Wonderful Word Names for Babies

"Saturday Night Live" cast member Finesse Mitchell often mocks his own and similar names when portraying the character Starkeisha on the show.

Among the first wave of word names used in the hippie era, it actually is a legitimate girl's name with a lot of luster.

All-inclusive word name.

A modern virtue name, particularly desirable in this pressure-cooker world.

Like Silver, a shimmering metallic color name, that may lean too dazzling for some, but more grounded for others, thanks to its similarity of Alden, Auden, Elden and Gordon. Given to 100 babies in a recent year, Golden is currently a gender neutral choice.

No low self-esteem for this kid, or so his parents hope.

If you live in a state where marijuana is legal (or maybe even if you don't), you might know that Sativa is one of the major strains of weed.

Anyone who's seen "The Book of Mormon" or visited Utah knows this as the title taken by male Mormon missionaries during their term of service. We'd advise anyone who lives somewhere with any significant Mormon population to avoid it for that reason.

Did you really mean to name your child Channel, as in the body of water? Like, you know, the English Channel? Or were you going for the last name of the French designer Chanel, with a soft "sh" sound at the beginning and the emphasis on the last syllable? If so, we recommend sticking with the Chanel spelling.

Wildly optimistic -- and unrealistic -- choice.

Worthy sibling for Oak, Elm, Juniper, and Spruce.

Ax makes a somewhat threatening short form of the popular Axel, given to more than 3000 baby boys last year. It can also be used on its own, though it usually isn't. There were, however, seven baby boys named Axe in the US in 2015.

Starr today is more fashionably the plain-spoken Star or the more obscured Stella, Esther, or Estella.

I'm sure the parents of the six little girls named Sundae in the US last year were thinking, "well, if Nicole Kidman can use Sunday..." In this case, we think the day of the week spelling is preferable to the dessert spelling.

Calm, straightforward, patrician sounding: Pace is one new-style name that's well-grounded.

Sympathetic new twist on a Puritan virtue name.

Just like Flora is for botanicals, Jewel is the generic gemstone name, not used much since the early twentieth century, when it was seen as a symbol of how precious a daughter could be. The French version, Bijou, feels more modern, as do Pearl and Ruby.

Although this month name was used only for girls in a recent year, there's no reason it can't work for both genders. For a holiday baby, more original than Noel and more universal than Christmas.

Mason with a French accent. It first entered the US Top 1000 in 2012, and it will likely hang on for as long as its brother-in-spelling-variations, Mayson.

Rein, along with Reign, have taken over from Rain as a trendy word name. Should you rein it in or let it rein? Okay, bad puns we know, but that's the downside of word names. This is a true unisex name, given to 15 girls and 12 boys in the US in one recent year.