Pet Names · Dog Names
By Sophie Kihm · Updated September 2026
Across 370 pages
of 370
Spanish surname
"courteous"
The craze for surname names is now moving beyond the English and Irish to include worldly Spanish names for boys like this historic one currently in the Top 1000.
Swiss place-name or French
"juniper tree"
Unlike its somewhat formal Swiss city namesake, this is a lively and appealing place-name that also has a real history as a female name. Geneva was a relatively popular American name at one time: it…
Nature name
Sky is an ambigender nature name that was first legitimized as the character of Sky Masterson in the 1950 musical Guys and Dolls , played in the film version by Marlon Brando. It's a name we…
English combination of Mary and Bel, or Spanish short form of María Isabel, "drop of the sea, bitter, or beloved + beautiful"
"drop of the sea, bitter, or beloved + beautiful"
This modern name gathers some steam from the wildly popular Isabel. The meaning of Mary is uncertain, but theories include "drop of the sea" (from Hebrew roots mar "drop" and yam "sea"); "bitter"…
English word name
"the state of being the case"
True has become an accepted first and middle name; Truth makes an even stronger statement. And with nearly 150 baby boys named Truth in the US in the most recent year counted, as many as were named…
"royal"
A superlative word name along the lines of Saint, King, Princess, and Chosen, Royal was mostly used for boys — as in Wes Anderson's anti-hero Royal Tennenbaum — until Lil' Kim named her daughter…
Hindi
"first ray of sun"
A fiery Indian name used enough in the US to make it onto the Top 1000 list in 2010 and 2015.
Latin
"love"
The Latin word for love, Amor is a concise and strong choice that's currently on the rise in the US. Given to more than 150 girls in a recent year (along with 70 boys), Amor currently outranks the…
Italian
"from the angel"
This name obviously has the prefix De- that denotes "son of"—in this form it can mean either "son of Angelo" or "from the angel." D'Angelo is an American singer-songwriter and record producer.
Greek
"most desirable"
The eternal fiancee of Superman turned sweet gray-haired lady who's always available to babysit her grandkids turned....hot new baby name? True to the Hundred Year Rule, Lois is poised to climb the…
French, feminine variation of Denis
"god of Nysa"
Denise was a French favorite of the fifties and sixties but is less chic now. In 2020 it broke back into the Top 1000 after a five-year hiatus, catapulted into style by reality TV star Denisse Novoa…
Variation of Boden, English, German
"hill shaped like a bow; floor"
This creative spelling of Boden may be influenced by the popularity of Beau or New Zealand rugby player Beauden Barrett. Either way, we predict it's going to rise in popularity for years to come.
Irish
"little wolf"
The fierce image of the Barbarian made a complete turnaround thanks to amiable talk show host O'Brien, making Conan one of the newly desirable Irish choices, a perfect alternative to Conor/Connor. In…
English
"son of Ellis"
Updates Ellis -- but also has a lot of feminine potential thanks to Allison/Ellie similarity.
Variation of Maris or a combination of Maria + Louisa
"drop of the sea, bitter, or beloved + famous battle"
Pretty feminissima name that never became as overused as cousin Melissa. The more streamlined Maris is a more modern sounding option. Namesakes include Marissa Mayer, the former CEO of Yahoo!. The…
Variation of May of Mei-Lin, English, Chinese
"drop of the sea, bitter, or beloved; beautiful jade"
Maylin is following in the footsteps of Maelynn and Maelyn — two modern invented Mae and Lynn compounds that are on the rise. Maylin could also be considered an Anglicized spelling variation of…
Variation of Mia or Maya; Japanese
"palace, shrine, temple"
Is it pronounced MEE-ah or MY-ah? Only the bearer knows for sure, which is one of the central problems with this hybrid name. Miya is also a Japanese name that comes from the word meaning "palace" or…
Hebrew
"lily"
This is a rare and lovely form of Susannah commonly heard in Israel. Shoshana Shapiro — nicknamed Shosh — is the character played by Zosia Mamet on the hit HBO series Girls — a fact that could give…
Issa is a masculine name with multicultural origins. In Arabic culture, it is the name for Jesus (prophet Isa in Islam) and means 'God is salvation.' It also appears in Slavic languages as a…
Spelling variation of word name King
All names connected with royalty have become increasingly popular in recent years, and King variation Kyng is no exception. Some parents may feel that the Kyng spelling makes it more of a name and…
