cpatt16's list "Master List of Favorites A-Z" of 20 great name ideas: Fallon - Annika!

Master List of Favorites A-Z

A giant compilation of all my favorite names throughout the years including guilty pleasures and names that I would never consider nowadays. Clearly I have a soft spot for girl names

Fallon is one of several boyish surname names introduced in the over-the-top 1980s nighttime soap Dynasty. Despite being a "mom" name, Fallon is making a surprise comeback. It returned to the US Top 1000 in 2019 and has been rising since then, as a new generation of parents fall in love with the sound. It is especially popular in the Southern states.

Fallon

The enormous popularity of Emily and Emma means that parents will be looking further afield for substitutes -- and this is one of the prettiest.

Emiliana

This twist on the popular Everett takes it to lofty heights and gives it a geographical and nature-inspired link. The snow-capped Everest could make a name that stands out without feeling too out there, and it may be seen more often in the classroom (that is, outside of the textbooks) in coming years.
 
Mount Everest is named after George Everest, a British surveyor, whose surname means "from Évreux", a place in Normandy. As a given name, it entered the Top 1000 in 2020, though it has been used sporadically since the beginning of the 20th century. Chosen for 290 American boys in 2024, it is a unisex option, also given to 80 girls.

Everest

The popular -leigh suffix is clearly an attempt to feminize this traditionally boyish nickname — and it works. There were about 350 baby girls named Charleigh in the US last year — and zero baby boys.

That's in contrast to Charlee and Charli, which are mostly but not 100% female. And the traditional spelling Charlie, which is almost equally split between boys and girls.

Charleigh

Flynn, a charming Irish surname, is still used only quietly, despite its easygoing, casual cowboy charm, unlike Finn which is a star of this genre. Flynn was the choice of Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr for their baby boy, and is also the middle name -- used as his first -- of a son of Miranda's fellow supermodel Elle Macpherson, of Gary Oldman's son Gulliver and Marley Shelton's daughter West.
 Flynn Rider (born Eugene Fitzherbert) is the dashing animated hero of the Disney film "Tangled." On TV's "Breaking Bad", Flynn was what young Walter Jr. tried to rename himself. The name was long associated with the swashbuckling Errol Flynn, inspiration of the phrase "in like Flynn." Some may connect this name to controversial former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn
 Flynn entered the U.S. Top 1000 in 2011, and is a highly popular choice in Australia and New Zealand.

Flynn

Yet another creative character name from Toni Morrison, Denver was a daughter of Sethe's in the novel Beloved. Today Denver is most familiar as the name of the largest city in Colorado, used almost equally for girls and boys.

Denver

Honey entered the US Top 1000 for the first time ever in 2024, following the lead of parents in England, who've elevated this nickname-name to the Top 300 girls' names in the UK. Honey's popularity in the UK can be credited to its status as a cute British celebrity baby name, used by actress Kate Winslet, chef Jamie Oliver, and TV presenter Fearne Cotton, among others.
 
More broadly, Honey's spike in popularity may have been inspired by the release of the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda the Musical, which, like the enduring novel it's based on, features the kind, compassionate teacher, Miss. Honey. Alternatively, nickname-names were just big in 2024, with Scottie, Billie, Lettie, and Indy also climbing the charts.
 
If you find this name super sweet, but worry about its use as a (sometimes condescending) term of endearment, you could consider Honora, Henrietta, Helen, Hermione, or Holland with the nickname Honey instead.

Honey

Chelsea is still being used, with about 400 baby girls named Chelsea in the US last year. But it was much more popular a few decades ago, peaking at Number 15 in 1992. 

Chelsea first entered the American consciousness in a major way via the character Jane Fonda played in On Golden Pond in 1981 and later of course was frequently in the headlines when Chelsea Clinton (whose name was inspired by the lyric of a the Joni-Mitchell-Judy Collins song "Chelsea Morning") became First Daughter.

Chelsea

Bear has suddenly lumbered onto the baby name landscape. Perhaps inspired by British adventurer Bear Grylls (born Edward Michael), first celebrity chef Jamie Oliver used it as the middle name for his boy Buddy, and Alicia Silverstone called her son Bear Blu, followed by Kate Winslet's Bear Blaize.

The name Bear is part of a current trend normalizing once aggressive animal names like Wolf, Hawk, and Fox. Bear now ranks in the Top 1000 in both the US and England.

