In what is fast becoming a nameberry tradition, we turn our attention to names of the new season.  If you’re expecting a fall baby, these choices might inspire you.

AUTUMN — Autumn is ironically the hottest season name, the only one in the Top 100 where it’s maintained its status for over a decade now.  The name Autumn first entered the U.S. Top 1000 in 1969, inspired by the hippie nature names and word names.  While it’s still attractive, however, it’s hardly fresh.

Names from other cultures that provide a newer route to Autumn include the Japanese girls’ names Aki and Akiko, the Turkish girls’ name Hazan, the Vietnamese Thu, and, in Chinese, Qiu for either girls or boys.

Fall month names are not quite as usable as those of the other seasons.

SEPTEMBER – Why are March, May, August and even January hot while September (along with October, November, and December) is not?  Maybe there’s something chilly about that “ber” ending.  Still, this has an attractive sound and is certainly unusual.  The Latin Septimus, which means “seventh son,” sounds a bit Harry Potter and is perhaps too redolent of things septic.  But Seven (lets forget that September is the ninth month, since we still have November to deal with) has potential.

OCTOBER – An equally unusual month name that gets an extra helping of cool from hipster writers Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, who chose it for their daughter.  Perhaps more attractive are the Latin pair Octavius and especially Octavia, both of which mean (as does October) “eighth.”  Other Octavius and Octavia variations you might consider: Octavian, Octaviana, Octavienne, the Italian Ottavio or Ottavia, or the nicknames Tavy or Tavia.

NOVEMBER – Certainly as usable as September and October, which is to say, not very unless you’re extremely adventurous.

Nature names that summon up an image of fall include tree names, particularly:

ASH (any of the Ash names – Asher, Ashley – relate)

BIRCH

BRANCH

CEDAR

FORREST

(more…)

Most of us, as kids, lived in a world colored by crayons, and for those of us fascinated by words and names, those assigned to the different hues in the big 64-crayon Crayola box were particularly evocative.  I can still remember, as a little girl,  being intrigued by such mysterious names as Burnt Sienna and Raw Umber.

These memories were reawakened by a communique from our inspired creative contributor Nephele, when she wrote:

“Perhaps one of the fondest childhood memories shared by many of us is that of opening up a fresh box of crayons.  What a joy to the senses it was to experience that clean scent of wax and the beautiful sight of those colorful rows of pointed tips awaiting one’s creative process.  Adding to the delight was the fact that one’s crayons bore wonderful individual names on their wrappers, such as “Periwinkle” and “Cadet Blue.”  With such names, how could a child not help but personify her crayon friends?

‘Crayola’ was synonymous with ‘crayon’  in my childhood days, as it pretty much is today.  The bonus for today’s children is that the Crayola company now includes, along with English, both French and Spanish language versions of their crayon names on the wrappers of each crayon–providing even more name choices for one’s crayon companions!”

Here is Nephele’s list of crayon names which might also make pleasing names, with a few additions by Nameberry:

ALMENDRA (Spanish, “Almond“)

CERISE

CERULEAN

FERN

FUCHSIA (more…)

Maybe there are certain kinds of names that you really like–flower or color names, say, or virtue names– but you’re reluctant to use one of the more obvious examples, the epidemically popular ones, attractive though they may be.  Well, there’s no reason you have to limit yourself to those few; more and more parents are digging deeper into those appealing categories and coming up with  newer sounding choices.

Take flower names. If you want to move beyond Rose, Daisy, Lily and even Poppy and Violet, you might consider these more exotic blooms that are beginning to come into their own:

AMARYLLIS

ASTER

AZALEA

HYACINTH

IRIS (not exotic, but long neglected)

JONQUIL

LILAC

LOTUS

MARIGOLD

PRIMROSE

TULIP

Similarly with gems–Ruby, Crystal and Jade aren’t the only jewels in the case.  Consider:

AMETHYST

EMERALD

OPAL

PEARL

SAPPHIRE

TOPAZ

TURQUOISE 

And speaking of Turquoise, there are also some richly hued colors beyond Scarlet and Siena: (more…)

If poets and songwriters can draw inspiration from springtime, why not baby namers?  The fresh, green, uplifting season offers plenty of ideas.  There are the names of the season itself and its months, for starters:

SPRING – The mid-century actress Spring Byington, who played the grandma on a television show of my youth, was one of my early influences in the world of baby naming.  I’d never heard of anybody named Spring, but the whole idea was intriguing.  If you could name a baby Spring, why not….well, just about anything else?  Still an unusual, sprightly choice, and a lot more acceptable now than it was in the 1960s.

MARCH, APRIL, and MAY – May (or Mae, or Mai for that matter) is definitely the most fashionable of these choices, lovely as a first name or a middle.  March is the only one of the three that might work for boys, and makes an adventurous first for girls.  April (or Avril or Abril) feels a bit tired.

Original names from around the world that mean spring:

BAHAAR – Hindi, for girls
CAROUN – Armenian, for girls
CERELIA – of Latin origin, for girls
GEN – Japanese girls’ choice
HARUKI – Japanese for boys; Haruki Murakami is a wonderful novelist
JAREK – Slavic boys name that can stand alone or be a diminutive for any name that starts with Jar-
KELDA – Girls’ name with Norse origins
PRIMAVERA – Italian, for girls
RABIAH – Arabic girls’ name
VASANT – Sanskrit boys’ name
VERNA — another Latin girls’ choice.

Another possibility for a spring baby is names that mean new:

NAVIN – A Hindi name for boy
NEO – The name of Keanu Reeves’ Matrix character is used for boys and girl
NEVILLE – Stuffy French boys’ name jazzed up by Neville Brothers
NEWLAND or NEWLYN – Boys’ name Newland is most famous as the protagonist of Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence; Newlyn is a forward-looking girls’ version
NOUVEL – Shiloh Pitt’s middle name, for a French architect, can work for girls or boys
SIGNE or SIGNY – This Scandinavian girls’ name means “new victory”
XAVIER et al – This newly-hip Basque name meaning “new house” is Javier in Spanish and, for girls, Xaviera or Javiera.
ZELENKA – Czech girls’ name that means fresh and innocent

Green is another inspiration for spring baby names.  Among the names that mean or connote green, most for girls:

BERYL – Old-fashioned pale green gemstone name that’s beginning to enjoy some fresh life itself.  Berilo is the attractive Spanish male version.
CHLOE – Name meaning “young green shoot” that’s tops throughout the UK and Europe and is rising in the US as well.
EMERALD – Ultimate green gem name
JADE – Stylish and edgy choice that hasn’t really lost its gleam
MIDORI – The name of both a Japanese violinist and a green liqueur
PERIDOT – Another green gem name, for the adventurous
PHYLLIDA or PHYLLIS – Names that mean “green bough,” with Phyllida way out in front in the style race.
VERDE or VERDI – Could work for either boys or girls

Since we’ve done a lot on flower and spring nature names recently, we won’t walk the garden path again, beyond saying that names such as DAFFODIL and TULIP certainly connote spring.