Wonderful Word Names for Babies

One of the rare cases where spelling a name with a y makes it less rather than more feminine. Birdie might be the freshest choice in this aviary.

Until now, most girls called Shell used it as a nickname for Shelley or Michelle. Today's Shell is much more likely to be a nature name, cool and beachy, fit for all genders.

Smooth and evocative, but not very namelike.

The late tennis great Arthur Ashe (whose wife was a photographer) pioneered word names when he used this for his daughter. It would make an interesting first or middle name possibility for parents involved with photography.

One of the more unusual word names used by Plymouth pilgrims for their children. Fear Brewster is an example of the usage of this name. Definitely one of the historic pilgrim names best left in the past.

Your daughter will like this better at twenty than she will at fifty.

Hallow is a word meaning sacred or holy. As the root word for Halloween (orginally All Hallows' Eve), this name might be an evocative choice for a baby born on or near October 31st. It could work well for either a boy or a girl and offers the nicknames Hal and Halley.

A very distinctive musical choice, but be aware that many people will think you've named your child Oprah.

Moroccan might be thought of as a boys' name purely by virtue of its having been used for their newborn son by Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, who transformed this nationality into a first name. But given that they named Moroccan's sister Monroe, conventional gender identity is off the table, and Moroccan might just as easily be used for a girl, along with Morocco or Maraca.

A (male) character in Toni Morrison's great Song of Solomon, but also plays for a girl.