For several years now, word names have been singled out as being at the extreme edge of cool—we may have been guilty of pushing that edge ourselves at times.  But I’m starting to wonder if it’s time to pull back a little, and put the brakes on.  Celebrities have tried to outdo each other to sometimes eye-rolling effect in the effort to find a ‘unique’, attention-grabbing word name : I’m not naming names but I might mention a few words like zeppelin and pirate and peanut.

Of course there are word names and there are word names and probably the most acceptable and appealing are the centuries-old Virtue names created by the early and most zealous Pilgrims to display their righteous religiosity.  Though  such excessive male phrase-names as Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith and Fly-fornication are long gone, the simpler girl virtue names have not only survived but some are now downright trendy: Grace, Hope, Faith, and, more recently, Felicity, True and Honor.

Other worthy examples include:

AMITY

CHARITY

CLARITY

COMFORT

MERCY (more…)

Unusual baby names are becoming more and more, well, common these days. A mere one percent of babies are named Emma or Jacob, the most popular names, and only about ten percent are given one of the Top Ten names.  Compare that to a hundred years ago, when FIVE percent of babies were given the most popular names John or Mary, and 30 percent of boys and 20 percent of girls received one of the Top Ten Names.  For the first time, less than half of all babies get one of the Top 50 names.

And it’s not only American parents who are choosing unusual baby names.  Chinese parents, seeking individuality in a country with 1.3 billion people sharing only 129 surnames, are turning to unconventional combinations of letters, numbers and symbols for their children’s names.  One couple wanted to name their baby 1A while others use the @ symbol, pronounced “aita” and meaning “love him” in Chinese.

Many European countries restrict the pool of possible names, though many parents are testing the centuries-old boundaries.  But Belgium, with no such laws, over half of children receive such unique names as Testimony, Cherub, and Edelweiss.

If you’re considering giving your baby an unusual name, your biggest question may be: How will an unusual name affect my child for better and worse throughout his or her life?

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When Henry was chosen as the #1 favorite boy’s name on the collective 5-star lists of the nameberry community, I was somewhat surprised and yet somewhat not.  Because in many ways Henry is the perfect boy’s name—as classic and historic as James and John and William –yet with a quirkier edge that makes it seem modern, and even hip.

Henry has a lot going for it.  Let us count the ways:

HENRY IS POPULAR, WELL-LIKED, BUT NOT EPIDEMICALLY TRENDY.

At #78 on the Social Security list last year, Henry was given to fewer than 4,000 boys across the country.  It was much more commonly heard in the past, having been #10 in 1900, 12 in the 1910s, 18 in the twenties, 25 in the thirties, then dipping to a low of 146 in 1994, after which it started its edge back up.

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If the letter ‘Q’ was a TV performer, it would get a very high Q-rating, if only for its quirky charm. Babies with names beginning with the least used letter of the alphabet can automatically claim a unique, attention-grabbing initial which they’ll have to share with very few others, and the same will probably be true of their name as well.

The original, core group of Q names stems from the Latin Quintus, which means fifth. Quintus has a considerable literary history: Quintus Ennius was one of the earliest Roman poets, Quintus was the name of Titus’s son in Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, and Quintus Slide was a comical character in Anthony Trollope’s Palliser novels. It could fit right in with other trendy ancient Roman names, like Atticus and Augustus. Descendants and offshoots of Quintus include Quinton, Quintin, Quentin, and Quincy, Quina, Quintina and Quintana.

Quentin is, along with Quincy and Quinn, the most widely used. The name of a 5th century martyred saint (namesake of the San Francisco prison) who–this could come in handy–is the saint said to protect against coughs. The popularity of Sir Walter Scott’s 1823 novel Quentin Durward was largely responsible for spreading the name across Scotland and England. In modern literature we have William Faulkner’s Quentin Compson and the niece who is named after him in The Sound and the Fury. In addition, there are Theodore Roosevelt’s aviator son Quentin, and the somewhat outrageous Quentins Crisp and Tarentino.

