Names That Mean Industrious

Many vowel names stylish a century ago are coming back, and Ida seems like a possible, logical successor to Ada and Ava.

The superpopularity of Emily and Emma has recently boosted the unisex Emery, especially since it became a celebrity baby name when it was chosen by Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn.

Emery is one of the newly popular Em- names that has great potential, though right now for girls more than boys: it received a boost in 2009, a year after Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn used it for one of their daughters.

Amory is the kind of executive-sounding surname name that became popular in the 1990s. Amory Blaine is the protagonist of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, This Side of Paradise.

Amory is best known for the hero of Fitzgerald's 1920 This Side of Paradise, Princeton student Amory Blaine. Amory is in some danger of being borrowed by the girls, a la Avery. Alternate spellings Amori or Amorie also relate to the Latin word for love.

While Amorie might be strictly a feminizing way to spell the unisex Amory, it also relates to the word Amore and the name Amoris, which mean love,

Amori puts a feminine, nickname-y spin on the unisex Amory -- though the amiable name does not really need lightening up.

Emry is an abbreviated form of Emery but might also be considered a relative of the Welsh Emrys. Emry was used for only 35 baby boys in the US last year and about 150 girls, placing it well below the Top 1000.

Emry is a shortened form of the popular Emery, which now ranks in the Top 100 girl names in the US. Emry has not yet hit the Top 1000 but was given to about 200 babies in the US last year, about 80 percent of those girls.

A venerable name closer to MELISSA than the original MILLICENT.

Ida itself is a rare name, ranking outside of the US Top 1000. But the four-letter variation Idah is even rarer, having been given to fewer than 5 baby girls in the most recent year on record.

Like cousin Ludmila, a Russian name rarely heard in this country.

This spelling variation of the already-fashionable Emery takes the name further from its Old Germanic origins in Emmerich. With its trendy -i ending, its distinctive o in the middle, and its visual similarities to rising stars like Azari, Imani, and Amari, Emori is now four times as popular is it was a decade ago.

On one hand, this may be a twist on the unisex Emery, to make it more obviously feminine - and to make it stand out from Emery, Emory, and Emerie, which all rank in the US Top 600.

For an American girl, the double "I" might be a problem as a child, but an attention-getting talking point as an adult.

Alternative spelling of Emery