If you’re looking for some inspiration for your little one, choosing a traditional Romanian name from my list below is the way to go.
If you want to honor your Romanian heritage, if you are married with a Romanian or simply because you like how these names sound, go ahead and choose the one you like the most. They’re all pretty cool, let me tell you that!
No matter what your reasons are – you can be just curious, too – I have below a large list of Romanian names for girls and boys with their meanings too, so read on.
A note about Traditional Romanian names
Traditional Romanian names are – strangely or not – starting to lose popularity in the country.
I don’t really know why, but one of the reasons could be the fact that parents want their children to have unique names (when I was in school, we had three Oana, three Ioana and no less than four Mihai in our class).
We chose a non-Romanian name for our child and we thought we’re a minority, but the one we chose (Eric) is actually extremely popular among kids nowadays and there are tons of Erics out there. Yup, totally unexpected!
Either way, Romanian names sound unique for foreigners, drawing inspiration from all regions – you have names with Latin roots, Russian roots, German roots and so on. You can read more about the Romanian culture here.
It is impossible not to find something you like, so let’s not waste a single second and instead let’s check out below some Romanian names for girls and boys and see what they mean (where I have that info)!
Note: the details that I have in brackets are not the direct “translation” of the names, since that is generally impossible.
It just represents a brief summary of the meaning of each name – although most are chosen for the way they sound, and not meaning. Let’s check them out below!
Traditional Romanian Girl Names
- Adelina (Noble woman)
- Adina (also noble)
- Adriana (Latin name, meaning “by the Adriatic Sea”)
- Alina (noble)
- Ana
- Ana-Maria
- Anca (the gratious one)
- Andreea (warrior)
- Andra
- Antonia (female form of the Latin word Antonius, meaning “he was lost”)
- Bianca (white)
- Camelia (name of a flower, also meaning “the helping hand of the priest”)
- Carmen (Hebrew origin, meaning Orchid)
- Catalina (pure)
- Crina (The female version of the lily flower)
- Cristina (the descendant oc Christ)
- Claudia (the crippled)
- Corina
- Doina (original Romanian name, based on the unique Romanian song of the same name)
- Dana (God is my judge)
- Delia
- Diana (The Goddess)
- Elena (sun ray)
- Elvira (the one who protects everybody)
- Emilia
- Ecaterina (pure, innocent)
- Florina (flower)
- Felicia (happy)
- Gabriela (God is my Power)
- Georgiana
- Ioana (the blessing of God)
- Iulia
- Irina (peaceful)
- Lacramioara (original Romanian name, meaning teardrop)
- Laura (winner, champion)
- Lavinia (blue)
- Larisa
- Luisa / Luiza (glorious)
- Luminita (light)
- Madalina
- Maria (the wanted child or the one from the sea)
- Mara
- Margareta
- Mariana (the wanted child, similar to Maria)
- Mihaela (Who is like God?)
- Mirabela
- Monica (solitary)
- Mioara
- Nadia (Russian name, meaning hope)
- Narcisa (name of a flower, symbolizing love)
- Nicoleta (victory)
- Nicola (a variation of the name abovc)
- Oana (the blessing of God)
- Olivia (coming from the latin word olive)
- Otilia
- Paula (small and humble)
- Petronela (small rock)
- Raluca (Romanian name based on the name of Romanian ruler Ion Caragea’s daughter, Ralu)
- Ramona
- Rodica (coming from the Rhodos island)
- Roxana (sunshine)
- Sabina
- Sanda (protector of men – shorter form of “Alexandra”)
- Simona
- Smaranda
- Sorina (sunny)
- Sorana (Sun)
- Stefania (crown)
- Tatiana (of the fathre)
- Teodora (the gift of God)
- Tania
- Valentina (strong)
- Vasilica (the ruler)
- Violeta (name of a flower)
- Virginia
- Zoe
Traditional Romanian Boy Names
- Adrian (Latin name, meaning “by the Adriatic Sea”)
- Alex / Alexandru (protector of men)
- Alin (nobleman)
- Andrei (coming from a Greek word that means warrior)
- Anton (coming from the Latin word Antonius, meaning “he was lost”)
- Aurel (the golden one)
- Bogdan (name of Slavic origin, meaning “gift from God”)
- Calin (Greek origins, meaning “very good”)
- Catalin (another Greek name, meaning “pure”)
- Carol (free man)
- Cezar (from the Latin word Caesar, meaning king, autocrat)
- Ciprian (coming from Cyprus)
- Claudiu (word of Latin origin, meaning… crippled)
- Constantin (constant)
- Cornel
- Cosmin (beautiful)
- Cristian (Descendant of Christ)
- Dan / Daniel (meaning “God is my judge”)
- Doru (the gift of God)
- Dragos (Slavic word, meaning “Sweet glory”)
- Emil
- Eugen (member of the aristocracy)
- Eusebiu
- Filip (man who loves horses)
- Flaviu
- Florin (flower)
- Gabi / Gabriel (God is my power)
- George (Farmer)
- Gheorghe
- Grigore
- Horia (the head of the family)
- Ion / Ioan (the blessing of God)
- Iulian
- Laurentiu
- Liviu (envious)
- Lucian
- Marian (means “from the sea” or “of the sea”
- Marius (name coming from Mars – the God of War)
- Matei (one of the apostles of God)
- Mihai (one of the seven archangels, meaning “Who is like God?”)
