By Brynn McKeon · Updated September 2026
Across 34 pages
of 34
Japanese
"peaceful"
Traditionally a feminine name in Japan, although Ammika Harris and Chris Brown chose Aeko for their son, born in 2018. The starbaby's name is pronounced like "echo," but the traditional Japanese…
Welsh river name
This name of a river in Wales makes a unique option for either gender.
This Welsh river name has possibilities as a place name and nature name that is rare and uncommon.
Diminutive of Yelena, Russian
"bright and shining light"
New name in the pool of international names, added by lovely supermodel Alyona Osmanova.
German
"elf warrior"
This name woould be hard to picture in a contemporary kindergarten, though it does have some cultural cred via Finnish architect and furniture designer Alvar Aalto. Aalto would actually make a more…
Alza is a concise and distinctive feminine name with several possible origins. It may derive from Spanish, where it relates to the verb 'alzar' meaning 'to raise' or 'to lift up,' suggesting…
Arabic
"first leap"
Alula, the palindromic name of the first double star to be identified as physically related to its twin, would make the perfect name for a first-born twin. Ideas (we're only half joking) for the…
Latin
"lovable"
Amabel is an older name than Annabel and a lot more distinctive. Amabel was a very common name in the twelfth and thirteen centuries, then was revived during the nineteenth century British fad for…
Feminine variation of Amado, Spanish
"loved"
Amada is an unusual Spanish name that's becoming more famous thanks to Ryan Gosling and Eva Mendes, who named their second daughter Amada Lee and their first Esmeralda Amada. Amada was also the name…
"lover of God"
Amadea is a strong and musical feminine form of Amadeus, as in Mozart. In more conservative times, Amadea might have seemed too strange for use on a contemporary baby, but by today's sensibility, it…
Slovene variation of Amadeus, Latin
Amadej is the Slovene version of Amadeus, perhaps best known as the middle name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Italian
Amadeo and Amedeo are both valid Italian forms of the Roman Amadeus, most famous as the middle name of the composer Mozart as well as the title of a movie about him. Mozart's name was actually the…
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's middle name could make an interesting pick for music-loving parents, most easily in the middle place, ala Mozart. But today's more wide-ranging naming sensibility and love…
African
"free man"
Though this is traditionally a male name, it can work for a girl in our culture. Might also be considered a short form of the Italian Amadea.
Variation of Akiva, Hebrew
"to protect, shelter"
English
"dweller at the old town"
The sort of formal surname name more popular in another era; Dalton's a more modern relation.
Greek
"with healing power"
Althea is a poetic, almost ethereal name found in Greek myth and pastoral poetry, associated in modern times with the great tennis player Althea Gibson, the first African-American to win at…
Japanese; Finnish
"born in the autumn; ancestor"
A name known in several cultures, also through animated book character Tiger Aki. Finnish author Aki Ollikainen is another notable bearer.
Best known in the US as the name of Chris Brown's son (they pronounce it like "echo"), but Aeko is a traditional Japanese name for baby girls.
English surname
Dropping the H off hot surnames gets you a whole new name. The trend is multiplying: Hadley becomes Adley, Harley become Arley, Harlow becomes Arlowe, and now Halston becomes Alston. Alston could…
