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.

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND AND WALES

AERON

AFTON

AIRE

ALLUN

ALYN

AMBER

ANNAN

ANTON

ARROW

ARUN

ASH

AVERON

AVON

AYR

BEAL

BEAULY

BOYD

CALDER

CARY

CASSLEY

CLYDE

COLE

CONNOR

CONON

CRANE

DANE

DART (more…)

Now that just about every flower in the garden has been dug up and used by baby namers for at least a century, maybe it’s time to look beyond to their more imposing cousins. There’s a very big difference between the two:  Where most floral names are frilly and feminine, many, if not most, arboreal names are strong, sturdy, and much more  masculine.

The forest is  fairly unexplored territory; with the exception of a few names like Hazel, Olive and Willow, most of the standard tree names are just waiting to be discovered.  Here are some possibilities:

NAMES OF TREES

SUITABLE FOR GIRLS

ACACIA
APPLE
ASPEN
BAY
CASSIA
CHERRY
CINNAMON
CITRON
EBONY
HAZEL
HOLLY
JACARANDA
JUNIPER
LAUREL
LINDEN
MAGNOLIA (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…)