1450+ English Names

Some definite downsides: Massive, Messy.

A name only a bully could love.

Dickinson is a possibility for Richard's boy, though that Dick nickname is problematic no matter how you get to it.

Palin, as in, yes, one-time VP candidate Sarah, has emerged as a hot new first name, usually for girls.

Updates the old religious day name.

Might make a good middle name for the child of a musician, though people could think you were honoring your BMW.

Makes Ida more feminine but no more fashionable.

A rowdy name nobody ever heard of, till Nick Nolte gave it to his son.

Surname choice that's neither new nor bold. Newbold was the middle name of Edith Wharton.

Stick with the original.

Upper-crusty surname name.

Most people's sole association with this name is Oprah companion Stedman Graham -- cool and sophisticated.

Stick with North.

Does not improve on the pretty but overused favorite.

This English surname offers an interesting mix of images: it sounds upper-crusty yet macho, and also conjures up the coziness of a wintery ski lodge. As a surname it is associated with the Massachusetts Republican Senate Minority Leader in the Woodrow Wilson era, Henry Cabot Lodge, who was the father of poet George Cabot Lodge and grandfather of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., who was ambassador to the UN and Richard Nixon's 1960 presidential running mate.

A more modern- sounding alternative to Harman.

A rather formal British surname that originated as a place name in the county of Lancashire.

A possible nod to grandpa Roger, though somewhat stuffy.

 As a surname, it's most familiar as Hearst -- publishing magnate William Randolph and kidnapped granddaughter Patty. Few would use it if it wasn't their own family name.