Occupational Names

One of the most distinguished names in literature could become a hero name in a family of poetry-lovers -- or be seen as a trendy new occupational name.

If you're German and you love to fish -- then maybe.

A new entry is the fashionable new occupational name category -- and a jolly job it must be -- with the added attraction of relating to the great early 20th century American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler, of "Whistler's Mother" fame.

A word name that's appealing when applied to a person boogying or doing ballet; a different story in the context of Santa's reindeer.

Sadler is another new entrant in the trendy occupational surname category, one particularly prime for a horse lover.

Only if it's a family name, and then, best in the middle.

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

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

Shepherd is soaring in the charts, so why not Farmer? Perhaps because, unlike some of the occupation names that are so popular today, it is still an everyday word. Even so, if you're looking for a name that fits modern trends but no one else is using, Farmer could be the one.

Cowboyish occupational name sure to attract notice.

Other occupational names would be more commonly accepted, though the Mad Men character has certainly brought it to the fore.

Lively, friendly surname that might appeal to basketball fans.

An occupational name for the steward of an estate, but more people will know it as a word name from mathematics, meaning an important component. The rapper Graham Murawsky thought it was cool enough to use as his stage name.

Cooper would be a more engaging C-starting occupational choice.

An occupational surname that hasn't made the limelight like Carter, Baker, etc., but is equally stylish.

More familiar from TV -- Rake, Leave It To Beaver -- than real life, and perhaps likely to stay that way, given the gruesome association with a butcher's knife. Cleaver was, for instance, the title of the violent mob movie Christopher wrote in the world of The Sopranos.