Mariposa is a rare, romantic choice with an intriguing meaning.

British-born novelist Plum Sykes has taken this rich, fruity name out of the produce section and put it into the baby name basket. It's more appealing than Apple, more presentable than Peaches. The French equivalent, Prune, is very fashionable there but would not fly with English speakers.

The boys' name Elon is best known today as the name of Elon Musk, eccentric billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX. With Canadian singer Grimes, Elon Musk has a son with an even more unusual name, X Æ A-12.

Like Sky and Sunshine, this fluffy name from the hippie 1970s has floated back onto the naming radar. It's similarity of Clyde and Claude help to ground it.

This name of a giant tree, itself named for a nineteenth-century Cherokee who invented a way to write his tribe's language, makes a strong, stately statement.

One of the fierce new animal names new to name lists, helped by its strong x-ending.

A familiar name in India, Avani has a soft but spirited sound and an attractive meaning, perfect for lovers of nature and those looking for a name to celebrate the planet. Derived from the Sanskrit word for "earth", English speakers are likely to pronounce it with three syllables (UH-vah-nee), while in Hindi, it is said as AHV-nee and in Marathi as ah-VAH-nee.

Properly spelled with a fada in Gaelic (Faolán), this name is the origin of the Irish surname Phelan. It derives from the Gaelic fáel "wolf", plus a diminutive suffix, making this a handsome hidden nature name.

Zariyah has several possible origins: the Arabic Zahrah which means "flower" or Zariya "scattering wind"; the Hebrew name Azariah, meaning "God has helped"; or the Russian word Zaria which means "sunrise, dawn."

To those who remember, Rhoda is still reminiscent of the brassy Bronx 1970s sitcom Rhoda Morgenstern. But Rhoda has a much longer history--it is a name that can be found in the New Testament as a servant girl in the house of Mary, mother of John. Later, Rhoda appeared in the novel Vanity Fair and the Shaw play Man and Superman.

Another entry in the fruit name category, this one borne by writer Strawberry Saroyan, granddaughter of William, so named by her hippie parents. While fruit names may become more familiar, they'll never pass without comment -- but maybe that's what you're looking for.

Occasionally heard in Ireland, small chance of success here.

Yesenia is a Latinx favorite popularized by a character on a Spanish-language soap opera. Jessenia is another variation. The name is drawn from the name of a palm tree in South America, but Yesenia is also an Arabic name meaning flower, making it an excellent cross-cultural choice.

This name's similarity to Kalani and pretty Hawaiian origin helped catapult it into the Top 1000 for the first time in 2013.

Reign is one of a new, ahem, kingdom of word names that suggest a high-born child, joining Royal, Lorde, Titan, Saint, King, Princess, and Noble. We predicted this kind of defining name to be the Number 1 baby name trend of 2015...two weeks before Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick named their third child, a boy, Reign. Reign is as appropriate for girls as for boys. The female version is often spelled Rain -- or Raine or Rayne -- though that makes is more nature and less royal word name. Reign entered the US Top 1000 for the first time in 2016.

Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie put this name of a geographical feature on the baby name map when she chose it for her newborn daughter, Vale Guthrie Feldman. Vale might be considered part nature name, part place name: A vale is a kind of valley, often used in poetry. This truly unique choice doesn't even register on the US extended list of names given to five babies or more, but we expect Vale to register as parents are inspired by Guthrie and husband Mike Feldman's creative choice. More prosaicly, Vale might be a short form of Valerie or Valentina.

A simple but unusual name with roots in disparate cultures, Neri appears in the Bible as a male name and is still sometimes used for boys as well as girls. The appeal of Neri are its deep roots combined with its simple, upbeat, modern feel, ala Peri and Rory.

One of the rarest of the floral names, though not without some teasing potential. Peony is a historical 1948 novel by Pearl S. Buck.

We've seen Beatrice and Beatrix climb in popularity, along with traditional nickname Bea. And now there's Bee, giving it a buzzy nature world spin, plus a tie to popular late night TV''s Samantha Bee, not to mention Aunt Bee on the old The Andy Griffith Show TV show. Bee can theoretically be short for any girl names starting with B.

Boys' names beginning with "El" were all the rage in the 1910s, but today Elmore - along with Elwin, Ellsworth and others - has barely been used for decades. It has literary connections through writer Elmore "Dutch" Leonard. More recently, several children's book characters have given the name a cuddly feel: Holly Hobbie's Elmore the Porcupine, and Elmore Green in Lauren Child's "The New Small Person".