Words Your Name?

When actress Rachel Griffiths chose this highly unusual name for her son, many assumed it was a bizarre invention. But a noted Australian poet (Griffiths is an Aussie) is known by this name.

Among the coolest of the cool color names, particularly popular with celebs as a unisex middle name.

Delta is an unusual vintage option with a lazy-day-down-by-the-river feel. Delta is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet and also the geographical name given to an island formed at the mouth of a river.

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.

Unlike Amber, which is in decline, this name still has a bit of a glow left -- though confusions between the two will inevitably arise.

Inventive name for the child of a writer.

Many virtue names have long been in style or have seen a resurgence in recent years. Happy, however joyous, seems unlikely to join this trend. This could be because it doesn't have a solid history of being popularly used (in comparison to Joy or Hope) and because it's such a familiarly used word in day to day life (unlike Verity or Felicity).

Associated with poetry, pop music, and the Greek lyre, Lyric has a light and zippy sound to it. Currently more popular for girls in the US, it was in the Top 1000 for boys between 2007 and 2020. Currently given to around 170 boys each year, for every baby boy called Lyric, there are three girls given the name.

The original oddball celebrity baby name, via Frank Zappa's daughter Moon Unit, who claims she's always liked it.

Petal is the soft and sweet-smelling name of a character in the novel and film, The Shipping News. With the rise of such flower names as Poppy and Posy, we believe Petal — down-to-earth yet romantic — has its own appealingly distinctive style.

One celebrity baby Pilot put this occupational choice into the pool -- together with the middle name Inspektor, something we wouldn't advise following.

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.

Unspecific place name with a wonderfully wide-open, spacious, western feel; used for a character in Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland.

A word name that has sailed onto birth certificates of both genders, especially since Liv Tyler used it for her son. For boys, Saylor and Sailor are used about equally, but were together given to about 100 baby boys last year....and 1000 baby girls.