Names that mean love

Love is one of the oldest reasons to give a name. To call a child beloved is to fix affection in the word itself, and a surprising number of names do exactly that. Many trace back to Latin amare, meaning to love. Amanda comes from amanda, worthy of love or lovable, a form built directly from that verb. Mabel is a short form of Amabel, from Latin amabilis, lovable. Amy is the English form of the Old French Amée, beloved, from Latin Amata. Amora is a modern coinage on Latin amor, the noun love itself. These names do not describe a person. They name the feeling she is meant to receive.

The tender quality runs across languages and across the range from romantic to devotional. David comes from Hebrew dod, usually glossed as beloved, and it carries that meaning through scripture and psalm. Esme derives from the Old French verb esmer, to esteem or to love, so the name holds regard and affection together. Carys is built on the Welsh caru, to love, and reads plainly as loved one. Philip contains the Greek element philos, loving or dear, though the full name means friend of horses and the love reading rests on that one part rather than the whole. Lennon comes from the Irish leannán, lover or sweetheart, one of the rare surnames rooted in an emotion.

Some of these readings are direct and some are by association. Amy and Amora carry love in their plain sense, and Amanda and Mabel name a person as worthy of it. David and Carys are glossed as beloved and loved one with little dispute, though David's root has been debated. Philip's love lives in a single element, and Lennon has competing origins beside the tender one. Hope belongs here by company more than by etymology. It comes from the English word hope, and it sits beside love in the old triad of faith, hope, and charity, where charity once meant love. This cluster differs from its neighbors in what it points at. Grace names point at favor freely given, joy names at gladness, and beauty names at what pleases the eye. Love names point at the bond itself, at being held dear.