The jazzy, ultra-cool Dexter, like most names wih xs, has a lot of energy and sex appeal. Over the years, it's been attached to a number of diverse real and fictional personalities--C. K. Dexter Haven, the witty Cary Grant character in "The Philadelphia Story," Dexter Green, the protagonist of the Scott Fitzgerald story Winter Dreams, great jazz tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon and--oops--the current TV Dexter, who just happens to be a genial but sociopathic serial killer.

Dexter was chosen by hip musical couple Diana Krall and Elvis Costello for one of their twin boys, and by singer Charlotte Church.

Dexter has been climbing up the pop ladder, jumping 70 places in the past year, to reach Number 384. It is also in the Top 100 in the UK.

Dex is an equally appealing nickname, now sometimes used on its own.