Boy names that mean luck
Luck splits three ways once you look at the etymologies, and the split is worth keeping. There is fortunate, the state Felix and Onni describe. There is fortune meaning literal property, which is what the Germanic ead and aud names are about. And there is fate, which is a different idea altogether and gets a paragraph below rather than a quiet seat on the list.
- FelixFEE-liksLatin
Fortunate, lucky, happy. The older sense was fruitful, from the root behind fecundus; English felicity descends from it, and the dictator Sulla awarded himself Felix as an extra name.
- ChanceCHANSSEnglish
Fortune and luck, from Old French cheance and ultimately Latin cadere, to fall — the way the dice land.
- OnniOHN-neeFinnish
Luck and happiness in one word, because Finnish does not split them the way English does. The name is the bare noun.
- Zorionsoh-ree-OHNBasque
Happiness, from zori (fate, omen) + on (good). Literally a good fate, and the one name here that joins luck to destiny on purpose.
- MadocMAD-okWelsh
Fortunate and good: Welsh mad with the suffix -og. One of the few Welsh names whose etymology gives nobody any trouble.
- AsherASH-erHebrew
Happy, fortunate, from the root behind osher, happiness. Jacob's eighth son, and #28 in the U.S.
- AymanAY-manArabic
More blessed, from yumn, good fortune. The same word means of the right hand, which in Arabic is the fortunate side.
- Ayaanah-YAHNArabic
Good fortune in Arabic and Somali use. In Indian use it is a different word entirely, Sanskrit ayana, a path — one spelling, two etymologies.
- Libanlee-BAHNSomali
Fortunate, from liibān: good fortune, prosperity, the state of things going well.
- KhánhKAHNVietnamese
慶 — celebration, congratulation, an occasion of good fortune. The syllable in quốc khánh, National Day.
- PhúcFOOKVietnamese
福 — blessing and good fortune, specifically the happiness that is bestowed rather than seized.
- OttoOT-ohGerman
Wealth, fortune, prosperity, from the Germanic element aud. Four Holy Roman emperors carried it.
- OtisOH-tissEnglish
Son of Ode — and Ode is that same aud. An English surname built on a Germanic word for good fortune.
- EdwardED-wardOld English
Ead (wealth, fortune) + weard (guardian). The fortune is the first half, and it is the same element in a dozen Old English names.
- EdmundED-mundOld English
Fortunate protector: ead + mund, hand or protection. An East Anglian king killed by a Danish army in 869 and venerated for centuries after.
- Eduardoeh-DWAR-dohSpanish & Portuguese
The Iberian Edward, carrying the Old English fortune-and-guardian compound intact into two more languages.
- AudunOW-dunNorwegian
Wealth-friend: auðr (fortune) + vinr (friend). Prosperous and open-handed in the same breath.
- ØysteinOY-staynNorwegian
Traditionally stone of good fortune. The second element steinn is certain; the first, ey, is read as good fortune, as ever, or as island.
- Macariomah-KAH-ree-ohSpanish
Blessed and happy, from Greek makarios — a word first applied to the gods, meaning something closer to beyond ordinary trouble.
- JunseoJOON-suhKorean
Hanja-dependent. 俊瑞 reads talented plus 瑞, an auspicious omen; other writings replace the second character and the luck goes with it.
Fortunate, wealthy, fated — pick one
Fortunate. Felix, Onni, Asher, Madoc, Liban, Ayman, Ayaan and Macario all describe a person things go well for. It is a state rather than an event, which is why so many of these words also mean happy: Finnish will not separate luck from happiness, Hebrew asher sits beside osher, and Greek makarios started out as an adjective for gods, who were lucky by definition. Vietnamese Phúc and Khánh add the ceremonial edge — fortune as something announced and celebrated.
Fortune meaning money. Seven names here run on two Germanic elements, Old English ead and Norse auðr, and both of them mean wealth and good fortune without distinction. Edward, Edmund, Eduardo, Otto, Otis, Audun and Øystein are all built on them. A modern parent reading Edward as lucky is not wrong, but an Anglo-Saxon hearing it thought of a full barn. That is a more interesting fact about the name than anything a luck list usually offers.
Luck is not fate. The two get merged constantly and they are opposites in temperament: luck is what happens to break your way, fate is what was assigned. Zorion is the honest hybrid, built on zori, an omen, so the Basque literally says good fate. Chance is the falling of dice and nothing more. But the Igbo chi — the personal destiny-spirit inside Chidi, Chike and Chinedu — is something a person is given, not something that turns up, so those names are not on this page. Vietnamese keeps a related distinction of its own: phúc is fortune bestowed, while phúc đức is the merit a parent's conduct earns for a child.
For fortune in the religious sense rather than the statistical one, blessed is the better list and gift of God is next to it. Everything else is indexed on the meanings hub.