Ode could be part of the extended Otto/Otis family, or it might be a literary term, referring to an elaborate lyric poem, such as Keats's Ode to a Nightingale..

Nick Cannon put this baby name on the map in 2021 when he welcomed a son by the name Zillion Heir (Zillionaire, get it?) — twin to Zion Mixolydian. Zillion is a new addition to the growing trend of numerical -illion names — Million, Billion, Trillion, and even Amillion currently chart for boys.

One of the more unusual of the current crop of strong, single-syllable boys' names, evoking the images of both old-fashioned blackboards and modern stepping-stones and countertops.

While Ivy Blue has made the color a more popular choice for girls, Blues — as in the musical style — could feel more masculine. While some may find it a sad and gloomy choice, thanks to the phrase "having the blues", the musical connection gives it greater potential. It could make for a laid-back name that oozes cool and works as an alternative for those wanting to avoid more obvious choices like Indigo or Hendrix.

Goodbye Uncle Vanya and hello...It Girl baby name? It's true — style icon Chloë Sevigny chose the name Vanja for her son, born in 2020. The name honors Vanja's paternal heritage — Chloë's partner is the Croatian-born gallerist Siniša Mačkovic.

The unusual name chosen by influencer Ty Haney and musician Mark Wystrach for their son, brother to Sundance.

We had Egypt listed as a girls-only place-name until singer Alicia Keys and rap producer husband Swizz Beatz used it for their son...and why not? Egypt certainly works as well for a boy as for a girl, similar in sound as it is to Elijah.

Calm, straightforward, patrician sounding: Pace is one new-style name that's well-grounded.

Fast-food chain, no longer a baby.

Grace and Adam Rodriguez created the faux-place name Bridgemont for their son in 2020. According to Adam, they loved the symbolism of a bridge as a connecting element and added -mont for familial significance. Adam's father's middle name is Montalvo, his own father's surname prior to his adoption.

A word name that parents might choose to reflect the eternal love they feel for their child, Forever is a bold choice, but grounded perhaps by the familiar ev sound heard in Everett and Evan and the for sound of Ford and Forest. Also used in a religious or spiritual sense, it feels akin to the likes of Heaven, Blessed, Chosen, Fable, and Seven.

Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman invented this name for their son Jonathan's middle. It's a combination of Anne's paternal grandfather's name, Roseline, and Adam's mother's maiden name Banks.

This musical mouthful was chosen for the middle name of one of Nick Cannon's twin sons, Zion. It refers to the Mixolydian mode, a type of ancient Greek musical scale with distinctive harmonic and melodic characteristics. The literal meaning of the word is "half-Lydian," in reference to the Lydian mode.

Isley is used more often for girls, thanks to the similar name Isla, but actor Glenn Howerton chose it for his son, born in 2014. The musical connection via the Isley Brothers puts it in the same category as more common unisex musician names such as Lennon, Hendrix, and Bowie.

Soul singer Cuba Gooding and his actor son of the same name put this unexpected geographical name on the map for boys, but it has a longer history of use than you might expect. Deriving from the island in the Caribbean Sea, it had a brief spell of popularity in the US at the end of the 1890s when Spain lost possession of the island during the Spanish-American War. Used predominantly (though rarely) on girls throughout the last century, it has occasionally be given to a handful of boys too.

Slash is here because model Amber Rose and Def Jam Records exec Alexander AE Edwards named their baby boy Slash Electric Alexander. Is it cool? Or is it violent and terrifying? Or is it both? We're going to go with Door Number 2 and place it in the same category as names like Dagger and Pistol, but we are not models or record execs.

Is Brother a baby name? Well, sort of, although it's not a choice you should expect to see on many birth certificates. Brother is in our database thanks to Darren Criss, who named his son Brother László in 2024 (his older sister is Bluesy Belle).

An English place name and surname derived from the name of the River Exe, which runs mainly in Devon and Somerset in the southwest of England. The river's name simply means "water" from Brythonic uisk.

A newly-minted hyphenated name for 2025, chosen by Entourage actor, Adrian Grenier and his wife Jordan Roemmele for their son's middle name, Evren Saint-Eros. A bold choice made up of several trendy elements: word names, mythological names, and modern spiritual names.

Young celebrity baby Slash Electric Alexander Edwards is responsible for adding not one but two names to the lexicon, Slash and Electric. While Slash might be though of as either scary or tech-y, Electric is at least reminiscent of Eric, Alec, Ellis, Aletris, Alecto, and Electra, which could make it feel exciting and buzzy, albeit a very bold choice. Yet to appear in the US stats, Electric remains celeb-baby territory for now.