200+ Cool Middle Names

This is a soft, soignée French girls' namethat has become familiar here via singer Solange Knowles, younger sister of Beyonce.

Among a small shower of rain-related names, this pure version can have a cool, refreshing image.

Enough parents have found naturalist Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution, a worthy hero to keep Darwin relatively consistently in the Top 1000. It has a lovely meaning too—"dear friend."

Sharp but sweet, ancient but with a contemporary sound, Sarai has been rising steadily up the US charts since the 90s and now sits comfortably in the Top 1000. In the Old Testament, God changed Sarai's name to Sara, so this would make a clever and legitimate honor name for an ancestral Sarah.

The name Wilder is still used more than 90 percent of the time for boys, but it's being used quietly for girls too. with 50 receiving the name in a recent year. Along with the rest of the Wild and Wiley family, it's one of the hottest baby names starting with W. Certainly giving your child of either gender such a wilder name is setting them up for a certain kind of character and future.

Every other little kid's name in 1957 but few Jameses are called Jimmy today; they're more often James or Jamie.

Softer than Benedict, less popular than Benjamin, and bolder than Bennett, Puerto Rican actor Benicio Del Toro introduced this name to the American mainstream in the early 2000s, before which the name was hardly use. Popular in Argentina, Benicio debuted on the US Top 1000 in 2016, when it was the third-fastest-rising boys' name, and while it hasn't skyrocketed then, it remains comfortably in the charts.

This rarely used boys name is one of the few gem names for a boy. Obsidian is actually a type of volcanic glass, formed when lava cools very quickly. This ultra-cool name might spark a love of volcanoes and geology in a little boy.

Doe is a soft and gentle-eyed middle name possibility and, like Fawn, one of the few animal names open to girls.

King is a name that sends a mixed message. While some might think of it as more fitting for a canine, others see it as a strong name with offbeat style and a full court of rich associations, from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Elvis.

King Vidor was an important early Hollywood director; King Camp Gillette invented the safety razor.

If it's king names you're after that aren't King itself, see our list of Names with Royal Meanings or other lists and blogs on royal names.

When the Eddie Murphys named their fourth daughter Zola, it affirmed the up-and-coming status of the name, which has African roots, but also literary links to Emile Zola. Zola may also be recognizable to some as the adopted daughter of Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd on the hit, long-running show Grey's Anatomy.

Subtle but clear unisex way to signal peace, especially in middle place.

Associated with poetry, pop music, and the Greek lyre, Lyric has a light and zippy sound to it. Currently more popular for girls in the US, it was in the Top 1000 for boys between 2007 and 2020. Currently given to around 170 boys each year, for every baby boy called Lyric, there are three girls given the name.

This simple yet evocative French word name was chosen for her daughter by model Niki Taylor. While Ciel may be pronounced in French with two syllables, many will pronounce it as "seal" and there may be confusion with Celia and sister Ceil.

If Gus and Max have made it, why not Moe? Can it be the lingering Three Stooges effect? We think that Moe, like Joe, is one of the friendliest and most open of regular guy nickname names and should get a little more attention.

A lot of attention was drawn to this name when Kim Kardashian and Kanye West announced it as the name of their baby daughter, making it instantly unisex.

Mauve is an offbeat color name whose soft and sentimental Victorian spirit is conveyed by the name. One of the newer color names like Blue, Gray and Plum that are increasingly being used as novel middle names, Mauve has the added benefit of being similar to stylish Maeve and classic Maude.

This super-charged variation of Jett is on the rise -- along with the unlikely newcomer Jetson.

An inspirational and aspirational word name that evokes ideas of loyalty, faith, honesty, and accuracy, True is a unisex name, which is just slightly more popular for boys. Like an updated form of Trudy and Prue and with the virtuous feel of Grace, Faith, and Hope, True was given to around 200 girls in 2024 (and about 225 boys).

Quincy is a Presidential surname name that actually sounds both cute and strong when used for a girl. For the first time ever, Quincy joined the Top 1000 roster for girls in 2023, given to over 250 baby girls that year.