Name Spellings, Initials and Sounds
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 8 pages
of 8
Irish surname
To modernize and add some oomph to the dated CASEY, add an O'-and also honor the great Irish playwright Sean.
Esan
"first born of twins"
Strong name from the Esan language of Nigeria, with a satisfyingly specific meaning for a child's place in the family.
Irish
"son of the church lover"
One of the most usable of the fashionable O'Names.
"descendant of Brian"
Irish surname that refers to High King Brian Boru, also spelled O'Brien. Makes a fabulous first name.
Greek
"nobody"
One of the best known early Nemos was the captain in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea , while the more familiar modern one is the animated little orange fish in the Disney movie. Unusual name…
Welsh
"white footprint"
Olwen is a Welsh favorite, the name of a legendary princess in what is believed to have been the earliest Arthurian romance, and in fact one of the first recorded examples of Welsh prose. In this…
Place-name
Montego Bay is a beach resort in Jamaica.
Greenlandic
"sweet, cute"
One of the many names derived from the Greenlandic word inequnaq , meaning sweet or cute, also written as Oquna. Its usual nickname form is the cute Uno.
A simplified, babbling form of the word inequnaq , meaning cute or sweet. It is traditionally shortened to Uno and can also be written as Oquna.
"fast runner"
A cool Greenlandic name with a strong O sound, reminiscent of the Latin Aquila. Oqila means 'fast runner' and is typically shortened to Oqi.
Italian place-name
The Lido is a sand island directly across from Venice. Lido is also used to mean beach resort or swimming pool.
We've seen babies with Texas city names like Austin, Houston and Dallas--, why not the unexplored Laredo, which has a lot of cowboy charisma? Laredo might make for a more modern and creative namesake…
Italian variation of Orson
"bearlike"
Orson is being rediscovered and Orsino is every bit as attractive.
Spanish
"Indian"
This name of a California desert town, used by Deborah Falconer and Robert Downey, Jr. for their son, makes a much livelier and more individual – not to mention more masculine – improvisation on the…
Diminutive of Francisco
"free man"
Frisco is a frisky, roguish semi-place-name (San Francisco natives never call it that) that could make a lively, unusual o-ending choice. Frisco is the kind of nickname name sometimes used for cowboy…
Italian from German
"protector"
Elmo, like fellow Sesame Street characters Kermit and Grover, has a hard time being taken seriously. (It isn't easy being red either.) But Elmo also calls to mind the image of St. Elmo's fire--the…
Germanic
"wealthy"
Othenio is most likely an old-timey elaboration on Otto, with a much grander, more fantastical feel than its original form. It is mainly known for Othenio Abel, an influential Austrian paleontologist…
Spanish place-name
The name of cities in Mexico and Colorado, Durango is a pleasant, fresh option from the atlas.
