This week, Appellation Mountain‘s Abby Sandel checks the labels on designer kids’ clothes and finds some stylish, sassy name options.

Every year a few kids are named after high-end designers, like Armani and Chanel.  Despite their luxury brand status, the names tend to feel a little forced.  Chances are that a kid destined to graduate from a Dior couture layette to Gucci toddler gear would never wear a name so obvious.

But your kid’s closet or the racks at the local baby boutique could serve as inspiration for a baby name.  Designers aplenty have launched pint-sized versions of their runway-worthy duds.  Equally intriguing are the names of the many labels launched to help us dress our kids in the latest fashions.

Ever since Elisabeth started writing her style column, I’ve been thinking: yes, the stuff is great.  But aren’t those names equally worthy of attention?

GIRLS

AGATHA

ANAIS

ELIANE

FLORENCE

IRIS – Iris + Ivy is another irresistible pair that could work as well for siblings as it does for a clothing line

IVY

HANNA – Hanna Anderson has been bringing Scandinavian style to the states for years.

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Maybe contemplating the name Rufus sparked my revelation.  Or it might have hit me when I encountered an Otis.  Whatever the inspiration, I suddenly realized that my most-loved boys’ names end in the letter s.  Yep, almost all of them.

Amias?  One of my all-time underappreciated favorites.

Amadeus and Miles?  Music to my ears.

Augustus, Octavius, Cassius, and Aurelius? Love, love, love, and love.

What is it about s-ending names that hold such appeal?

It’s true, I prefer their soft, sybillant ending to the harder –er ending that’s so popular right now for boys’ names.  Besides being more gentle, it feels a bit more surprising, intrinsically distinctive.

Many of my favorite classic boys’ names end in s: Thomas, James, Louis, Charles, and Nicholas.  And trendier choices of decades past, from Chris and Curtis to Dennis and Douglas to Ross and Russ to Jess and Wes, helped whet the overall appetite for s-ending names.

Some of the names that end in s are fairly fashionable today.  These include:

• Atticus
• Dallas
• Elias (my favorite of all the male El- names)

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Go straight to lists of unusual names and unique names.

When I looked at the boys’ names just below the Top 1000, I was surprised that I was less surprised than I was when I surveyed the girls’ selections. There are a handful of attractive, stylish names here that I would have sworn were among the Top 1000 — most notably Theo, Gus, Finnian, and Dashiell — but many more that simply feel in tune with their more popular brothers.

As with the girls’ names, I’ve starred those I think are headed for greater popularity. But the more important point is that, if you’re searching for a name that is fashionable yet not epidemic, any of these would be perfect choices.

All of these names were given to at least 100 boys but fewer than 200 boys last year.  For the complete boys’ master list, with actual numbers for all names, go here.

• 1002. Edison* (that’s the great inventor and worthy namesake in the picture)
• 1005. Ulysses
• 1025. Simeon
• 1028. Taj
• 1029. Thaddeus
• 1035. Theo* (shocked!)

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