Middle Names, Surnames, and Nicknames
By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 46 pages
of 46
Word name
A modern virtue name, particularly desirable in this pressure-cooker world.
English word name
"cotton cloth imported from India; a blotched or spotted animal"
A word name with fashionable o -ending that has associations with both the homespun fabric and the mottled cat. Alice Cooper named his daughter Calico decades ago, while it was selected more recently…
If you don't want to limit yourself to one month of the year, this unique baby name offers the plus of the friendly nickname, Cal.
Although this name literally means disaster, the use of Calamity as a descriptor of Martha Jane Cannery, aka Calamity Jane, was meant to signal that she was a good person to have in troubled times.…
Spacey. Gravity will probably be too heavy and grave -- sorry -- for most parents. But one possible exception might be big fans of Alfonso Cuaron's 2013 movie Gravity . And astrophysicists.
Word name or diminutive of Gruffudd, English, Welsh
"rough; strong lord"
As an English word name, Gruff is rough round the outside with playful air, similar to Rowdy or Wilder, while as a Welsh nickname, it comes from the more stately Gruffudd meaning "strong lord". It…
Toni Morrison, a master of character naming, coined this one for the best friend of hero Milkman Dead in Song of Solomon . Definitely a cool choice, with a twang.
A (male) character in Toni Morrison's great Song of Solomon , but also plays for a girl.
word name
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…
"bird"
The name of the teenaged son on the dear departed television show "Huff."
Fluttery and flighty. But there are a couple of names that mean butterfly you might consider, such as Yara and Farasha.
One of the aggressive new boys' names, ala Tracker and Heller, that have become fashionable among parents who are courting trouble.
Italian word name
One way to encourage some cheers for your little one, but not recommended.
"to prepare; to reinforce; to strengthen"
Brace yourself? You're going to hear that one a lot if you choose this word name for your baby son, as a handful of parents in the US did in a recent year. One reason for this word is being used as a…
Not even for Brandy's twin brother.
"harmony"
Hippie name with a sweet meaning. While theoretically gender-neutral, Harmony was given to nearly 1400 baby girls last year....and zero boys.
Word name or nickname
Boo may have started out as a nickname for the male character Arthur "Boo" Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird and these days may be closely associated with another male Boo, the "world's cutest dog" or…
Boo as a first name first achieved notoriety as the name of the child-man in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. Arthur "Boo" Radley was meant to be frightening, but only in a simple, non-threatening…
Wildly optimistic, and unrealistic, choice.
Wildly optimistic -- and unrealistic -- choice.
