English Word Names

  1. Sonnet
    • Origin:

      English from Italian
    • Meaning:

      "little song"
    • Description:

      Could there be a more poetic name than Sonnet? Actor Forest Whitaker was inspired to choose it for his daughter.
  2. Winter
    • Origin:

      Word name
    • Description:

      Fresher, brisker and, yes, cooler than Summer or Autumn or Spring, Winter is now a full-fledged female choice, especially since Nicole Richie and Joel Madden used it for daughter Harlow's middle name, and Gretchen Mol picked it as her daughter's first, as did media mogul Sean Parker. Winter continues to be the preferred spelling and has risen in popularity significantly over the past few years.
  3. Bridger
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "lives near the bridge"
    • Description:

      A recent addition to the Most Popular list, Bridger has the trendy two-syllables and 'er' ending, and a historical reference to Jim Bridger, a foremost nineteenth-century frontiersman, explorer, trapper, scout, and teller of tall tales.
  4. Sky
    • Origin:

      Nature name
    • Description:

      Sky is an ambigender nature name that was first legitimized as the character of Sky Masterson in the 1950 musical Guys and Dolls, played in the film version by Marlon Brando. It's a name we appreciate for its clear, wide-open feel, less hippyish than others like Rainbow and Starlight, and makes an appealing middle name possibility.
  5. Haven
    • Origin:

      Word name, English
    • Meaning:

      "a place of safety"
    • Description:

      Haven is a recently invented safe-harbor name that appeals to an increasing number of parents who don't want to voyage quite as far as Heaven.
  6. Drake
    • Origin:

      English word name
    • Meaning:

      "dragon; or, male duck"
    • Description:

      A simple one-syllable name that has been on the popularity list since the mid-1980s, Drake is most associated today with the single-named rapper (born Aubrey). The name peaked at Number 197 in 2010 and has since been on a slow decline, but it still can be counted among the stylish contemporary boy names starting with D.
  7. West
    • Origin:

      Word name
    • Description:

      West is the most fashionable of what you might call the direction names, with North and East (or Easton and Easter) coming up behind, and South not yet on the map.
  8. Saint
    • Origin:

      English word name
    • Meaning:

      "saint"
    • Description:

      Saint as a descriptive word name was first chosen by rocker Pete Wentz for his younger son (baby brother is Bronx), and now Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have catapulted the name into the celebrity stratosphere by choosing it for their baby boy. The couple called their baby "Saint" throughout the pregnancy because his conception had been so difficult. Saint was named in our predictions for the top baby name trends of 2015, on descriptive word names which also include Royal and Noble, King and Rogue. Saint is moving beyond the group of names that are only celebrity baby names and into the general lexicon.
  9. Pixie
    • Origin:

      Swedish or Cornish
    • Meaning:

      "fairy"
    • Description:

      Pixie is a cute -- quite possibly too cute -- name that suddenly feels possible thanks to the craze for names that contain the letter x. Though its origin may be uncertain, a pixie is internationally recognized as a sprite or fairy: tiny, sometimes green, usually pointy-eared.
  10. Echo
    • Origin:

      Greek mythology name
    • Meaning:

      "echo or sound"
    • Description:

      Echo, the pretty, resonant name of a legendary nymph, was the heroine of Joss Whedon's sci-fi series Dollhouse. Nick Hexum, of the band 311, named his daughter Echo Love.
  11. Blue
    • Origin:

      Color name
    • Description:

      Blue suddenly came into the spotlight, as the unusual color name chosen by Beyonce and Jay-Z for their baby girl Blue Ivy. Blue is also a starbaby middle name du jour, used for both sexes in different spellings and forms, from John Travolta and Kelly Preston's Ella Bleu to Alicia Silverstone's Bear Blu. Dave 'The Edge' Evans named his daughter Blue Angel back in 1989.
  12. Valor
    • Origin:

      Word name
    • Meaning:

      "courage and bravery"
    • Description:

      This modern virtue name gives a nod to ancient chivalry and could also work as an updated form of the classic Victor. A bold choice, but one that an increasing number of parents have been making in the last decade.
  13. Holiday
    • Origin:

      English word name
    • Meaning:

      "holy day"
    • Description:

      A fun and confident choice, Holiday is a celebratory name, particularly associated with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, and New Year, and with rest, leisure, and vacations more generally. Fitting for a winter baby, but totally sunny too, it comes from the Old English hāligdæg meaning "holy day" as it was originally used to mark religious festivals and celebrations.
  14. Arrow
    • Origin:

      Word name
    • Description:

      Words are not always easy to translate into baby names, but the implications of being straight and swift lend this one great potential as a name. It also has the popular o-sound ending, which brings it further into the realm of possibility. Rising rock star Aja Volkman pulled a gender switch when she named her daughter Arrow Eve.
  15. Jubilee
    • Origin:

      Hebrew
    • Meaning:

      "ram's horn"
    • Description:

      Jubilee has a joyous and jubilant aura, but it wouldn't be an easy name to carry, what with all that pressure to be a living, breathing, 24-7 party. Jubilee was the name selected by television's Duggars for their miscarried child.
  16. Journey
    • Origin:

      Word name
    • Description:

      Journey is one of the hot new spiritual names. Although Journey was given in 2015 to over 1100 baby girls and fewer than 100 baby boys, it's more visible on the celebrity baby scene as a boys' name: Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green just chose the name for their third son, who also has the unisex middle name River.
  17. Justice
    • Origin:

      English word name
    • Meaning:

      "the quality of being just, impartial, or fair"
    • Description:

      Justice, one of the rare virtue names for boys, entered the popularity ranks in 1992, and remained in the charts until the 2020s. While it has fallen out of favor in more recent years, it remains a fresh but solid feeling option.
  18. Justice
    • Origin:

      English word name
    • Meaning:

      "the quality of being just, impartial, or fair"
    • Description:

      Justice, one of the rare virtue names for boys, entered the popularity ranks in 1992, and remained in the charts until the 2020s. While it has fallen out of favor in more recent years, it remains a fresh but solid feeling option.
  19. Quill
    • Origin:

      Irish, diminutive of Quillan or Quiller; also English word name
    • Meaning:

      "lion, scribe, writer with a quill pen"
    • Description:

      Quill is a unique possibility for the child of writers -- even if they do use computers rather than pens; could also serve as a rhyming tribute to an ancestor named Gil, Phil, or Bill (or Jill).
  20. Whimsy
    • Origin:

      English word name
    • Meaning:

      "whimsical or fanciful"
    • Description:

      Whimsy is a new entry to the ever-expanding word name lexicon, sister for Pixie and Bliss. While it has an undeniable offbeat English aristocratic charm (maybe we're thinking of Dorothy Sayers' fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey, whose middle name was Death?), we see this as more fitting for a middle than a first name.

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