- Mihnea
- Mircea (meaning “peaceful”)
- Narcis (in love with his own beauty)
- Nelu (the blessing of God – this is a Romanian form of the also common “Ion”)
- Nicolae (the victorious man)
- Octavian (the eigth)
- Ovidiu (coming from a Greek name that means “Sheep”)
- Petre
- Radu (cheerful)
- Razvan (one more name)
- Remus
- Robert
- Sebastian (coming from the city of Savaste)
- Sergiu (savior)
- Silviu
- Sorin (sun)
- Stefan (crown)
- Teodor (the gift of God)
- Tiberiu
- Traian (Latin name, coming from the famous Roman Emperor)
- Vasile (the leading king)
- Vlad (means glorious rule, although it’s usually associated <<wrongfully>> with vampires since it was the name of Vlad Tepes aka Vlad Dracul)
Wrapping up
While the during the past 10 years or so, as I already said in the intro, the trend here in Romania was to move a bit away from the traditional Romanian names in search for uniqueness (but still failing to achieve that), I see that lately people are going back to traditional Romanian names once more.
But in the end, it doesn’t matter what the trends are. All that matters is that you like the name and are happy to know that your child will be happy with it for life.
And with such a long list above, I am sure you won’t have any problems finding an appropriate name for your daughter or son.
Then, you have to prepare for the Christening of your baby. I wrote about that as well, so you’re covered!
What other traditional Romanian names for boys or girls do you know or like? Let us all know by sharing your thoughts below!
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I like a few of these names, like Alina and Calin :-). In Nigeria, they have also moved away from traditional names like mine. Most parents now make up names willy nilly. I am not a big fan! Haha. I’ve always liked the name Jade for a girl. It’s precious. Like you say though, it’s important to like the name. That is all that counts. It is also important to pick one that is not going to make the kid a target at school. Like Dick! :-).
Haha, good picks in terms of Romanian names! 🙂 For us, it was a bit difficult to pick up a Romanian name because either my wife or I knew somebody with a particular name that we didn’t like, which made it all more difficult, hahaha. Then, there were some names that I like and she didn’t… a few that she liked and I didn’t, so we ended up with Eric which we both agreed with 🙂 And yes, I totally agree with the fact that parents should always pick a name that won’t turn the kids into targets for bullies.
A common man’s name that I don’t see on the list is Sorin. We have a couple of friends with this name. My wife’s name, Arina, isn’t on the list either. Even though it’s derived from Irina, it doesn’t seem to be very common.
My decidedly NOT Romanian name, James, is interesting when used here, even though everyone knows James Bond and James Brown (THE James Brown, not me). When my wife needs to spell it for Romanians, she’ll also pronounce it “Ja-mahs,” like “pajamas.” I must say, I find this amusing.
Indeed, good find about Sorin! This is indeed a common Romanian name – I’ll add it to the list right away!
Arina is a very uncommon name – it’s actually the first time that I hear it. I know a few Arianas – but I wouldn’t consider those a Romanian name.
It’s strange to hear that people here have difficulties with a name like James… and the difficulty is that indeed you don’t have a Romanian alternative (like it would be for John – Ion, and so on).
i am romania my name is antonia
im romanian and my mom won and named me tamberly michele
Mihnea, Matei, Traian, Crina
My father’s side of the family was from Romania (Bungard, near Sibiu). I have a photo of a relative (whom I believe was my grandfather’s sister, born circa 1890), and on the back of the photo is her name – NuÈ›a. I believe this is a diminutive of another name. Are you familiar with this name? Thank-you!
JSMT
Yes, that is a name that still exists in Romania. It’s actually a diminutive form, most likely from Elena (Lenuta / Nuta).
Britannia is also Romany & not on that list. Nathan, Nathanial, Jobe is also Romany, didnt see them on it.
My granny
was full romany.
You won’t find many people with those names in Romania and I would definitely not consider them traditionally Romanian.
well my sister her name is nicola
Razvan has to be the coolest name I’ve ever heard. It’s definitely on our list of baby names!
My name is Lavinia, which both my parents have said is a Romanian name.
My daughter’s names are Narcissa and Oana, I was pleased to see their names on this list!
Yes, Lavinia is also a name you can hear in Romania! Not very common, but definitely nice and Romanian.