There’s no doubt that middle names have been taking on increasing  importance in the hearts and minds of  baby namers.  They’ve stepped up from the inconsequential connectives –especially for girls–of a generation or two ago to full co-starring roles on the birth certificate.  For many, it’s a welcome opportunity to honor a family member, preserve a maiden name, or use as a solid alternative for their child to possibly choose to use later on.

But for others, it’s place to be whimsical, to salute a creative hero, to use a favorite word or nature name they wouldn’t dare to put in first place.  For examples of how this works, we need only to look to the stars, those beacons of extreme–if not bizarre– baby naming.  So here are some nature, namesake, word and lovey-dovey endearment middle names they have used, followed by the name of the celebrity parent who chose it and their child’s first name:

NATURE NAMES

BEAR  (Anthony Kiedis’s Everly)

CRICKET  (Amy Locane’s Paige)

HUCKLEBERRY  (Kimberly Williams & Brad Paisley’s William)

PINE  (Simon Le Bon’s Tallulah)

PLUM  (Moon Unit Zappa’s Matilda)

RAIN  (Brooke Burke & David Charvet’s Heaven)

RAINBOW  (Jamie Oliver’s Petal Blossom)

TULIP  (Rebecca Romijn & Jerry O’Connell’s Charlie Tamara)

NAMESAKES–real and fictional

COLTRANE  (Natascha McElhone’s Rex)

HENDRIX  (Donnie Wahlberg’s Elijah)

ICARUS  (Lucy Sykes’ Titus Jasper)

KAFKA  (Tommy Lee Jones‘ Victoria)

KIPLING  (Kim Raver’s Leo)

MADONNA  (Geri Halliwell’s Bluebell)

MARS  (Sofia Coppola’s Romy)

MOWGLI  (Ashlee Simpson & Pete Wentz’s Bronx)

ZHIVAGO  (Nia Long’s Massai) (more…)

Rockers Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz had a baby boy late last night and named him Bronx Mowgli.

Bronx is, of course, the name of a down-at-the-heels New York borough, nowhere near as fashionable — as a baby name or a place — as Brooklyn.  Usually called “The Bronx,” it’s named after early Dutch settler Jonas Bronck.

Qualifications as a celebrity baby name: It’s unusual, unexpected, New York-oriented, and it ends with the hipster brand X.  And it’s sure to get talked about — a lot.

Brooklyn and now Bronx aren’t the only New York place names turned baby names either: We’ve got a whole list of New York baby names to choose from.  Astoria, Gramercy, Tribeca, anyone?

Baby Bronx’s middle name is Mowgli, after the boy raised by wolves in Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book stories.  Kipling invented the name, which does not, he informed everyone who believed otherwise, mean “frog.”

Little Bronx Wentz (say that ten times fast) is sure to have plenty of compatible celebrity baby friends.  Brooklyn Beckham, definitely, son of Posh Spice and David.  Alabama Jennings, daughter of Shooter and Drea deMatteo, and Kingston Rossdale, son of Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale.  And the two Hudsons, son of James Barbour and daughter of Gena Lee Nolin.