Using density functional theory, we studied band structure, density of states, optical proper- ties and Mulliken population of the pure and SiN doped BaMgAl10017:Eu^2+ (BAM:Eu^2+) phosphors. Calculation results showed that the bands of BAM:Eu2+ were of low band energy dispersion, indicating large joint density of states, hence high performance of optical absorption and luminescence. BAM:Eu^2+ showed stronger absorption intensity while Eu^2+ occupied the BR sites instead of the mO sites. The concentration of Eu^2+ at BR sites increased while that at mO sites decreased after Si-N doping. The influence of the variation of Eu^2+ distribution on the spectra was stronger than the influence of the decrease of Eu^2+ PDOS when SiN concentration was lower than 0.25, therefore the absorption and luminescence intensity of BAM:Eu^2+ were enhanced. Mulliken population of Si-N bond was higher than A1-O bond, while that of Eu-N bond was higher than Eu-O bond as well, indicating that Si-N bonds and Eu-N bonds possessed higher covalence than Al-O bonds and Eu-N bonds respectively. The existence of Si-N bonds and Eu-N bonds enhanced the local covalence of Eu^2+, hence the optical stability of BAM:Eu^2+.