Names that Mean No Name | 137 Ideas for Boys and Girls
Names that mean no name can actually have a wide variety of interpretations and meanings!
Whether you are looking for names that literally mean “no name,” names that mean outsider, pen names, names that mean anonymous, or placeholder names like John Doe, we’ve got you covered!
Names that mean No Name
Anaamika (Female), Anaamak (Male)
There is an Indian movie where the lead actress was given the name Anaamika as she claimed not remembering her name. The male version is Anaamak. Unsurprisingly, the movie is called Anaamika.
Kaneis
Kaneis is the Greek word for “nobody.” It certainly makes a unique girl or boy’s name!
Khenbish
This unisex Mongolian name means “nobody.”
Na-si-gumnye
In the highlands of western New Guinea, the Eipo people feel that giving their real name to outsiders can cause harm. So they often go by “names” such as Na-si-gumnye (I-the-one-who-has-no-name), Na-si-walwal, (My-name-I-don’t-know) and Na-si-urang (I-am-somebody-else). [Source]
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Nemo
Odysseous used this name when he was blinding the cyclops Polyphemus. And Jules Verne used Nemo for the captain of the Nautilus in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It means “nobody” in Latin.
It’s also used as a pseudonym. For example, Hablot Knight Browne, illustrator for Charles Dickens, used Nemo as a pen name.
Nergüi
The Mongolian unisex name Nergüi literally means “no-name.” Nergüi was traditionally given as a baby name to trick malicious spirits,
Nymandus
Nymandus is a name of German origin. It actually comes from the German word niemand, which means “nobody.”
Similar-sounding names include Neiman and Norman.
Outis
Outis is Ancient Greek for “nobody.” It’s often used as a pseudonym. One artist uses the Hungarian spelling Utisz.
Some folks who used it to conceal their identity include
- Henry Stephens, a rare book dealer
- István Orosz -a Hungarian visual artist
- Prison Break protagonist Michael Scoffield uses the pseudonym Kaniel Outis
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Nessuno
The name Nessuno is Italian for nobody and is often used as a pen name.
Arya Stark
The youngest daughter of Ned Stark from Game of Thrones has a gorgeous name and has many nicknames, including No One.
Some of her other nicknames and aliases include: Arry, Weasel, Nymeria, and Mercende.
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Hector Zeroni
Remember Zero from the book (and movie) Holes? His reall name is Hector Zeroni!
Nicolas Bourbaki
Multiple French mathematics used the pseudonym Nicolas Bourbaki in 1935 to demonstrate that collective effort is needed to advance their field
A similarly minded group of English mathematicians adopted the name Blanche Descartes based on the phrase carte blanche.
Alan Smithee
Hollywood directors as far back as 1968 use the pseudonym Alan Smithee where they want to disown one of their films.
Dale Nixon
Punk artists may use this pseudonym on albums when they want to obfuscate that they’re working with another band in order to avoid breaking exclusivity with certain record labels.
For example, Greg Ginn of Black Flag, Dave Grohl, and Ryan Adams have used this “pen name!”
Netochka Nezvanova
This Russian name literally means “nameless nobody.” It comes from the name of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s first novel and a group of online artistic programmers adopted the name for their works.
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Damnatio Memoriae
The modern Latin phrase Damnatio memoriae means “condemnation of memory.” It indicates that a person is to be excluded from records or official accounts.
Karen Eliot
Karen Eliot is a shared nom de plume for artistic and activist endeavors. Similar shared “open pop star names” include
- Luther Blissett
- Monty Cantsin
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Wu Ming
Wu Ming is Chinese for anonymous and was used as a pseudonym by a group of Italian authors in the early 2000s.
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George Spelvin, Georgette Spelvin
Pseudonyms used in American theater
Walter Plinge
Walter Plinge is a pseudonym used in British theater
Captain Swing
Laborers of the 1830s adopted the collective name Captain Swing when the automatic threshing machine was introduced and caused them to lose their livelihoods.
Proscriptio
Proscription, or the Latin term Proscriptio means ‘a decree of condemnation to death or banishment.’ It originated in Ancient Rome where enemies of the state were identified and punished.
Yimakh shemo
The Hebrew curse “yimakh shemo” translates to “May his name be erased.” Its one of the harshest phrases in the Hebrew language.
Hudjefa and Sedjes
In Ancient Egypt, the names Hudjefa and Sedjes, literally meaning “erased” and “missing”, were used by later Egyptian scribes in kings lists to refer to much older previous pharaohs whose names had been lost to time.
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Nomen Nescio
Nomen Nescio is Latin for “name not known.”
Anathema
Anathema refers to someone who is shunned or excommunicated.
Nona
How about a fun play on words? What if someone’s name was Nona Me? It’s just a matter of spacing, then the name becomes No Name!
Nona is actually a name that comes from the Latin word for “ninth.”
Noname
Or try blending the two words into one truly unique name.
