UK Baby Names

Strong and modern, Cade shot up the popularity lists around the millennium—it was as high as Number 201 in 2001. Now, it has declined in popularity slightly, but nevertheless remains in the US Top 300, given to around 1200 babies each year. Combined with all the baby Kades, Cadens, Kaidens and Kaydens however, it might feel even more popular that it actually is. 
 The name Cade developed from an Old English nickname meaning "round", though it is also possible that it emerged as a name for someone who made barrels, or from the Old English Cada meaning "battle". 
 
 Like Scarlett, Rhett, Ashley, Melanie, and Beau, Cade was worn by a character in Gone With the Wind and now, there's a Cade Skywalker in the Star Wars universe, and Keith Carradine named his now-grown son Cade.

Cade

Stylish, gentle, and rustic at the same time, Rowan is a name that falls into various categories. Unisex and cool, mystical and woodsy, with the feel of both Rose and Riley, Rowan is a fresh but familiar choice.
 
The name has multiple origins, possibly deriving from the Irish Ruadhán, meaning "little redhead", or from the names Rowena and Rhonwen, meaning "famous friend" and "white spear." 
Alternatively, it might be taken from the rowan tree, a red-berried tree whose name derives from Old Norse and means "to redden." In folklore and mythology, rowan trees are seen as a symbol of protection and of life, used to ward off evil. 
Rowan was an obscure name in the US before Brooke Shields chose it for her daughter in 2003. The name entered the US Top 1000 the same year and it’s been climbing in popularity ever since. Now, over 1000 girls are called Rowan every year, versus about 4000 baby boys. 
Notable namesakes include the actress and activist, Rowan Blanchard, and Rowan Ellis, an author and Youtuber who makes video essays. In fiction, Rowan Mayfair is a powerful witch in Anne Rice’s novel The Witching Hour and Rowan Love is the quirky and creative older sister in Karen McCombie’s Ally’s World series.

Rowan

Lane is a recent hit name, that could be used for either gender, but is much more popular for boys. It's a surname that projects the pleasant picture of narrow, tree-lined country roads.
 Holding steady between Number 200 and 300 in the US Top 1000 for more than a quarter century, Lane might be considered a modern classic for boys.
 Metallica's Lars Ulrich used the Layne spelling for his son.

Lane

Lilly may contain one L too many for some people, though this secondary spelling of a name that's become wildly popular is still a popular choice. And the Lilly spelling does feel a bit less wispy, a bit more like a name as opposed to a mere flower, than the slender and delicate Lily. Lilly suggests the long-form Lillian, but it doesn't need to be an abbreviation for anything; Lilly can stand on its own. 
 
However, if you love the flower name but want to make it a little different, you've got to move far beyond Lilly — or Lillian, Liliane, and sisters. You might consider Susannah, which means lily, or a less expected bloom like Azalea or Lotus.

Lilly

Faith is one of the most straightforward of the virtue names popularized by the Puritans in the seventeenth century, many parents still choosing it as an indicator of their religious conviction. Faith peaked in 2002 at Number 48.
 Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are the parents of a daughter they called Faith, little sister for Sunday -- a sibset suitable for a minister's brood. A prominent adult bearer is country singer Faith Hill.

Faith

Nash is an English surname whose sound puts it right in step with currently trendy names like Cash, Dash and Ash. It first came to prominence via TV character Nash Bridges, portrayed by Don Johnson in the late nineties, and also via mathematician John Nash, played by Russell Crowe in the acclaimed film A Beautiful Mind. 
 Nash first entered the <a href="https://nameberry.com/popular-names">popular names</a> list in 1997.
 As a surname, Nash has been associated with witty poet Ogden (born Frederic Ogden), auto manufacturer Charles, maker of the defunct brand, and rock musician Graham, of Crosby, Stills and Nash—as well as Clarence "Ducky" Nash, the voice of Donald Duck. Iron Chef Cat Cora named her son Nash Lemuel. Teenage dreamboat Nash Grier was one of the first celebrities to gain fame on social media platform Vine.

Nash

Crew is yet another word name that was added to the baby name lexicon when this one was chosen by The Young and the Restless star Joshua Morrow for his son. It debuted on the Top 1000 in 2010. We've also heard spelling variations Cru and Crue.

Crew

With Journey becoming increasingly popular, it's no surprise that this alternative spelling is not far behind. However, you may be surprised to learn that in recent years, the Journee spelling has actually passed the original spelling in popularity — Journee is currently in the Top 200.

This word name may be appealing to parents attracted to the idea of a spiritual -- or even an actual -- voyage.

Journee

Brandon, a forebear of the Braden-Caden pack, had a great run of popularity over several decades, being in the Top 10 from 1992 to 1998, one of its inspirations being hearthrob Brandon Walsh played by Jason Priestley on the original Beverly Hills 90210--and it was aso the name of several soap opera characters. 
 Newer names like Landon and Braden are feeling fresher to many parents, and it's sometimes confused with the Irish Brendan.

Brandon

The skyrocketing success of singer Norah Jones brought this spelling of the name onto the pop charts in 2003. As well as being a spelling variant of Nora in English, it's also an alternative transcription of the Arabic name Nura, from Nur/Noor "light".

Norah

Bowen is a Celtic surname representing two separate Celtic strains, one Welsh and one Irish, and entered the US Top 1000 for the first time in 2011.
 Football Hall of Famer Drew Brees named his son Bowen, as did a recent reality show couple looking for the perfect name to 'brand' their baby. It does have the appealing nickname Bo.
 
Alternatively, this is also a Chinese name, combining Bo and Wen, in which case the meaning would be 'wave of writing" or "wave in literature". 
 
Actor Bowen Yang is a notable bearer.

