crown) + yẹ (to be fitting) + mí. A claim to be worthy of it.
- Ugochukwuoo-goh-CHOO-kwooIgbo
Ugo (eagle, and so honour, the crown of achievement) + Chukwu (God). The eagle feather is the Igbo mark of distinction.
- HieuHYEWVietnamese
孝 — filial piety: the care a child owes living parents and the reverence owed after death. The graph sets a child under an elder.
- VinhVINGVietnamese
榮 — glory and honour. The character drew a tree in flower and moved from thriving to being held in high regard.
- ArvoAR-vohFinnish
Worth, value, dignity. Arvostaa is to respect, and the noun is in daily Finnish use.
- YashYAHSHSanskrit
Yaśas — fame, renown, honour: the standing a person holds in other people's mouths.
- AryaAR-yahSanskrit
Noble, honourable; in Sanskrit also one worthy of respect. Old Persian ariya appears in Darius I's own inscriptions.
- KhosrowKHOS-rowPersian
Hu- (good) + sravah (fame, what is said of a man): of good repute. Greek writers spell him Chosroes.
- Kaulanakow-LAH-nahHawaiian
Famous, celebrated, renowned. The opening au is the vowel of English cow.
- SemSEMDutch
Hebrew shem, name — used idiomatically for standing and reputation. The adjective Semitic was coined from it.
Held, spoken, or owed
Honour as a possession. Yoruba has the richest vocabulary here, built on one syllable: ọlá means honour, dignity, wealth and social standing at once, because Yoruba does not treat them as four separate things. Olamide says it has come, Olayinka says it surrounds me, Folarin turns it into an instruction to walk with it, and Adeyemi swaps in the crown. Igbo Ugochukwu does something similar with ugo, a word that means eagle, honour and crown of achievement together — the eagle feather being the Igbo mark of distinction. Amharic Girma is majesty in the Geʽez sense of awe, and Kebede says, literally, that a man became weighty.
Honour as what others say. Sanskrit yaśas, behind Yash, is reputation: the standing a person holds in other people's mouths. Persian Khosrow is hu-sravah, of good report, assembled from exactly the same idea. Hawaiian Kaulana is famous and celebrated, and Dutch Sem, through Hebrew shem, is the word "name" doing duty for reputation, the way English says a man has a good name.
Honour as something you give. The Greek and Latin names invert the direction. Timothy is honouring God, not being honoured; Sebastian and Augustine both mean venerable, which is to say owed reverence by others. Arabic Sherif and Karim describe high birth and open-handedness, the two things the classical Arabic honour vocabulary cares about, and Czesław joins Polish cześć straight to glory.
A different kind of honour altogether. Vietnamese Hieu is 孝, filial piety — not standing in the world but the debt a child owes to parents, living and dead, and the single most weighted virtue in the Confucian scheme. Vinh, 榮, is the outward-facing one, glory and honour, from a character that first meant a tree in flower. Between them they cover the two halves of the idea in one language. For the neighbouring senses see noble and loyal; everything else is on the meanings hub.