Chicken Names

Olga

Slavic variation of Helga, Norse

"holy"

This Slavic form of the Norse name Helga is a classic in many Slavic countries, including Russia and Poland, where it currently ranks within the Top 100 girl names. It has historically ranked among…

Onyx

Word name

"gem stone; claw, nail"

Onyx is a fresh and trending gemstone name for boys, currently in the US Top 500, having climbed the charts rapidly since 2018. Now, an increasing number of girls are receiving the name, with a…

Oprah

Variation of Orpah, Hebrew

"fawn or gazelle"

The misspelling that created an indelibly one-person name. And we mean that literally: Despite Oprah Winfrey's fame and appeal, there were no baby girls named Oprah last year, OR Orpah. The Biblical…

Oreo

Invented name

Nabisco has never revealed the origins of their sandwich cookie brand name, but the prevailing theory is that it was derived from Oreodaphne , a genus in the laurel family.

Ostara

Old High German

"dawn"

In Germanic mythology, Ostara is the goddess of springtime, fertility, and dawn. Her existence as a mythological figure was pieced together by scholar Jacob Grimm, who used evidence such as the…

Pamela

English

"all honey"

Pam was a somewhat pampered prom queen of the sixties who was never called by her full name, which is a pity because Pamela is so mellifluous and rich in literary history. A Top 25 name from the late…

Pamina

Italian

"little honey"

This operatic Italian name -- it appears in Mozart's "The Magic Flute" -- is a more unusual route to the nickname Pam/Pammy.

Patricia

Latin

"noble, patrician"

Patricia still sounds patrician, though its scores of nicknames definitely don't. Wildly popular from the forties (alternately Number 3 and 4 throughout the decade) to the sixties, Patricia has been…

Patsy

English, diminutive of Patricia

"noble, patrician"

This sassy, spunky name was used for the mostly Irish jump-roping pigtailed girls of the thirties and forties -- and some Irish and Italian boys as well. Its most noted bearer was iconic country…

Patty

Diminutive of Patricia

"patrician"

Replaced Patsy as the midcentury's popular, peppy babysitter.

Peaches

English fruit name

Unlike the other fruit names that are just coming onto the baby name menu, Peaches is an old-timey nickname previously reserved for spangled showgirls, and now would be considered an outrageous --…

Peg

Diminutive of Margaret, Greek

"pearl"

Peg is a nostalgic turn-of-the-last-century nickname, sociable but slight. Like near-identical twin Peggy, Peg is in mothballs.

Peggy

Diminutive of Margaret, Greek

"pearl"

Just when we had written off Peggy as the eternal perky, pug-nosed prom-queen she projected from the 1920s into the fifties, along came Mad Men , with intriguing mid-century characters with names…

Pepper

English from Latin, Sanskrit, "the pepper plant; berry"

"the pepper plant; berry"

With its bubbly sounds and stylish feel, Pepper joins a small but distinctive group of names inspired by the spice rack: Saffron, Juniper, Cassia, Sage, Ginger, and Rosemary. Enough like Pippa, Piper…

Petal

English from Greek

"leaf"

Petal is the soft and sweet-smelling name of a character in the novel and film, The Shipping News . With the rise of such flower names as Poppy and Posy, we believe Petal — down-to-earth yet romantic…

Phyllis

Greek

"green bough"

Phyllis has been used by classical poets for the idealized pastoral maiden. A Greek mythological name of a woman who was turned into an almond tree, Phyllis was in the Top 100 from 1916 to 1958,…

Pink

Color name

The singer known as Pink (born Alecia) brought this hue onto the name-possibility palette, especially as a middle choice. Could Pink be the next Blue?

Pippi

Norse variation of Philippa

"lover of horses"

Pippi may be cute but isn't very practical. In addition to being forever Pippi Longstocking, there is that variant pee-pee spelling to consider. Try Pippa instead.