Nature, Place and Word Names
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 4 pages
of 4
Animal name
One of the fierce new animal names new to name lists, helped by its strong x-ending.
Native American
"great land"
State name Alaska stems from an Aleutian word for the land mass itself. The number of baby girls named Alaska has doubled in the past five years, and is sure to continue increasing as more place…
Anglicized spelling of Irish Niamh or Italian and Portuguese
"snow"
Introduced to the American public by actress Neve Campbell; it was her Dutch-born mother's maiden name. Neve is an interesting and fresh new possibility, one which Conan O'Brien chose for his…
English word name
" a metallic chemical element with atomic number 47"
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.
Nature name
Though some forward-looking parents are now choosing wood-related names like Oak, Pine, and Ash, this generic option would be even more avant garde.
Place-name and Native American
"the great one"
Alaska's Denali National Park is the home of the highest mountain in the US, officially renamed Denali in 2014, endowing the name with a lofty feel. There were 20 boys and 55 girls given the name in…
Alutiiq, Native American
"island"
It's a bear, it's an island, it's (almost) a camera. It's starting to catch some parents' eyes as a wild, adventurous name. The largest proportion of boys named Kodiak is in Washington State.
There's definitely a cold front of names for winter babies moving in, with Summer, Spring and Autumn giving way to Winter--plus North, January, Frost--and Snow. This name feels brisk, fresh, pure,…
Latin
"elevated, high"
Familiar in the 19th- and early 20th-centuries, Alta is little heard today, but it does have that four letter, A-a formula of Alma, Alba, Anna, Ayla, and Anya. Derived from the Latin altus , it has…
"little female bear"
A saint's name with a noteworthy literary background, including uses by Shakespeare in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Much Ado About Nothing , by Ben Johnson, Walter Scott, Longfellow, D. H. Lawrence…
Finnish place name; Japanese
"loaded with rice"
A unisex cultural crossover that has seen a little use from the 1990s onwards. In Japanese mythology, Inari is an androgynous deity associated with rice, tea and foxes. In Finland, it is the name of…
This shimmery Age of Aquarius unisex flower child name is making a comeback, along with metal and gem names like Steel, Jade, and Ruby.
English
"descendant of Moses"
This evocative green nature name, heard much more frequently as a surname, is associated with playwright Moss Hart (born Robert), who co-wrote (with George S. Kaufman) such enduring Broadway comedies…
French
"northerner"
Somehow more modern and likable than Morris or Doris.
English word name; Japanese
Taiga has two origins. As a word name derived from Turkic languages via Russian, it refers to the snow forest of the Arctic regions, making it an evocative nature name. It is also a unisex Japanese…
Icelandic
"iceberg"
Visually similar to Jack and Jacob, but with a refreshing Nordic origin and literally ice-cool meaning.
"always green"
This offbeat botanical name boasts the trendy Ever sound and a cool wintery vibe. Evergreen was only given to a handful of baby girls in recent years, but would work just as well for a boy.
"snowshoe, ski"
Similar to Andrew, but with a refreshingly different origin and meaning, Andri is a charming Icelandic name, derived from an old word for "ski", "skier", or "snowshoe", making it a wonderfully,…
Word name
North's image and gender status was irrevocably changed when Kim Kardashian and Kanye West announced it as the name of their newborn daughter. But why not? West is firmly established as a name,…
Short form of Ursula, Latin
Ursa might be a good choice if you're looking for a bear name for your daughter but want to avoid the She Witch curse placed on Ursula by Disney's The Little Mermaid . Too bad, because Ursula is a…