Bowen

Lovers of the name Carter and the Kardashians method of baby naming have popularized this choice, one of many <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/boys-names/k">boys' names starting with K</a> that began life as <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/boys-names/c">boys' names starting with C</a>.

Karter has been in the charts since 2005, riding on the success of the original Carter. Since 2014, Karter has been just inside the Top 200.

Karter

Steven, the phonetic and now predominant spelling of the classier Stephen, has finally dropped out of the Top 100 after seventy years.  Steve has become one of the ultimate regular-guy names, right up there with Dave and Joe. and there have been  innumerable pop-culture role models among its bearers--from Steven Spielberg to Steven Soderbergh to Steve Jobs.

Steven

Malcolm is a warm and welcoming Scottish appellation (originally Mael-Colium) that fits into that golden circle of names that are distinctive but not at all odd. A royal name in Scotland, Malcolm is also a hero name for many via radical civil rights activist Malcolm X. 
 Malcolm was the name of four Scottish kings — including the son of Duncan who succeeded to the throne after Macbeth murdered his father — and has been a standard in that country.
 Denzel Washington named one of his sons Malcolm, as did Harrison Ford.
 Actor Malcolm McDowell is one current bearer. Other namesakes are writer Lowry; bestselling author and trendspotter Gladwell; Sex Pistols musician McLaren; and actor Jamal Warner. There have also been several Malcolms on TV — e.g., in Malcolm in the Middle, Firefly and in the Outlander series. There were no fewer than three characters named Malcolm in the Harry Potter books.

Malcolm

One of the most romantic names, the lovely and stylish Juliet seems finally to have shaken off her limiting link to Romeo. In Shakespeare's play, it was Juliet who said "What's in a name?" 
 

 Juliet originated in the Middle Ages as a diminutive form of Julian, then a predominantly female name. It ultimately derives from Julius, a Roman family name. Its origin is shrouded in history, but possible roots include Latin iuvenis, meaning "youthfu"; Greek ioulos, meaning "downy-bearded"; or Jovis, a form of Jupiter, which means "sky father".
 
French version Juliette, pronounced the same by most English speakers though the French emphasize the last syllable, was more popular than Juliet for the first time in 2015. Both names have taken over for Jennifer and Jessica as fashionable <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/girls-names/j">girls' names starting with J</a>.
 Juliet Burke was a character on Lost and Juliet Sharp on Gossip Girl. Juliet Low was the founder of the American Girl Scouts.
 Other ideas to consider: the original Julia, still lovely; Juliana; or even Jules.

Juliet

Bodie has been in the US Top 1000 since 2014 and may be an attempt to anglicize either the popular Sanskrit name Bodhi or the Germanic name Bode. Drawing inspiration from Jodie and Brodie, it could help to make the pronunciation more obvious to English speakers and it avoids using a concept drawn from Buddhism that has made some people question the use of Bodhi. 
 
Currently on the rise, a recent year saw it rank in the US Top 300 and the England and Wales Top 500. By comparison, Bodhi appeared in the England and Wales Top 120, but just ten places ahead of Bodhi in the US, given to 1301 boys while Bodie was chosen for 1249.

Bodie

Azalea is one of the fresher flower names, along with Zinnia and Lilac, that are new to the name bouquet — in fact, it entered the Social Security list for the first time in 2012. So if Lily and Rose are too tame for you, consider this brilliant pink springtime blossom with a touch of the unusual that has been growing in popularity. 
 Azalea is the name of the princess heroine of the novel Entwined, and, most recently, is connected to musical artist Iggy Azalea.

Azalea

This pet form of Helena and other ena-ending names, long used as an independent name, is attracting notice again as an option both multicultural and simple. Lena was a Top 100 name from 1880 to 1920.
 A past inspiration might be the lovely singer Lena Horne, a contemporary one is the hot creator of and actress in Girls, Lena Dunham, another might be Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey.
 Lena Grove is a simple but strong character in William Faulkner's Light in August.

Lena

Benson has outgrown its long association with a wisecracking TV butler with a fresh new association: singer songwriter Benson Boone. Parents may see it as an alternate route to nickname Ben, very different in image than the biblical Benjamin or the Latin Benedict, and more in tune perhaps with stylish with Bennett. 

Benson also carries the patronymic theme made popular by Jackson, Harrison, and Jefferson, and more recently, Olivia Benson of Law and Order: SVU has reclaimed this as a surname. On a less salubrious note, Benson is still connected to the cigarette brand Benson and Hedges, while in the UK, it is connected to a bed company.
 
More and more parents have been able to overlook the brand connections in recent years, however, and Benson entered the US Top 500 in 2024, when it was given to nearly 730 boys, compared to 450 the year before.

Benson

The extra n makes it feel less like an feminization of Alan and more like a name unto itself. Alanna is more common in Puerto Rico than the original Alana.

Alanna

Baby names from the UK include names with origins from through the United Kingdom: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, along with Manx and Cornish names from those corners of the kingdom. UK baby names encompass a wide range of styles, from some of the most popular names throughout the English-speaking world, such as Jennifer and Mason, to such unique baby names as Nolwenn, Pembroke, and Sholto. There are hundreds more UK names that are just as unusual.

They along with all the names in the Nameberry database that originate in the English, Scottish, Welsh, Northern Irish, Cornish and Manx languages and cultures appear on this master list of UK baby names. 

Baby names from the UK include names with origins from through the United Kingdom: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, along with Manx and Cornish names from those corners of the kingdom. UK baby names encompass a wide range of styles, from some of the most popular names throughout the English-speaking world, such as Jennifer and Mason, to such unique baby names as Nolwenn, Pembroke, and Sholto.  (Page 9)