Glorious names


While many people are familiar with the name Gloria (reportedly first used in 1891 in E. D. E. N. Southworth’s novel of the same name), there are a number of other names whose meanings relate to the words “glory” and “glorious.” To condense this post’s wordcount somewhat, I’m leaving out all the Slavic names with the element (-)slav(a). I do intend to have future posts showcasing all the Slavic names with the roots Mir(a), Mil(a), and Slav(a)!


Chidiebube means “God is glorious” in Igbo.

Hadar means “splendour, glory” in Hebrew.

Jaswinder means “glory of Indra” or “Indra’s glory” in Sanskrit.

Jeong-Hui can mean “proper and glorious” and “gentle and glorious” in Korean.

Ji-Yeong can mean “wisdom and glory,” “intellect and glory,” and “to know glory” in Korean.

Rong can mean “glory” in Chinese. I obviously wouldn’t recommend this in an Anglophone country!

Vinh means “glory” in Vietnamese.


Aegle is the Latinized form of the Greek Aigle, which means “glory, light, radiance.”

Aintza means “glory” in Basque.

Cleopatra is the Latinized form of the Greek Kleopatra, which means “glory of the father.” This spelling is used in English, Italian, Dutch, and Spanish, and Kleopatra is used in German, Greek, and the Slavic languages. Other forms include Kleópatra (Icelandic), Cléopâtre (French), Cliupatra (Sicilian), Clèopatra (Catalan), Cléopatra (Portuguese), and Kleopátra (Hungarian).

Gloria means “glory” in Latin. The name is used in English, Italian, Spanish, and German. It was in the Top 100 in the U.S. from 1922–63. Alternate forms are Glória (Portuguese), Gloría (Icelandic), and Glòria (Catalan).

Gloriana is an elaborated form of Gloria. I’ve always loved this name.

Glorinda means “worthy of glory” in Esperanto.

Glory is a rare English name.

Kleio means “glory” in Greek. She’s the Muse of history and heroic poetry, and introduced the alphabet to the Greek people. The Latinized and Italian form is Clio.

Nani means “glory, beauty” in Hawaiian.

Siriporn is a Thai name derived from the elements sir (glory, splendour) and phon (blessing). For obvious reasons, I’d steer far clear of this one in an Anglophone country! The “porn” element is pronounced POHN, but the spelling is still what it is.

Theokleia means “glory of God” in Ancient Greek. Other forms include Thekla (modern Greek, German), Tekla (Russian, Polish, Georgian, Scandinavian, Hungarian), Thècle (French), Tegla (Welsh), Tecla (Spanish, Italian), Thecla (Dutch), Tîgdlak or Tîgdlat (Greenlandic), Dekla (Latvian), Fee’la (Sami), Tekle (Georgian variation), and Teklė (Lithuanian).

Yocheved means “God is glory” in Hebrew. This was the name of the mother of Moses (Moshe), Aaron (Aharon), and Miriam.


Amjad means “more glorious” in Arabic.

Androcles is the Latinized form of the Greek Androkles, which means “glory of a man.”

Aristocles is the Latinized form of the Greek Aristokles, which means “best glory.”

Baha means “glory, splendour” in Arabic and Turkish.

Byeong-Ho can mean “glorious and vast” and “glorious summer” in Korean.

Damocles is the Latinized form of the Greek Damokles, which means “glory of the people.”

Diokles means “glory of Zeus” in Greek.

Euclid is the Anglicized form of the Greek Eukleides, which means “good glory.”

Hercules is the Latinized form of the Greek Herakles, which means “glory of Hera.” I discussed this name in depth here.

Ichabod means “no glory” in Hebrew.

Izzet means “glory, might” in Turkish.

Kleisthenes means “glory and strength” in Greek.

Kleon means “glory” in Greek.

Majid means “glorious” in Arabic.

Patroklos means “glory of the father” in Greek. This was the name of the great hero Achilles’s best friend, who may or may not have been his lover.

Perikles means “exceedingly glory” in Greek.

Pratap means “glory, splendour, heat” in Sanskrit.

Themistokles means “glory of the law” in Greek.

Thucydides is the Latinized form of the Greek Thoukydides, which means “son of God’s glory.”

Yash means “glory, fame, praise” in Sanskrit.

Yeong-Gi can mean “to begin glory” in Korean.