Some months back, we ran a blog about the names of rivers in Western Europe, and we promised to follow it up with one on English and Irish waterways. Well here, at last, it is.

The landscapes of the British Isles and Ireland are traversed by rivers, some as long as the Thames and the river Shannon, some flowing across national borders, from England to Scotland or Wales, while others are much smaller streams.
Not surprisingly, most of these names are less lyrical than the French and Italian examples, more simple and straightforward. A sizable number of them already exist as people names—Amber, Tamar, Perry, Douglas –while the rest are possible crossovers. Of these, some sound decidedly masculine (Dart, Dewey), while others could conceivably be used for girls.
ALLUN
ALYN
ANNAN
AVERON
AYR
BEAULY
CASSLEY
CONON
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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.