Updated October 2026
Across 2 pages
of 2
Latin from Greek
"person from ancient city of Sebastia, venerable"
With international flair and elegance, Sebastian is a saintly, Shakespearean and Disney-inspired choice: refined, classic-yet-unconventional, and totally in tune with other popular choices like…
English place-name
"Capital city of England"
The capital of England makes a solid and attractive twenty-first-century choice in the US where it is currently in the Top 1000. Given to nearly 1000 girls and 200 boys each year, it is a unisex…
Place-name
In the US, London is popular for both sexes, though as the name has risen for girls, it's levelled off for boys. Currently given to around 200 boys each year, it is nearly five times more popular for…
Place-name, Hebrew
"to guard, to keep"
Similar to but distinct from Samara, this pretty name was chosen for his daughter by rapper LL Cool J. It's the name of an ancient Palestinian city, located in present-day Jordan, and is associated…
Variation of Melchior or invented name
"king of light; city of the king"
Concise and cool, Kior is a modern, unisex choice, that could be considered a short form of the Biblical Melchior (or its Croatian form, Melkior), or an invented name, based on designer name Dior,…
English
"from the walled city"
This stuffy English surname and hotel name took on Twilight cool when attached to vampire Carlisle Cullen. Inspired by the character, it's more popular in this spelling than as Carlyle and more…
Latin, Phonecian
"city of Tyre; rock"
The full name of baseball great Ty Cobb and now the name of a popular board game, this name gained popularity due to its fashionable sounds – a combination of Tyrone and Cyrus. But it is also found…
Italian
"from the city of Gaeta"
The progenitor of the English name Guy, Gaetano has a lot more gusto.
Arabic, Old English
"city of the prophet; the middle one"
Medina commonly refers to a city in Saudi Arabia where the prophet Muhammad began his work to establish Islam. It is considered the second holiest city in Islamic tradition, and is also known as The…
Scottish
"from the city of Stirling"
Though the usual U.S. spelling is Sterling, this is the authentic Scottish family name version.
Greek
"lion of the new city"
Overly ambitious choice, recently borne by the hapless hero of cult movie hit Napoleon Dynamite.
Variation of Carlisle, English
Carlisle is more popular than Carlyle for both genders, and in both spellings more widely used for boys than for girls. It's a name we see on the rise in either spelling.
Latin
"of the city"
Urban was not an uncommon name through the 1930s (rising as high as Number 435), having been attached to several saints and early popes, but it has completely disappeared from the landscape--both…
French and Spanish, diminutive of Sebastien
"person from ancient city of Sebastia"
In this form, or as Sebastian or as Bas, Bastien is a fashionable Euro name with a possible future in America. There is a one-act comic opera by Mozart titled Bastien and Bastienne . An alternate…
Place name
"city of the ancient god Shalem"
Transferred from the geographical name, Jerusalem is a sacred city in many religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is given to around a dozen babies of each sex per year…
Carlisle may be a male name in Twilight (he's vampire hero Edward's adoptive father), but in the real baby naming world, it's used about a quarter of the time for girls. Unusual now, we think…
Variation of Jerusalem, Hebrew
Jerusalema is the name of a viral song released by Master KG, a South African DJ, in 2019. The #JerusalemaChallenge was an international sensation during Summer 2020, and in 2021, Jerusalema debuted…
Croatian variant of Melchior, Hebrew
The Croatian form of Melchior, the least familiar of the Three Wise Men's names in Christian tradition.
Modern Swedish variation of Melchior
"city of the king; king of light"
Melker, a modern phonetic spelling of ancient Three Wise Men name Melchior, is in the Swedish Top 100 though not used in the US, where it would be heard as "milker." Nickname Mel is not exactly a…