Thanksgiving-Inspired Baby Names for Your Lil' Pumpkin

Monica Beyer
·4 min read

If you’re ready to pop your baby out right around the time the turkey hits the table, then we have a bold idea for you: Why not give your baby a Thanksgiving-inspired baby name? OK, just hear us out.

We wouldn’t suggest you name your kid “Turkey,” “Pumpkin Spice” or “Stuffing” — although you do you. Instead, think about what’s supposed to make Thanksgiving special. Family, friends, home, togetherness and thankfulness, right? That and the best food ever.

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So OK, we’ll poke fun at absurd potential food names like “Stuffing,” but there are actually some cute ones to be found in Thanksgiving food items. Then there are harvest-related names, including those of mythical season-ruling gods and goddesses, and historic names and even ones that mean “home” or “grateful.”

Thanksgiving-inspired names for baby boys

  • Aviv: young grain

  • Beckham: home by the stream

  • Boden: shelter

  • Cobb: cottage

  • Dagan: grain, the earth

  • Demetrius: follower of Demeter, goddess of corn and the harvest

  • Goren: grain harvest

  • Hampton: home settlement

  • Henry: home leader

  • Jadon: thankful

  • Jonathan: This is actually a type of apple, and you’re totally eating a whole apple pie this year, right? (Or is that just us?)

  • Jorah: autumn rain

  • Lugh: Celtic harvest god

  • Masefield: cornfield

  • Milbank: mill on the bank

  • Miller: one who grinds grain

  • Milton: mill town

  • Neper: Egyptian god of grain

  • Quincy: home of the fifth son

  • Shakir: grateful

  • Thomas: inspired by “Tom” turkey

  • Thu: Vietnamese name meaning “autumn”

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Thanksgiving-inspired names for baby girls

  • Akiko: autumn’s child

  • Annona: Roman goddess of grain

  • Autumn: season of harvest

  • Aviva: young grain

  • Berry: cranberries, anyone?

  • Beth: house

  • Ceres: Roman goddess of grain, agriculture

  • Cinnamon: spice name

  • Clove: spice name

  • Demeter: Greek goddess of the harvest

  • Donna: lady of the home

  • Emeline: peaceful home

  • Ginger: spice name

  • Harriet: home leader

  • Kasha: name of a grain

  • Macy: pretty perfect if you go into labor at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade

  • Maisie: Hey, it sounds like maize, which means corn, so we’ll take it.

  • Pepper: spice name

  • Rosemary: herb name

  • Roux: a cooking name, refers to flour and fat cooked together and used to thicken sauce. If that’s too saucy (see what we did there?) you can spell it Rue, as in Golden Girl Rue McClanahan.

  • Sage: spice name

  • Zia: grain

Names from history

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Yep, Thanksgiving is a fraught holiday based on a violent history that many simply choose not to celebrate, with good reason. But it’s worth remembering that in all the dark times throughout American history (hi, pandemic), there have been some shining lights too. Below are a few names inspired by Americans we can all be grateful for.

Sarah: Sarah Josepha Hale was not only a prolific writer and editor, but she spent much of her life crusading for more educational opportunities for girls and women — and she also pushed for a national Thanksgiving holiday. She wrote a letter to Abraham Lincoln urging him to create the holiday, and he did.

Abraham: Abraham Lincoln announced an official Thanksgiving holiday to take place on November 26, 1863.

Franklin: In 1939, Franklin Roosevelt moved the official Thanksgiving holiday to the third Thursday in November, but a few years later agreed to reset it permanently to the fourth Thursday. Also, it’s a long-held belief that Benjamin Franklin proposed the turkey and not the bald eagle as the national bird, though that’s proven to be a myth.

Truman: While historical experts dispute the notion that Harry S. Truman was the first president to pardon a turkey, the myth lives on. And Truman is a great name anyway, so it could be a great choice for a Thanksgiving — or any day — baby.

Bradford: William Bradford was Governor of the Plymouth Colony, and helped organize the first Harvest Festival — the tradition we now know as Thanksgiving.

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So if your bundle of joy arrives on or near this coming Thanksgiving, maybe steer clear of naming her “Casserole” and embrace one of these names inspired by the holiday instead.

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