Pet Names · Cat Names
By Brynn McKeon · Updated September 2026
Across 9 pages
of 9
English
"pear tree"
Perry fits right in with rising boyish nicknames for girls and cool picks like Frankie and Scottie. This relaxed name sounds novel compared to such former favorites as Kerry and Sherry. Perry is the…
German
"brave boar"
Everett is a male name that's a prime crossover candidate, much like Eliot, Ellis, and Ellery. With its newfound popularity for boys stemming from its similarity to trendy sisters, Eva, Evelyn and…
Place-name and Native American
"the great one"
Alaska's Denali National Park is the home of the highest mountain in the US, officially renamed Denali in 2014, endowing the name with a lofty feel. Twice as many girls as boys were given the name in…
"town by the pool"
Lincoln might be considered one of the quintessential American names , calling to mind the great president who freed enslaved people and is memorialized in Washington. Although better known as a…
Hebrew, Japanese, or Scandinavian
"healer; morning; of the gods"
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,…
Irish, English
"between two hills"
Arlo, an unexpectedly popular name for boys these days, is also finding new life as a girls' name. Its roots are primarily as an Irish or English surname, but it might also be a short form of the…
English place-name
Out-of-the-way place name (it's an antiquated holiday spot on England's south coast) that might make a brilliant choice. Actor/director Jon Favreau named his daughter Brighton Rose.
Irish, English, Norse
"free from envy; from the deer estate"
Once a common boy name in Ireland, the dynamic Darby now has a definite unisex feel. A bit like a mash up between Darcy and Ruby, it appeared in the US Top 1000 in the 90s, peaking in 1995 when it…
Hebrew
"fortunate, blessed, happy one"
Asher is of course a very popular Biblical boys' name, but Australian actress Asher Keddie puts this in the girls' column too. Nearly 70 baby girls were named Asher in one recent year, about 1…
Irish
"phantom queen"
The mythological Morrigan was the ancient goddess of war, often symbolized by a crow. Besides being a name, this is also used as a proper noun preceded by an article: the Morrigan, defined as a…
English from Latin tree name
"cedar tree"
A fresh and fragrant nature name, Cedar is one of the new tree/wood names that parents are starting to consider. While it is currently more popular for boys, it sounds similar enough to Selah, Celia,…
Place name
Kensington is a place name with a number of referents; there are cities by the name in Australia, Canada, South Africa, the UK, and the US. As a girls' name, it entered the US Top 1000 in 2015,…
Native American
"great land"
State name Alaska stems from an Aleutian word for the land mass itself. The number of baby girls named Alaska has doubled in the past five years, and is sure to continue increasing as more place…
Latin
"light"
This name of a character played by Kirsten Dunst in the movie Virgin Suicides , originally a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, is gaining attention, also thanks to the heroine Lux, Lady of Luminosity in…
Diminutive of Theodora, Greek
"gift of God"
Cute boyish short forms like Stevie, Scottie, Frankie and Billie are in some ways a relic of the past, when girls were given feminized versions of their father's names, but now, they're back in as…
Word name
At one time, Moon might have felt like a celebrity-only option, memorably chosen by Frank Zappa for his daughter Moon Unit. Now, with Sunny, Goldie, Wren, Star, Storm, Ocean, Onyx, and Scout in the…
Short form of Alison or Alice or Arabic
"supreme, exalted"
One of the sweet simple unisex names balanced enough to stand on its own. Ali can either be used as a shortening of Al- beginning names. For example, comedian Ali Wong is an Alexandra. Ali is also an…
"rough, fierce"
While Larkin takes this name from bird to surname, there are actually more female Larkins these days than male, and it's a name that works as well for either gender. It has the literary connection to…
English nature name
"prairie"
Unspecific place name with a wonderfully wide-open, spacious, western feel; used for a character in Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland . Prairie is derived from the Old French word praierie , which…
Color name
Blue suddenly came into the spotlight, as the unusual color name chosen by Beyonce and Jay-Z for their baby girl Blue Ivy. Blue is also a starbaby middle name du jour, used for both sexes in…
