After Dallas, Austin, and Houston, the new cowboy on the block. Old-school Western nickname: Tex.

America has fallen in love with Hayes and Brooks and Banks and Rhodes, and now, parents are turning to Townes. With its fashionable S ending and image that can read as preppy or country or cowboy, depending on the context, Townes feels destined for mainstream success.

Sudsy name that could be a new character on "Days of Our Lives."

Sharp and preppy.

One of the aggressive new boys' names, ala Tracker and Heller, that have become fashionable among parents who are courting trouble.

A rowdy name nobody ever heard of, till Nick Nolte gave it to his son.

This would make a startling but likable choice; poet Dylan Thomas used it for a character in his play "Under Milk Wood."

Whether pronounced like the wag of a tail or as the correct German VAHG-ner, this might be something a devoted opera buff could consider as a middle name.

Bingham is the unusual surname name chosen by Kate Hudson and Matt Bellamy for their son. It was Bellamy's mother's maiden name, and the nickname Bing, coincidentally, belongs to almost-stepfather Kurt Russell's dad. We haven't heard Bing since crooner Crosby, but it does have a lot of zing.