Spring Baby Names

Petal is the soft and sweet-smelling name of a character in the novel and film, The Shipping News. With the rise of such flower names as Poppy and Posy, we believe Petal — down-to-earth yet romantic — has its own appealingly distinctive style.

Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, well known in the U. S. , might inspire some namesakes.

Demeter, the Greek goddess of grain, agriculture, and the harvest, growth and nourishment, was Zeus's sister and Persephone's mother. Variation Demetria is the full name of actress Demi Moore. Though familiar, Demeter is not one of the Greek goddess namesthat's finding widespread modern favor.

One of the more unusual mythology names for girls, Neith is the name of the Egyptian goddess of home and femininity.

Worthy sibling for Oak, Elm, Juniper, and Spruce.

Astarte is the ancient goddess of sexuality, fertility, and war, associated with Ishtar as well as Venus.

One of the rarest of the flower names, that of the blossom celebrated in Japan as a symbol of the sun and a possible object of meditation. One of the rare flower names counted among names for autumn babies, Chrysanthemum is also one of the most unusual nature-themed girl names starting with C.

In Japan, color names symbolize human qualities (in this case, fame); name of gifted violist Midori, but also a Japanese melon liqueur.

The Welsh name Enfys is a unisex name, although it is more commonly used as a feminine name. It is rare even in the United Kingdom, used on only a handful of children each year.

More often used in Britain than here, where most names ending in ville fall into the unthinkable class, this might make an exception via fans of the musical Neville Brothers.

Verna may mean "springtime," but May or Spring is fresher.

In Turkish folklore, cemre is the heaven-sent embers that sequentially warm the air, water, then earth at the end of the winter.

Refers to one of the seven sacred rivers of India.

A Latin name with a lot of tango flair.

A handsome, spruced-up post-Bruce tree name.

French Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne has put the spotlight on her name.

Medora is a Greek name much less common here than, say, Melanie or Melissa. It has some literary references, including as the beautiful and passionate heroine of Lord Byron's poem The Corsair, and in Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence, there is a character named Marchioness Melora Manson.

Would fit right in with the currently popular in/an/en/on-ending boys' names.

Easter has been used as a name for several hundred years, as part of the day-naming tradition; now, this rarely heard holiday celebration name would make a novel choice for a springtime baby. Background:The early Anglo-Saxon monk and scholar Bede took the name of a goddess--Eostre-- whose feast was celebrated at the vernal equinox and gave it to the Christian festival of the resurrection of Christ.