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Words From Other Languages That Mean No Name
Here are words from other languages that translate to nobody
- Afrikaans: niemand nie
- Albanian: askush
- Amharic: ማንም የለም
- Armenian: ոչ ոք
- Azerbaijani: heç kim
- Basque: inor ez
- Belarusian: ніхто
- Bengali: কেউ না
- Bosnian: niko
- Bulgarian: Никой
- Catalan: ningú
- Cebuano: wala ni kinsa man
- Chinese: 沒有人
- Corsican: nimu
- Croatian: nitko
- Czech: nikdo
- Danish: ingen
- Dutch: niemand
- Esperanto: neniu
- Estonian: mitte keegi
- Finnish: kukaan
- French: personne
- Frisian: nimmen
- Galician: ninguén
- Georgian: არავინ
- German: niemand
- Greek: κανείς
- Gujarati: કોઈ નહી
- Haitian Creole: pèsonn
- Hausa: ba kowa
- Hawaiian: ʻaʻohe kanaka
- Hindi: कोई भी नहीं
- Hmong: tsis muaj leej twg
- Hungarian: senki
- Icelandic: enginn
- Igbo: ọ dịghị onye
- Indonesian: tak seorangpun
- Irish: aon duine
- Italian: nessuno
- Japanese: 誰も
- Javanese: ora ana wong
- Kannada: ಯಾರೂ
- Kazakh: ешкім
- Khmer: គ្មាននរណាម្នាក់
- Korean: 아무도
- Kurdish: nekes
- Kyrgyz: эч ким
- Lao: ບໍ່ມີໃຜ
- Latin: neminem
- Latvian: neviens
- Lithuanian: niekas
- Luxembourgish: keen
- Macedonian: никој
- Malagasy: tsy misy olona
- Malay: tiada siapa
- Malayalam: ആരും
- Maltese: ħadd
- Maori: tangata
- Marathi: कोणीही नाही
- Mongolian: хэн ч биш
- Myanmar (Burmese): ဘယ်သူမှ
- Nepali: कुनै हैन
- Norwegian: ingen
- Nyanja (Chichewa): palibe aliyense
- Polish: nikt
- Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil): ninguém
- Punjabi: ਕੋਈ ਨਹੀਂ
- Romanian: nimeni
- Russian: никто
- Samoan: leai seisi
- Scots Gaelic: duine
- Serbian: нико
- Sesotho: ha ho motho
- Shona: hapana munhu
- Sinhala: කවුරුවත් නැහැ
- Slovak: nikto
- Slovenian: nihče
- Somali: qofna
- Spanish: nadie
- Sundanese: teu aya sasaha
- Swahili: hakuna mtu
- Swedish: ingen
- Tagalog (Filipino): walang tao
- Tajik: ҳеҷ кас
- Tamil: யாரும் இல்லை
- Telugu:ఎవరూ
- Thai: ไม่มีใคร
- Turkish: kimse
- Ukrainian: ніхто
- Uzbek: hech kim
- Vietnamese: không ai
- Welsh: neb
- Xhosa: Akukho mntu
- Yoruba: ko si eniti o
- Zulu: akekho
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Words That Mean No Name Or Nameless
The following words mean no name or nameless
- Anonymous
- Blank
- Faceless
- Forgotten
- Inferior
- Insignificant
- Minor
- Naught
- Noteless
- Nobody
- Nonentity
- Nonperson
- Nothing
- Nullity
- Obscure
- Uncelebrated
- Unfamous
- Unknown
- Unrecognized
- Unsung
- Unimportant
- Undistinguished
- Unexceptional
- Unremarkable
- Unpopular
- Unnoticeable
- Unrecognizable
- Unnewsworthy
- Unremembered
- Zero
- Zilch
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Names That Mean Outsider
Agur
The biblical male name Agur means “stranger” or “gathered together” in Hebrew. In the Bible, Agur is Jakeh’s son and contributes to Proverbs.
Alagast
This Ancient Germanic name comes from the Gothic words for temple and guest, stranger.
Aliena
This female name means “stranger” in Latin. In Shakespeare’s play ‘As You Like It’ Celia uses it when she goes into hiding.
Andar
The Indonesian name Andar is derived from Arabic word andar, which means “rarer, stranger”.
Arbogast
This name is derived from the Gothic words for “inheritance” and “guest, stranger.”
Cenwalh
Cenwalh means “Bold foreigner” or “Keen Celt.” It comes from Anglo-Saxon elements.
Dougal
The male Scottish Gaelic name Dougal means “dark stranger.”
Erland
Swedish, Danish, Norwegian
From the Old Norse name Erlendr, meaning “foreigner” or “outsider”
Eryxene
Plutarch used the name Eryxene in his essay Virtues of Women. It uses the Greek element xenos, or “foreigner, guest.” A variation, Erissena, was used in the 1731 opera Cleofide.
