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

There's a whole quarry of rocky names parents are now considering: Slate, Flint, etc. , but this one is particularly hard-edged and problematic.

If you like names that are not really names -- some say, the wave of the future -- Harbor has an attractive sound as well as an appealing meaning and image.

We've seen Haven take off as a nouveau girls' name; Harbor could follow in its wake.

Animal names are on the rise, especially more of the aggressive Hawk-Fox-Wolf variety than cute little Bunnys or Robins, and Hawk is a prime example.

The version with the e at the end relates to novelist Nathaniel, so that may be the one most parents attracted to this unusual name would choose. Hawthorn nudges it toward the nature category: Hawthorn is a type of hedge.

Heron may feel like a very usable nature name -- the heron is a long-legged wading bird -- but it was also the name of a 1st century Greek inventor and of an Egyptian saint. Highly unusual yet easy to understand and meaningful on several levels, Heron is a fantastic choice.

A fun and confident choice, Holiday is a celebratory name, particularly associated with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, and New Year, and with rest, leisure, and vacations more generally. Fitting for a winter baby, but totally sunny too, it comes from the Old English hāligdæg meaning "holy day" as it was originally used to mark religious festivals and celebrations.

A name with vision.

Musical choice that may be a short form of Jasmine or Jazlyn, or might stand on its own like this or as Jaz, the spelling used by tennis duo Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi.

Though this may be thought of as a short form of the legitimate name Jetta, that one's gone to the cars. This sounds more modern if a bit supersonic. In the Netherlands, it's in the Top 100, originating as a short form of -ette ending names such as Henriette and Mariette.

Jinx, a James Bond heroine name has an ominous meaning but kinetic energy. In the film "Die Another Day," the actual first name of the character played by Halle Berry is Giacinta. It could therefore be a playful nickname to Ginevra, Jessica, Genevieve, Gianna, Josephine, or Georgina, or a bold choice for those wanting some sparky and witchy.

With the likes of Wren and Lark highly fashionable right now, Kestrel could make for a fun — and fierce — alternative for either gender.

In one recent year there were 60 baby girls in the US named Lark....and only eight baby boys. But there's no reason this bird name can't also be masculine, especially given that Robin is making a comeback for boys and Sparrow is a notable starbaby boy (he's Nicole Richie and Joel Madden's son).

The nature boy version of the Scandinavian Leif, which actually means "heir". In the creative-naming Phoenix family, Leaf is the former name of the actor we know as Joaquin.

The longer Lucky has seen increased use in the US, with 100 babies given the offbeat word choice in a recent year. Now, succinct Luck, equally associated with good fortune, blessings, and chance is beginning to see quiet usage. Similar in sound to Luke and Mack, it was given to 5 boys in the latest count. It might be worth bearing in mind the unfortunate rhyme, however.

One of the fierce new animal names new to name lists, helped by its strong x-ending.

Mandolin may seem like an outlandish choice for a name, but since BANJO has been used as a baby name, all the instruments in the band seem to be auditioning for a place on birth certificates. This one comes with a real name nickname, MANDY.

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.