Film Noir Baby Names

It's interesting how names imported to the US from other countries and cultures have fashion cycles of their own. Paulette along with cousins Annette and Claudette were the most fashionable French imports in the middle of the last century, only to sink from sight and be replaced by such current French favorites as Charlotte, Sophie, and Eloise. In general, feminizations of male names have faded in favor of gender-neutral choices, and Paul itself is off its own fashion peak. But Paulette has the same vintage charm as names like Margot and Josephine that are very much a la mode. And far from being extinct, Paulette hits that sweet spot of names that are familiar but not over-used. It was given to about 130 baby girls in the US last year, on par with May, Avalon, Jolee, Liza, and Vivianne. This is three times as many baby girls as were named Paulette in 2000, so while the name may still lie well beneath the Top 1000, it's very much on the way up.

Gilly is a name that's popped up from time to time in different contexts: As a nickname for Gillian, for instance, and as the name of a town in Switzerland. But it's increasingly associated with Hannah Murray's character Gilly in HBO's Game of Thrones, whom Sam Tarly rescued from Craster's Keep.

Appealing short form of the stuffy Cleveland, occasionally used on its own.

More user-friendly, though less substantial, than Bartholomew.

A relatively common surname, Dixon would be an inventive way to honor an ancestral Richard or Dick, the X form a lot livelier than the Dickson spelling, just as Dix is a more modern short form than Dick; it would be right at home alongside Dax and Jax.

A unique international short form of Margaret.

Once a birth order name, now might work as a cool x-ending nickname. But be warned that it sounds very close to an unfortunate slang term.

Like Mitzi, the bubbly Fritzi/Fritzie shows signs of rising again,

A sweet and simple nature name that could also be short for the surname name Odell, the vintage name Della, or the obscure saint's name Endellion.

Pretty but slight.