Fingal
Fingal is an Irish name meaning “fair stranger.”
Gallchobhar
The medieval Irish name Gallchobhar is a combination of words meaning “stranger” and “desiring.”
Gaston
This French name probably comes from an ancient Germanic word for guest or stranger.
Gershom
Gershom may mean exile in Hebrew, or possibly a stranger there.
Gerusha
Gerusha is a female Hebrew name that means sent away or stranger. It can also be spelled Jerusha
Kallixenos
Derived from Ancient Greek, the male name Kallixenos means “beautiful foreigner”.
Mayra
Mayra is a South American Tupi name that means “foreigner.”
Menexenos
This unique male name may come from the Ancient Greek words for strong foreigner.
Ngeni
This male name means stranger in Swahili
Tiri
In the western African language Ijaw, the unisex name Tiri means outsider.
Vahinala
This one-of-a-kind unisex name comes from a plant native to Madagascar, meaning “stranger” and ala meaning “forest”.
Venuto
I love this boys name that means outsider! It comes from the Italian word venuto “arrived, newcomer”
Walabert
The name Walabert combines the Old High German words for “wanderer, traveller, foreigner” and “bright”
Walahfrid
The male Germanic name Walahfrid is composed of words meaning stranger and peace.
Walhberct
Similarly, Walhberct means “bright stranger.”
Wallace
Wallace comws from a Scottish and English surname meaning “foreigner, Celt, Welshman”. It was used as a given name to honor Sottish hero Sir William Wallace.
Widogast
And Widogast comes from the ancient Germanic terms for wood and guest, stranger.
Xenon
The sciency- sounding name Xenon has its origins in Greek, and means “foreigner, guest”.
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Xenos m Greek
Xenos is a male name derived from the Greek word xenos, meaning “stranger, foreigner”.
Xenu
Xenu, the name of an alien appearing in scientology, may be based on the Greek word xenos meaning “foreigner, stranger”.
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Names That Mean Zero or Nothing
Here is a list of our favorite names that mean zero
- Gluskabe (male, Algonquin) – meaning: man from nothing
- Iona (female, Japanese) – Meaning: Zero seven
- Muga (male, Japanese) meaning: can be interpreted as “nothing”
- Reiji (male, Japanese) – Meaning: Zero samurai
- Reiriku (male, Japanese) – meaning: zero land
- Wafuletbo (male, Senegal) – meaning: there is nothing there
- Zerone (female, Japanese) – meaning: zero sound
- Zeroyo (female, Japanese) – meaning: zero night
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Placeholder Names
These placeholder names can indicate someone with no name. Think John and Jane Doe. Bonus: we’ve cast our net wider to find more names that mean nameless from placeholder names from around the world.
Blackacre
In law, fictitious estates of land are often named Blackacre, Whiteacre, Greenacre, and Brownacre. In Louisiana, the name Arpent Noir (translates to Blackacre) is used due to their civil law influenced by the Napoleonic Code
John and Jane Doe
These placeholder names are used in law enforcement when a victim’s name is unknown. Or they can be used when someone is trying to conceal their name. Similar names used as placeholders include Richard Roe, John Noaks and John Styles. These were used as far back as the 1300s!
More modern additions include Mary Major and Richard Miles.
Here are more placeholder names from other countries
- Ashhok Kumar– India
- Nomen Nescio – Italy, Belgium, and Germany, translates to “I don’t know the name”
- Nomen Nominandum– “the name must be mentioned,” the Netherlands
- Ploni, Almoni, or Ploni Almoni are used in Israel, they come from the Hebrew Bible. Israel Israeli is a more modern placeholder name
- Navn Navnesen – Danish for Name Namerson
- Jan Jansen – Dutch equivalent of John Doe
- Matti Meikäläinen (male) and Maija Meikäläinen (female)- Swedish
- Jean Dupont -French
- Max Mustermann and Erika Mustermann, German, their last name means Exampleperson
- Yannis Papadopoulos – Greek
- Kovács János or Gipsz Jakab – Hungarian
- Seán Ó Rudaí (Sean O’Something), Mac Uí Rudaí (O’Something’s Son), Síle Uí Rudaí (“Sheila O’Something”), and Aisling Ní Rudaí (Ashling O’Something) – Irish
- Mario Rossi, Pinco Pallino and Tal dei Tali – Italian
- Yamada Tarō – Japanese
- Hong Gildong– Korea, the name of a legendary Korean outlaw
- Jan Kowalski – Polish
- Ivan Petrovich Sidorov, Vasiliy Pupkin, Ivan Ivanovich Ivanov – Russian
- Fulano de Tal – Spain
- Juan Pérez – Argentina, Bolivia, Peru
Wikipedia has a fascinating list of placeholder names from around the world
Wrap Up- Names That Mean No Name
I hope you’ve enjoyed these names that mean no name! I certainly learned a lot researching and compiling them.
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