Names That Mean Grass

Bentley, a somewhat stuffy British surname, previously associated primarily with an incredibly expensive English car, has had a recent surge in popularity, thanks largely to the reality TV shows 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, with Bentley being the name of the son of breakout star Maci (another new favorite) Bookout.

Abilene is a rarely used place name, mentioned as such in the New Testament, that combines the cowboy spunk of the Texas city with the midwestern morality of the Kansas town where Dwight D. Eisenhower spent his boyhood. Abilene is a much more untrodden path to the nickname Abbie/Abbie than the Top 10 Abigail.

Benton is an old English surname of a type usually given to local landowners. It is also recorded in early records as Beneton and Bentune. Benton newly returned to the Social Security list in 2011 after a forty-plus year absence, perhaps as a fresh route to Ben.

We can't account for the popularity of this name, for either a boy or a girl, given the first syllable, the tacky connotations with a luxury car, and the range of other options which are more harmonious to the ear. Nonetheless, nearly 200 girls were names Bentley in the US in 2015.

New Testament, Texas, and Kansas place-name more fitting for a girl.

Icelandic nature name that may be too close to Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

Beasley is a fashionable yet undiscovered surname name that is particularly well-suited for baby girls. Bea is a possible nickname.

The most feminine way to spell Bentley.

Faroese name derived from the Old Norse word fífa, which refers to cotton grass.

Waylla is a name from the Quechua language of the Peruvian Andes, as well as the word for the stipa obtusa grass that grows there. It is also a mountain name — Waylla is in the Andes on the border between Bolivia and Chile.

The -lee ending feminizes Bentley, although the really girly version is Bentleigh.