Alba is quietly making a behind-the-scenes comeback, perhaps thanks to actress turned baby-product mogul Jessica Alba. Last on the Top 1000 a century ago, the name was given to nearly 200 baby girls in the US last year. Alba might be tomorrow's successor to Ava and Ella. In Spain, Alba ranks among the Top 20 girls' names. Alba is the name of a character in The Time Traveler's Wife.

Zora is a meaningful literary heroine name honoring Zora Neale Hurston, an important black writer and leader of the Harlem Renaissance.

The name of the wife of Alexander the Great, more attractive than the better-known Roxanne. Roxana was first used in the English-speaking world in the 1600s and was popularized by Daniel Defoe's novel Roxana, published in 1724. An underused and attractive possibility and perfect if you're searching for names that mean new beginnings.

Anatole is one of the unique boys' names with an unusual-ish feel but an uncertain provenance, with a meaning related to sunrise and thus to fire. While it's Greek in origin, it is associated more closely with France. Anatole Kuragin is a dashing, roguish prince in Tolstoy's War and Peace.

Best known as the beautiful heroine to whom Cyrano de Bergerac says, "Your name is like a golden bell".

A bright and optimistic middle name choice.

A male Biblical name meaning healer, Asa is also an international gem. In Japanese, it means "(born in the) morning". And in Scandinavia, where it's generally spelled Åsa or Ása and pronounced O-sa, it's a popular diminutive form of Old Norse names beginning with the element áss "god".

Almost unheard of in recent years, Dagobert has some connections to the French diaspora. Pere Dagobert was an eighteenth century Capuchin monk who immigrated to New Orleans from Quebec. Dagobert I was a king of the Merovingian dynasty in the seventh century.

In Hinduism, the god Aruna is the charioteer who drives the sun god Surya across the sky. Aruna is both the traditional masculine form of the name (modernized as Arun) and its feminization.

Many African tribes have a tradition of naming children for the day or time they were born -- Friday, Afternoon -- a practice finding new life in the Western world as word names become more popular.

A name with a lot of historical cred — Bayan was the name of two Mongol generals during the Yuan Dynasty and a number of other military rulers.

A rare but rising unisex name — used more often on baby girls.

Arun is the common masculinization of the name Aruna, the Hindu god who drives the sun god Surya across the sky in his chariot. Aruna is also used as a female name.

A sweet and gentle-sounding Russian name with a sunny meaning, typically nicknamed Tolya in Russia. It can also be written as Anatoli or Anatoliy.

A morning name from the Luo peoples of East Africa.

Ayelet is an unusual -- and somewhat challenging -- Israeli name familiar thanks to sometimes controversial Jerusalem-born novelist-essayist Ayelet Waldman.

Where as a serenade is an evening love song, an aubade is sung first thing in the morning.

A popular name in Turkey that would be highly wearable in the wider world too.

The Titan of the dusk in Greek mythology, husband of Eos (Dawn) and father of the four Anemoi (Winds), as well as the goddess Astraea. The name is derived from Greek "aster", meaning "star".

Ukrainian Artem (ar-TEM) and Russian Artyom/Artiom (which can also be transcribed as Artem, though still pronounced ar-TYOM in Russian) are ultimately derived from the name of the Greek goddess Artemis: goddess of the moon and hunting. The meaning of her name is unknown, though it may be related to the Greek for "safe" or for "butcher".