The baby name Dove might be the next girl name borrowed from the birds.
Thanks to Photoquilty for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME DOVE MEAN?
Like Robin and Wren, Raven and Paloma, bird names often inspire parents.
Some feel more obviously avian; others seem more subtle.
Doves are cousins to pigeons, both members of the Columbidae family, along with a few hundred others. Names like Jonah and Jemima also relate to the birds.
It’s thought that the word comes from the Germanic dubon – to dive, related to their pattern of flight – via the Old English dufe.
SYMBOL OF PEACE
Many nature names carry specific symbolism, but few are as immediately familiar as Dove.
In the story of Noah, the bird signals the end of the floods, by returning to the ark carrying an olive leaf, confirming that dry land awaits.
Long before that, ancient goddesses in Mesopotamia and Greece claimed the birds as their symbols, to name just two uses in the pre-Christian era.
Early Christians took them as a symbol of the holy spirit. Doves appear in Shintoism and Buddhism, too.
Despite many religious uses, the bird is best known as an international symbol of peace, dating back to ancient Greece.
But it took a famous artist to make the connect explicit for the modern world.
PICASSO and WORLD PEACE
In 1948, artist Pablo Picasso’s lithograph La Colombe inspired the symbol of the Word Peace Council. They adopted the bird as their official symbol in 1949.
Picasso spoke at a future World Peace Congress, and named his daughter Paloma, the Spanish name for the bird.
At least one of his iterations of the bird as symbol remains widely known.
IS DOVE A UNISEX NAME?
Dov – spelled without an E – comes from Hebrew. Instead of wings, it suggests paws. Dov means bear, and is traditionally masculine.
There’s also the masculine Dovev and feminine Doveva, from a Hebrew word meaning “to draw out” or possibly “to whisper.” In this case, there’s a clear male/female divide.
As for the bird? A tiny handful of boys have received the name, but the overwhelming use is feminine. It’s tough to call this name gender-neutral in terms of use, but on sound alone, it works perfectly well.
DOVE IN THE OLD WEST
In 1985, Larry McMurtry published Lonesome Dove, the Old West story of retired Texas rangers driving cattle to Montana. It became a bestseller and won the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It inspired a television mini-series adaptation, too. Three more books – and mini-series – followed into the 1990s.
The novel’s title refers to the Texas border town where the story begins. McMurtry has also said that the title refers to one of the characters, a teenage orphan – though the character answers to a different name.
It remains a powerful association for many, and with a new Netflix adaptation in the works, it’s easy to imagine this name gaining more attention.
DOVE SI TROVA & OTHER USES
If you speak Italian, this is simply a word meaning where. But it’s pronounced doh-VAY.
It’s possible you’d find it in use as a surname, either for someone who kept the birds or maybe someone who shared their gentle nature.
Some might think of Tamora Pierce’s character Dovesary, from Tamora Pierce’s fantasy novels.
YouTube family The Crawfords, known for their extended hikes and adventures as a family, gave the name to their firstborn daughter.
Reality television’s Natalie Halcro of E’s Relatively Nat & Liv gave the name to a daughter in early 2020. So did Teddi Mellencamp, of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fame.
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom welcomed daughter Daisy Dove in 2020.
But in recent years, there’s no question where at least some parents have first heard it as a possible choice.
FAMOUS FIGURE
While other people have answered to the name, as of the 21st century it belongs to one actress.
Disney Channel alum Dove Cameron headlined popular hits like Liv & Maddie and The Descendants.
Cameron was born Chloe Celeste Hosterman. She took her screen name from a childhood nickname.
If you know your Disney villains, chances are you know the story.
In 2015, Cameron took on the role of Mal, daughter of Maleficent in an alternate universe where all the Disney villains have been imprisoned on the Isle of the Lost. But now a handful of the “villain kids” are getting a chance to enroll at Auradon Prep, where the children of the heroic good are educated.
Mal falls in love with Ben, son of Belle and the Beast, and heir to the throne of Auradon.
Drama follows. Enough for not one, but four sequels with a fifth in the works. Cameron left after the original trilogy. It made her a major celebrity for a generation.
The actress has graduated to more adult roles, like sSchmigadoon!’s Betsy on Apple TV+, and has launched a singing career.
Along the way she’s also ensured that a generation grew up hearing her nickname-turned-stage name as a viable option for a daughter.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME DOVE?
The name appears in US popularity data way back in 1880, the very first year for which data is reported.
Prior to the Disney Channel star’s success, the name was used in tiny numbers – a dozen or so girls a year.
