Birthday Names
By Sophie Kihm · Updated September 2026
Across 6 pages
of 6
Irish
"holly tree"
Cullen is an appealing Irish surname name that upped its cool factor considerably when it became the Twilight family name of Edward et al. It's considerably less popular than it was at its peak in…
English
"northerner, Norseman"
Norman, perhaps because it sounds so much like the word 'normal', conjures up the image of a normal-looking guy with a normal kind of job-- not necessarily an image many modern parents seek for their…
Aramaic
"gazelle"
Though never as popular as the name of her Bewitched mother, Samantha, Tabitha has its own quirky, magical charm. The name of a charitable woman who was restored to life by Saint Peter in the Bible,…
English from French
"Saint Denis"
A contraction name, Sidney comes from Saint Denis and is related to Dioynsius, the Greek god of fertility and wine, although another theory is that it derived from an Anglo-Saxon place name, meaning…
English, Celtic, Welsh
"friend or white"
It is popularly claimed that the name Wendy was invented by Sir James Barrie in 1904 for the big sister character in his play Peter Pan , which was followed by the classic novel in 1911. Barrie…
Diminutive of Frederick
"peaceful ruler"
Another old-school nickname getting new attention thanks to TV's Mad Men . Names like Fred, Pete, and George have been out so long it's time for them to come back in. It reentered the US Top 1000 in…
Swedish
"twinflower, lime tree"
Linnea is an attractive Scandinavian name that derives from the renowned 18th century Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who developed the Linnean system of classifying plants and animals. Linnea is…
Elly is a charming feminine name that functions both as a standalone name and as a diminutive for several longer names including Eleanor, Elizabeth, Ellen, Eloise, and Eliana. With English and Greek…
Spanish
"white, fair"
Before there was the campy TV Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, Elvira was the long-suffering wife of Don Juan, and remnants of those negative, gothic images still cling to it, though they are fading.…
Greek from Latin
"dragon"
For as long as we all shall live, Harry Potter's sneering nemesis.
Greek
"royal"
Although Greek in origin--in the fourth century, a bishop by that name established the principles of the Greek Orthodox Church--Basil for years took on the aura of aquiline-nosed upper-class…
Word name
Windswept and dramatic, but perhaps asking for trouble. Quite popular in Denmark and Sweden, where it derives from Stromr, which is a fairly common surname. Storm Thorgerson is a famous bearer of the…
"little king"
Like somewhat more popular twin sister Reagan, this vibrant last-name-first Irish choice makes a strong, straightforward option. She does have a couple of downsides though. Regan entered the girls'…
Dutch variation of Abraham, Hebrew
"father of multitudes"
Bram has an unusual measure of character and charm for a one-syllable name; it started as a hipper-than-Abe diminutive of the biblical Abraham, but is also an independent Irish and Dutch name, made…
German
"bright army"
Names ending in bert have long been in limbo, but with the return of Albert, maybe there's hope for Herbert. who could share the Bertie nickname. Herbert is a name that's been used by English…
Diminutive of Carol, English, or Caroline, French"free man"
"free man"
Carrie lives on mainly on the screen, as the new/old antiheroine of Stephen King's classic Carrie , as turn-of-the-21st-century diva Carrie Bradshaw of Sex & The City , and as Claire Danes'…
"phantom queen"
The mythological Morrigan was the ancient goddess of war, often symbolized by a crow. Besides being a name, this is also used as a proper noun preceded by an article: the Morrigan, defined as a…
English, diminutive of Laura
"from Laurentum or bay laurel"
Laurie morphed into the more streamlined Lori in the sixties but now feels dated for a girl in either spelling. Update Lauren has been renovated as Laurel or Laura itself. If you're looking to name a…
Slavic
"to fight"
Boris is one of the old Russian names being revived by chic Europeans; it hasn't quite made a comeback yet in the U.S., but it does have potential. For a long time the name has been associated with…
Feminine variation of Julian
"youthful"
Gillian is a name that was in common usage in Great Britain until the 1970s, when it dropped out of the Top 100 and is yet to return. Until recently, it had not crossed the Atlantic in significant…
