Popular Names and Name Trends · Cool Baby Names
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Fern
English
"plant name"
Of all the botanicals, Fern has been one of the slowest to move back from the front parlor into the nursery, despite the appealing girl character in the children's classic Charlotte's Web . Fern was…
Cherry
English word name
"cherry"
With other fruity names like Clementine, Olive and Plum ripe for the picking, sweet Cherry remains remarkably underused: just 27 baby girls received the name in 2017, down from 343 at its peak in…
Prairie
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…
Abilene
English from Hebrew
"grass"
Abilene is a rarely used place name, mentioned as such in the New Testament, that combines the cowboy spunk of the Texas city with the midwestern morality of the Kansas town where Dwight D.…
Susanna
Hebrew
"lily"
Susanna is an old and under-appreciated name, perhaps because of the recent overpopularity of Susan, that is certainly due for a comeback. The Susannah spelling is just as appropriate as Susanna. The…
Truitt
English surname
"dry wood + river bend; true and strong"
More popularly spelled as Truett, this form has also been climbing the charts, given to 92 boys in the US in a recent year. Derived from Old Norse and English, it's related to the place name…
Betty
Diminutive of Elizabeth, Hebrew
"pledged to God"
Combine the popularity of Betty White and Mad Men 's glamorous Betty Draper Francis, with the residual sweetness of Ugly Betty 's Betty Suarez, and the result is an impending return of the name. It's…
Joanie
Diminutive of Joan, English
"God is gracious"
Although Joan was the more popular name in the 20th century, it's the nickname Joanie that is coming back in style, in tune with the likes of Bonnie, Margot, and Billie, or Sadie, Elsie, and Libby. A…
Wyndham
English
"from the windy village"
This artistic and aristocratic surname is a bold and daring choice, but with nature inspired names like Wren on the rise, and surnames-as-first-names being in vogue, Wyndham has seen a shift up the…
Tabitha
Aramaic
"gazelle"
Though never as popular as the name of her Bewitched mother, Samantha, Tabitha has its own quirky, magical charm. The name of a charitable woman who was restored to life by Saint Peter in the Bible,…
Coy
English
"shy, taciturn"
Though rarely heard now, Coy has been around for a century and was not an uncommon name a hundred years ago. There have been a couple of NFL players named Coy, Coy Bowles is in the Zac Brown band,…
Crockett
English
"large curl"
Though Davy Crockett is a childhood hero, a frontiersman, soldier, politician, congressman and prolific storyteller. But be aware that "crock" is American slang for a lot of nonsense or something…
Dottie
English, diminutive of Dorothy
"gift of God"
Dottie and Dot are old Dorothy nicknames that some cutting-edge Brits are bringing back to fashion. It's been half a century since Dottie ranked on its own in this country, one of those nickname…
Dolly
English, diminutive of Dorothy
"gift of God"
Sweet and cosy with a touch of sass, this nickname-y choice was a familiar option up until the sixties in the US. Then, for a while, it was a bit of a one-person name, associated with singer Dolly…
Harland
Harland is a masculine name of Old English origin meaning 'hare land' or 'land of the hares,' referring to an area populated by these animals. As a traditional surname that transitioned to a first…
Hatcher
English surname
"one who lives near a gate"
A fresher, less preppy alternative to Thatcher — one without Prime Minister associations.
Catcher
English occupational surname
"huntsman"
Catcher is rarely used as a baby name, but it fits alongside other occupational surnames such as Thatcher and Hunter. It might be especially appealing to baseball fans. In the 2003 movie Down with…
Hiram
Hebrew
"brother of the exalted one"
Hiram is the kind of forgotten biblical name that adventurous parents who wish to move beyond David and Daniel are beginning to reconsider--even though it has bits of its old stiff-collared image…
Jessejames
Combination of Jesse and James, Hebrew
"God exists and supplanter"
While still rare, this compound name for boys jumped nearly 3000 places in rank last year, perhaps thanks to its cowboy-core vibe and its bad boy image.
Lauretta
Italian diminutive of Laura
"bay laurel"
The first syllable of Laura in Italian rhymes with now, so Lauretta does not really sound like the decidedly midcentury Loretta thought most English speakers will pronounce it that way. Still, this…