Dance Baby Names

Juba, a strong and resonant unisex name, belonged to an ancient African king, is a city and river name, and is traditionally given to Ashanti (of Ghana) girls born on Monday.

Personification of pep.

Fanciful, edging toward bizarre.

A South American dance style whose name derives from Latin tangere "touch". It's also a popular orange-flavored fizzy drink in the UK, as well as the word for the letter T in the NATO phonetic alphabet.

You've got the red-nosed reindeer to transcend, but there are other distinguished personages named Rudolph, Rudolf, and Rudy.

Merce Cunningham (born with the French version Mercier) was a highly influential avant garde dancer-choreographer and his name still resonates with an aura of bold originality.  

This name was given a lithe and graceful image by ballerina Gelsey Kirkland, but was later far surpassed by Kelsey and Chelsea.

Form of Swanhild, borne by the heroine of the ballet Coppélia. The -a ending certainly gives this ancient name a lighter, more balletic feel.

A Blaise/Blaze hybrid that maintains neither the history of Blaise nor the wordiness of Blaze.

A wonderful meaning for a bright and musical West African name.

Sway is a truly gender-neutral choice with rhythm and swagger. Although it's still extremely rare — last used for 13 girls and eight boys — expect it to continue to rise for both sexes, alongside potential full form Swayze.

Sassy but slight nickname name.

An Allemande is a renaissance musical form meaning 'German dance" - Handel composed many famous allemandes. As a name, Allemande has the advantages of being unusual whilst still having a history, and pretty while still having gravitas. It also has great potential for nicknames, with Ally, Lemmi and Mandy being the most obvious.

Poetic name that's terminally mournful.

Coppélia is the name of the life-sized doll created by Doctor Coppélius in the eponymous 1870 ballet, based on short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Coppélius' name may be derived from the Yiddish Koppel, a diminutive of Jacob.

Actor Jeremy Sisto put this word name on the map in 2009, when he used it as the middle name for his daughter Charlie.

A cabriole is a classic ballet move that could easily be adopted by dancer as the first or middle name for their child.