By 2020, with fellow brief bird name Wren soaring, it was given to 51 girls.
As of 2025, an all-time high of 144 girls received the name.
A NAME SET TO SOAR
Parents have embraced nature names. Meaning matters, too. Dove blends both – it’s a purpose name at home in the blue sky, a hopeful choice that immediately brings to mind a specific image.
The brief, complete sound and that V sound help, too. Just ask Evelyn and Olivia, Grace and Quinn. And, of course, Maeve – perhaps the most obvious forerunner.
Put it all together and this name feels set to soar.
What do you think of the baby name Dove?
Originally published on June 5, 2009, this post was revised on February 22, 2020; December 1, 2021; and October 20, 2026.
I have a great-great aunt who was named Dovie and have read Pierce’s Trickster novels, so Dove appeals to me. Also I found the, supposedly, Hebrew name Doveva in my name ramblings and have fallen for it.
I’ve used it just recently in a double-barreled first name, Cora Dove. I’ve received many compliments, so hopefully my husband and I are not the only ones who like it. 🙂
Cora Dove is gorgeous! So that’s three of us and counting …
I think she makes a cool nickname for Paloma or Audovere. Perhaps a bit too much as a full fledged first name.
Emily – I saw it as a middle name online (I think at Y!A, but can’t remember for sure). Clara Dove sounds really pretty. 😉
Sophie — Oh, we have Dove soap products in the U.S., too, but that’s not at all what I thought of upon hearing the name. The bird association is far stronger in my mind. The big problem with Allegra in the U.S. is that most people are familiar with the word ONLY as an allergy medication.
I do like bird names for girls, quite a lot actually. Wren is my favorite, but I’m also drawn to Lark, Kestrel, and even Nightingale (as a middle only). I could see Dove working, but it would definitely be middle material for me.
Photoquilty — where did you get the idea to suggest this as Name of the Day? Do you know someone named Dove? Or had you heard it being used as a given name before? I’ve never heard of Dove being used as a name.
Ooh – thanks for the clarification 🙂 I’m really glad Allegra’s ‘just a name’ over here.. I rather like her!
My first thought was ‘oh dear’, but after repeating it to myself a few times, I can appreciate it – it’s rather soft and simple and reserved. It would make a lovely middle really, perhaps to balance out a more extravagant name such as Penelope Dove or Victoria Dove or something.
I do have the urge to pronounce it do-VEY, kind of like duvet, but with the O sound for an odd reason, and Dovey too. Maybe it stems from what JNE expressed -I always call my kids lovey and my friends love? My sister uses Poppet.
Dove is a toiletries type brand in Australia, with shampoo and soap products everywhere, so I’d never use her for that reason. (Much like Allegra in the US I gather?!)
She’s rather pleasing, and a mostly wearable bird name; though I agree, it’s best suited to the middle 🙂
At first I thought Dove (DUHV) had too much “duh” in it, but I’ve said it a half a dozen times and it’s quite soft and, I’ll admit, there is something appealing about it. I’d have to agree that it sounds like a middle to me, more than a first. Now Paloma, that’s a different story – I love that name and it’s great up front! I actually quite like bird names, although not Robin – but Wren, Raven, and I was on a Lark kick for a while (which always met with a bark of laughter from my other half). I personally know a Kestral who is in his 30s and thought it was a fairly cool name (in the UK – and his brother is Falco, which in context seems one letter short of Falcon, but always makes me think of ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ instead). As for Bek’s British nannies – maybe it’s because it wouldn’t be unusual to use the similar sounding “Lovey” as a pet name (as well as Love, Poppet, and Pet) in the UK. Overall, Dove (*not* Dovey) is kind of growing on me a bit and would make a great middle name.
I see something appealing about Dove. I think, though, that it strikes me more as a pet name (not the doggy kind of pet, the baby/childish nickname kind of pet) than a given name. And for some reason I’m hearing British nannies in my head addressing a child as “Dovey”… not sure why, though.
I do like Dov, though, so that probably helps me see Dove as not too far out there…
All in all, not as appealing as Wren or Phoebe, but far more appealing than Emu or Penguin.
I think I like it. I don’t think Erik would ever let me do it. But in all honesty, it has a pleasing sound, and definitely is different from all the -a ending names I like: Nora, Clara, Lana,etc.
I knew someone whose name was spelt Dove but for some reason it was pronounced Dove-y. I was quite a young child at the time and tended to be extremely opinionated on names I’d never heard before — I thought the name was stupid and now I can’t quite shake those childish emotions. Also, when I see Dove I want to say “Dovey”. Dovesary, on the other hand, I find rather appealing.