Names to ponder because life

A multicultural name, that's currently on style and fits right in with Kaia, Maya, Raya, and Mia. Currently in the Top 500 in both the UK and The Netherlands, it has several different origins and meanings.

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.

Sawyer is one of the top unisex names, used for their daughters by such parents as Sara Gilbert, co-host of The Talk and former actress on Roseanne, currently on The Conners.

Justine is a French name that's never reached the popularity we think it deserves. Like its far-more-common brother Justin, Justine is sleek, and sophisticated, but still user-friendly.

Wilson is a substantive presidential choice far less prevalent than Taylor or Tyler, and with the advantage of being a new route to friendly nickname Will. We see Wilson growing in popularity as an alternative to William; and as a patronymic, it would make a conceivable (if possibly confusing) choice for a son of William.

Among the coolest of the cool color names, particularly popular with celebs as a unisex middle name. While most famous as the name of Beyonce and Jay-Z's daughter Blue Ivy, more than 60 percent of the babies named Blue are boys.

Makes the jaunty Remy a little more nicknamey and feminine. Remi is on the rise for both girls and boys, having entered the Top 1000 for boys in 2019.

Fig was the unlikely name of a beautiful character in Curtis Sittenfeld's Man of My Dreams. Better bets: Plum, Quince, or even Apple. Still, you might consider Fig as an unusual nickname for any more formal F-starting name, from Frances to Fiona.

Updates Allison—which everyone will misunderstand it as. But it's definitely a fresh spin on the Ellie names, and a rising surname name choice for girls.

Originally a unisex nickname for a redhead -- red hair is called "ginger" in Britain -- or for the name Virginia, Ginger perennially wears pink gingham and spike heels.

Blue suddenly came into the spotlight, as the unusual color name chosen by Beyonce and Jay-Z for their baby girl Blue Ivy. Blue is also a starbaby middle name du jour, used for both sexes in different spellings and forms, from John Travolta and Kelly Preston's Ella Bleu to Alicia Silverstone's Bear Blu. Dave 'The Edge' Evans named his daughter Blue Angel back in 1989.

An undiscovered surname possibility with upscale overtones, could be enlivened with nickname Ingo.

Updates Ellis -- but also has a lot of feminine potential thanks to Allison/Ellie similarity.

Midcentury Irish-American favorite, never used in Ireland itself, being the generic word for "girl"; rarely given today.

Sweet, modern descriptive name, but perhaps a little too cute for its own good.

This variation is actually more popular in the United States than the original Spanish Reina.

Glimmer is shimmery but a little too showy, as is Glitter, a character on a TV sitcom-- while Glimmer appears in The Hunger Games.

The familiar Irish city and bay is one place-name that seems distinctly masculine.