Baby Name of the Day: Lazuli

The baby name Lazuli is a rare possibility inspired by a lovely blue gemstone. 

Thanks to Shannon for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

GEMSTONE NAME

Many gemstones come in multiple colors, but lapis lazuli is always an intense shade of blue. It’s been mined and incorporated into jewelry for millennia.

No, really for millennia. 

The Statue of Ebih-Il dates to the twenty-fifth century BC. Ebih-Il was the superintendent of Mari, an ancient city-state, part of modern Syria. The gaze from his big ol’ eyes crafted from lapis lazuli remains vivid, so many lifetimes later.

Lapis lazuli was ground into a powder to create paints. Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of the more famous works, but it’s not alone. From Buddhist temples in the sixth and seventh centuries to Anglo-Norman manuscripts in the 1100s to Giotto’s frescoes in the Arena Chapel from the fourteenth century, the most vibrant blue was produced with lapis lazuli.

The merchant Marco Polo traveled to the east, recording his adventures, including a visit to a lapis lazuli mine in modern-day Afghanistan.

It’s also called ultramarine. Many an ancient mention of sapphires may have actually referred to lapis lazuli.

WHAT DOES THE NAME LAZULI MEAN?

Back to the word itself: lapis is Latin for stone.

Lazuli is a tiny bit more complicated. Lajward or Lazhward appears to be a Persian word and place name, meaning heaven or sky. It’s also used for the color blue. Lajward became lazaward or lazuward. 

In French, they assumed it was l’azuward, like le azuward, the azuward. That’s why the color of the blue sky in French is azure. (We use azure as a color name in English, too.) In medieval Latin, it became lazuli. The Spanish word for blue, azul, also comes from the same roots.

BLUE SKY BABY NAME

Put it together, and lapis lazuli is literally blue stone, but poetically, stone of heaven or stone of the sky.

Names that look up, from night sky choices like Stella and Orion to sunshiny ones like Elio and Solana are having a moment.

The blue-headed Lazuli Bunting makes this a songbird name, too, native to North America.

It’s happy and optimistic, but above all, colorful.

COLOR NAMES TOP THE CHARTS

Because the baby name Lazuli is a color name, it feels more wearable than some might guess.

Popular names like Scarlett, Ruby, and Rowan refer to the color red. Violet, Goldie, and Sienna continue the rainbow.

It feels a little like the latest trend, but plenty of the names in this category are time-tested traditionals, too. 

That’s also true for gemstone names: Jasper, Emerald, Pearl, Onyx, and more jewel-inspired picks dot popular baby names lists. The name Crystal was a 1980s style star; so was Amber. One more: Jett is a little bit wild blue yonder, but also strongly associated with jet black, as in the semi-precious stone.

Similar-sounding names like Lorelei suggest that the baby name Lazuli could wear well, and we’re crazy for the letter L. 

ASSOCIATIONS WITH LAPIS LAZULI

So there are plenty of reasons to think that Lazuli fits with trending baby girl names. A few more factors:

• Along with turquoise, it’s sometimes considered a December birthstone. (Though modern charts list turquoise and zircon instead.)
• The myth of Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of love, features lapis lazuli. She’s depicted emerging from the underworld wearing a necklace made of the stones.
• It might’ve suggested good luck when given as a gift. 
• There’s a Faberge egg known as the Lapiz Lazuli. (Visit it at the Cleveland Musem of Art.) While the eggs were made as Easter gifts for the Imperial family, this one (apparently) did not belong to the tsars.

PRONUNCIATION

One possible challenge: how do you pronounce the baby name Lazuli?

The stone can be pronounced two ways in American English. Lapis is easy, always lap-plus-iss. But the second half? 

It can be laj oo lie or lah zoo lee. 

The first one feels challenging. The second flows a little better in everyday speech. It’s a little like saying Anna Lee or Waverly.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME LAZULI?

All of this makes the case for considering Lazuli a potential name.

But is it ever used that way?

The short answer: very occasionally. 

It debuted in the US popularity data in the year 2016, when five girls received the name.

As of 2024, 11 girls were named Lazuli.

That’s still very rare, but there’s reason to hink it could wear well. Adorable nicknames like Lu, Luli, and maybe even Lalu make Lazuli more versatile. While it’s only been used for girls so far, it feels like great unisex names like River or even Garnet or Indigo.

Fans of Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe will think of the Crystal Gemstones. They’re mystical beings tasked with protecting the world. One of the animated Gems is, in fact, a blue-haired creature called Lapis Lazuli – Lapis, for short.

Lastly, a generation growing up with the video game Minecraft with recognize lapis lazuli as the name of a level in the wildly popular game.

The animated series’ 2013 debut, combined with the rising popularity of Minecraft in the 2010s probably explains the uptick in the name’s use.

AN ELEGANT OPTION

While the baby name Lazuli is very rare, that might be a bonus. 

With gemstone names inspiring plenty of new parents, it’s easy to manage a couple discovering Lazuli.

Our love of nature names, color names, and gemstones all argue for embracing Lazuli as a different but quite wearable possiblity for a child. 

What do you think of the baby name Lazuli?

First published on April 3, 2013, this post was revised on June 20, 2025.