Rarely heard since the hippy-dippy sixties and seventies, names like Ocean and River are flowing back into favor, especially with nature lovers and green-oriented parents.

Forest Whitaker, an inspired child namer (his other kids are called Sonnet and True), has a son named Ocean Alexander.

Variations include Oceanus, the name of the child who was born during the voyage of the Mayflower, and Oceane, a wildly popular girls' name in France.