Occupational Names

Drover, an ancient occupational surname, is right in step with today's styles and would make a distinctive choice. Drover and brothers are fresh updates of such now-widely-used names as Carter and Cooper.

Wheeler is one of the most energetic of the newly stylish occupational names, all those 'e's giving it a friendly, freewheeling sound.

Unique name for the son of a woodworker.

The surname of humorist Ring is a new entry in the trendy occupational class -- but watch the lard.

Literary, occupational, and very neglected.

Driver seems prime for adoption as a first name, with the rise of occupational names ranging from Archer to Ranger to Sawyer.

This occupational choice is less appealing than such brethren as Baker and Baxter.

Lively, friendly surname that might appeal to basketball fans.

New, fast, cool, and chosen by director Robert Rodriguez, whose other sons are Rebel, Rocket, and Rogue, all somewhat risky options.

Sargent, as in Kennedy brother-in-law Shriver, is the more familiar and usable form of this name.

Might be an honorific for novelist Saul Bellow, although bellowing is not the gentlest of sounds. Consider Saul instead.

A child named Peale may have to endure more than a few banana jokes, but the Peales were a distinguished family of artists.

Any name that combines two big trends -- in this case, occupational and western names -- has potential.

A German occupational surname deriving from the German word Bad, meaning "bath". Its most famous bearer in recent years has been (the notorious) RBG – former Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, making this a great feminist name or a nod to a lawyer in the family. Its simple, dynamic, er-ending sound fits right in with the likes of Hunter, Carter and Baker.

Conjures up a tweedy English country gentleman with a large paunch.

With the new fashion for occupational names, we may hear more of this one.

No kid would want to be open to all those burger jokes.

A bold word name choice for the intrepid baby namer who hopes her son will face the world with a sense of discovery.

Gardener is surely one of the most pleasant and evocative of the occupational options, calling up images of green grass and budding blooms. The name can also be spelled without the first 'e', as in Gardner (born George Cadogan Gardner) McCay, a hunky TV heartthrob of the 1950s and 60s. Gardner is a much more common surname spelling, associated with screen legend Ava, mystery writer Erle Stanley and art collector and patron Isabella Stewart, founder of Boston's Gardner Museum.

How to spruce up Fisher or Beau? This French surname-name might be an option for a parent unafraid of the unusual. The name derives from Barbel, a type of fish, which is how it became a surname for some fishermen.