Quincy has gone from prissy to cool, due in great part to the hip persona of musician Quincy Jones. It’s also historically linked to our sixth president, John Quincy Adams whose middle name came either from the Massachusetts township where he was born or was after his father’s close friend, Revolutionary patriot Josiah Quincy. The Q name with the highest Q quotient.

Here are some others:

Qamar and Qiturah are typical of the Arabic names where the Q is not followed by the letter U.
Quade is a multi-cultural name with Latin, German and Irish Gaelic ties.
Quain, a French name meaning quick and clever.
Quanah, a Native American Comanche name meaning sweet-smelling.
Quandra, Quella, Quenby, and Quintina, some distinctive Q names for girls
Quark, a sci-fi name attached to a Star Trek Deep Six 9 series.
Quarry, a modern word name, strong as stone.
Quebec, Quito and Quintana, two attractive place names. Quebec was also a minor character in Dickens’ Bleak House.
Queenie, a sassy showgirl name, recently nominated for an Oscar via Victoria during that monarch’s long reign.
Querida, a Spanish name meaning beloved.
Quest and Quince, two contemporary word names.
Quico, a Spanish nickname name for Enrique and Francisco.
Quilla, the name of the Inca mythological goddess of the moon
Quillan, Quillon, Quinton, Irish surname names
Quinn, the most user-friendly unisex name of the group, meaning intelligent.

When we think of Scandinavian names, what usually comes to mind are the familiar and accessible ones that have been imported from Norway, Denmark and Sweden, like Eric and Ingrid and Lars and Dagmar.  But Finnish names, while still Scandinavian, are a world unto themselves, loaded with double vowels (and sometimes consonants) and tricky accents and pronunciations.  Yet  though this nomenclature includes clunkers like Hongatar and Kiputytto, there are many others that have a unique and quirky charm all their own.  I remember that when we were researching the foreign variations of names for The Baby Name Bible, I always kind of looked forward to seeing what the Finnish take would be on a classic–like Viljo for William, Maiju for Mary.

One reason for the sparse representation of Finnish names here is the small number of Finnish-Americans in the US.  There are currently about 700,000 people of that ethnicity, which is only 0.2% of the population.  Nor have many celebrities publicized Finnish names–there has never been a Finnish movie star equivalent of Ingrid Bergman, for example–the only Finnish names people might recognize are Esa-Pekka Salonen, the contemporary classical conductor, or perhaps father-and-son architects Eliel and Eero Saarinen.

Another element that sets these names apart comes from the fact that the Finnish language is very different from that of the other Scandinavian countries, with their Norse roots; Finnish has more in common with Hungarian, Estonian, Turkish and the languages spoken in the Asian part of Russia.  But–for you vowel lovers– double vowels are its most distinctive feature.  Pronunciation can be a little tricky, but here are some simple rules: A is pronounced as in arm, E as in egg, I as in it, O as in on, U as in pull,  J=Y, and W=V.

So, while the current most popular names in Finland are quite international in flavor–Maria, Olivia, Sofia, Amanda, Matilda, and Julia are all in the Top 10–here are some more traiditional choices that would be usable but still highly distinctive here:

GIRLS

AAMU

AIJA

AILA

AILI

ALIISA

ANNELI

ARJA

EEVA (EH-vuh)

HELEENA

KAIJA

KIELO

KIIRA

LIISI

LILJA (LEEL-yah)

MAIJA (MIGH-yah)

MIRJA (MEER-yah)

NEA

PIIA/ RIIA/TIIA

SAARA

VEERA

BOYS

AARNE

AARO

ARTO

ARVI

EERO

EETU

HANNU

JAAKO

JALO

JARI

JOONAS

JUHO

JUSSI

KARI

KAARLO

LEEVI

MIKKO

NILO/NIILO

PAAVO

RAIMO