Names from Nature - Short & Sweet

Plant, Animal & Other Nature Names.
  1. Rowan
    • Origin:

      Scottish and Irish
    • Meaning:

      "rowan tree; little redhead"
    • Description:

      With its gentle sounds and earthy vibes, the name Rowan feels like a fusion of different styles. A word name, a surname, and a gender-neutral name, Rowan is rustic but trendy, blending the vibes of both Owen and Oakley.
  2. Iris
    • Origin:

      Flower name; Greek
    • Meaning:

      "rainbow"
    • Description:

      Iris has so much going for it. It's a fashionable flower name. It's a mythological name, from the Greek goddess of the rainbow. And it's a classic name, always ranking in the girls' Top 1000 but now at its highest point ever.
  3. Ruby
    • Origin:

      Latin
    • Meaning:

      "deep red precious stone"
    • Description:

      Vibrant, sassy, and bubbly, Ruby is a vintage gem that hasn't lost any of its sparkle. Currently popular in a number of English-speaking countries, Ruby is proof of the 100 Year Rule, trending again for the first time since its heyday in the 1910s.
  4. Ivy
    • Origin:

      Botanical name
    • Description:

      The quirky, offbeat and energetic botanical name Ivy is enjoying a deserved revival, propelled even higher by its choice by high-profile parents Beyonce and Jay-Z for daughter Blue Ivy. Ivy is also traditionally used at Christmas, make this one of the perfect names for December babies.
  5. River
    • Origin:

      Nature name
    • Description:

      River shares the tranquil feeling of all the water names, and seems to have pretty much escaped its past strong association with River Phoenix and his unfortunate fate. Actor Joaquin Phoenix named his son with actress Rooney Mara after his brother River.
  6. Zephyr
    • Origin:

      Greek
    • Meaning:

      "west wind"
    • Description:

      If you're looking for a name that's light and breezy, this could be it. A name from mythology: Zephyrus/Zephyr was the Greek god of the west wind, and with its similarity in sound to the likes of Stefan or Seth, its zippy Z initial and cool Y, it is primed to rise up the US charts.
  7. Birdie
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "bird"
    • Description:

      Birdie was until recently a middle-aged Ladies' Club member wearing a bird-decorated hat --but now it's just the kind of vintage nickname (think Hattie, Josie, Mamie, Millie) that's coming back into style in a big way. Actress Busy Philipps named her baby Birdie (inspired by First Lady Lady Bird Johnson), as did soap star Maura West.
  8. Clover
    • Origin:

      Flower name, from Old English
    • Meaning:

      "key"
    • Description:

      Clover is a charming, perky choice if you want to move beyond hothouse blooms like Rose and Lily, and it's recently become a new celeb favorite, chosen by both Neal McDonough and Natasha Gregson Wagner, who used it to honor her mother, Natalie Wood, one of whose most iconic films was Inside Daisy Clover.
  9. Robin
    • Origin:

      Bird name; or English, diminutive of Robert
    • Meaning:

      "bright fame"
    • Description:

      Now that it's no longer fashionable for girls, Robin is rising for boys again. Robin Hood, Robin Williams, Christopher Robin, and Robin the Boy Wonder are all male namesakes, after all. It reentered the US Top 1000 boys names in 2015 for the first time since 1999 and continues to bounce around the lower end of the Top 1000.
  10. Olive
    • Origin:

      English, from Latin, nature name
    • Meaning:

      "olive tree"
    • Description:

      Though greatly overshadowed by the trendy Olivia, Olive has a quiet, subtle appeal of its own -- and is now enjoying a remarkable comeback. Olive is one of only four girl names starting with O on the US Top 1000. Cool couple Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen chose it for their daughter, reviving the name to stylishness, and now Drew Barrymore has a little Olive too, as has country singer Jake Owen.
  11. Briar
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "a thorny patch"
    • Description:

      Fairy-tale memories of Sleeping Beauty inspire some parents—such as Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen—to call their daughters Briar Rose. But Briar plus a different middle name might work even better. It's one of the newly popular nature-word names, charting in the US for the first time in 2015 for both genders.
  12. Sage
    • Origin:

      English botanical name and Latin
    • Meaning:

      "wise and knowing"
    • Description:

      A modern, multifaceted name, Sage is short, sweet, and strong. A unisex possibility, it is also a virtuous word name associated with wisdom, and a nature name linked to a fragrant herb.
  13. Fern
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "plant name"
    • Description:

      Of all the botanicals, Fern has been one of the slowest to move back from the front parlor into the nursery, despite the appealing girl character in the children's classic Charlotte's Web. Fern was most popular from the turn of the last century through the 1940s, reaching a high of #152 in 1916. We can certainly see her rejoining the long list of popular greenery names.
  14. Maple
    • Origin:

      English tree name from Latin
    • Meaning:

      "maple tree; tree of the Acer genus"
    • Description:

      Maple is one of those sweet-spot word names that sounds so almost name-like that it doesn't feel outlandish or strange, despite its relative newness as a given name. Just as Juniper is adjacent to June or Pippa, Clover like Chloe or Clara and Ember like Emma or Ebba, Maple is enough like Mabel, Maisie and Mae that it blends in well and has a touch of borrowed vintage charm.
  15. Meadow
    • Origin:

      Nature name
    • Description:

      Meadow's upward popularity trajectory certainly suggests that the name has transcended its connection to The Sopranos.. In the US, more than 750 baby girls were named Meadow last year, a number we expect to keep rising.
  16. Dove
    • Origin:

      Nature name
    • Meaning:

      "dove, a bird"
    • Description:

      One of the new bird names, like Lark and Wren, this one's associated with the billing and cooing sounds of love. Soft and gentle, Dove also has the admirable association with peace.
  17. Acacia
    • Origin:

      Greek
    • Meaning:

      "thorny"
    • Description:

      Acacia is an attractive, rarely used Greek flower name enhanced by its popular beginning-and-ending-with 'a'-construct, and is gradually beginning to catch on as a new member of the stylish girl names starting with A.
  18. Lark
    • Origin:

      English bird name
    • Description:

      Lark is getting some new and well-deserved attention as a post-Robin and Raven bird name. Although it was first recorded as a name in the 1830's, it has never appeared on the Social Security list.
  19. Wolf
    • Origin:

      Animal name or diminutive of Wolfgang, German
    • Meaning:

      " traveling wolf"
    • Description:

      Wolf is a name with a split personality. It can be seen as one of the fierce animal names, like Fox and Bear and Puma, with a touch of the werewolf, or it can be viewed as a quieter, Wolf Blitzer kind of name, fairly common in German (where is pronounced Vulf) and Jewish families, sometimes as a short form of Wolfgang, or even Wolfram or Wolfhart.
  20. Cedar
    • Origin:

      English and French from Latin tree name
    • Meaning:

      "cedar tree"
    • Description:

      Cedar is, like Ash, Oak, Pine and Ebony, one of the new tree/wood names that parents are starting to consider; this one is particularly aromatic with a similar feel to more classic options like Cedric, Edgar, Reed, and Sawyer.

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