Bear

This once neglected Biblical name is back on the scene, ready to shake off both its association with the long running satirical comic strip, L'il Abner and its historical Puritan image. The name appears in the Bible several times, notably on the cousin and commander of Saul's army and by two figures in the New Testament. It re-entered the US Top 1000 in 2023, and was a fast rising choice in 2024 when it was given to nearly 300 boys.
 
Derived from the elements av and ner, it means "father of light" or "my father is a light", lending it a strong sense of spirituality and the possibility of working to a strong parental figure too. Moreover, while it is a Biblical choice, like the popular Asher, it shares that -er ending of modern, occupational names like Cooper or Carter, giving it an extra layer of appeal.
 
The name has several literary credentials, having appeared in works by James Fenimore Cooper, Thomas Hardy and Eugene O'Neill and was also borne by Abner Doubleday, who has been credited with inventing baseball.

Abner

With Levi in vogue and country names on trend, Denim could fit in among the Waylons, Walkers, Coltons, and Rhetts. As a boys name, it brings to mind the qualities of the fabric: hardworking, cool and versatile. Singer Toni Braxton chose this name for her son in 2001, and parents have been using it for boys and girls ever since.
 
While some will see Denim as better off left in the clothing department, the name has been steadily rising in popularity since the 2000s. The latest stats reveal that 190 boys and nearly 90 girls received the name in 2024, making it as popular as Cormac, Toby, Kreed, and Finnick.
 
The word denim comes from the French phrase serge de Nimes translating to "fabric from Nimes", where denim was first produced. Used in the US since the mid-19th century - before it caught on worldwide - it does have an "all-American" feel to it.

Denim

Less popular than Emery, this name also attributes to Emory University. Both spellings of the name lean more heavily to the girls' side, but this one is not quite as unbalanced.

Emory is used about 40 percent of the time for baby boys, while with Emery, it's only a bit over 10 percent.

Emory

Aviana is a name that's like the megapopular Ava and Ariana, but not quite as popular as either. It entered into the mainstream back in 2010 however, after actress Amy Adams chose it for her daughter, fulfilling her desire to choose a "normal" name after all, even if it didn't seem like that a decade ago. 
 
Adams got the name from her place of birth, Aviano, Italy, though we suspect many parents go with Aviana for its bird related meaning and popular sounds. The first syllable of the name can be pronounced ah, ay, or av (like in have).
 
In 2024, it was a fast rising choice, given to over 400 girls, despite having previously been on the decline.

Aviana

Now that such Old Testament patriarchs as Elijah and Moses fill the playground, Boaz seems downright baby-friendly, having more pizzazz than many of the others, perhaps as a successor to Noah.
 A name that was used by the seventeenth century Pilgrims and is still heard in Israel, but is a rarity in the U.S., Boaz is associated with the Jewish holiday Shavuot, as that is when the Bible story of Ruth is read in the synagogue, and Boaz was Ruth's wealthy and generous second husband, making it logical for Boaz to sometimes be given to boys born at that time.
 
Familiar but underused in the US, it is a popular choice in The Netherlands where it ranked in the Top 50 in a recent year. The pronunciation varies slightly in Dutch and it would be heard as BO-ahz.
 Extra added attraction: one of the all-time great nicknames; Bo.

Boaz

The popular single-named alternative singer (born Bek) has given this cool nature-meets-surname name a new lease of life. Another notable bearer is Beck Weathers, a Texan pathologist who survived the 1996 Mount Everest disaster, which was covered in the book and film Into Thin Air.

 Outdoorsy yet refined, Beck still sits below the radar but could follow brother Beckett up the charts.

Beck

The name of a courageous tribe, Cheyenne became quite popular in the 1990s, inspiring a wide range of spelling variations—Shyanne is one example that's still on the rise. 

Cheyenne

Emmeline is an Emma relative and Emily cousin that is destined for greater use in the wake of the megapopularity of those two names. A recommended Nameberry fave, Emmeline hopped onto the US Top 1000 in 2014 for the first time ever. While it is genuinely an old name, it was rarely used a century ago; only 17 baby girls were named Emmeline in 1915, the same number as were named Ernie!
 A popular medieval name, Emmeline was introduced to Britain by the Normans. It appeared as a character in Uncle Tom's Cabin, and is famous in Britain as the name of the illustrious suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst. Way back in 1980, it was the name of young Brooke Shields's innocent character in The Blue Lagoon. More recently, Emmeline Vance was a witch in the Harry Potter series.
 Christian Bale has a daughter named Emmeline.

Emmeline

Arden, the name of the magical forest in Shakespeare's As You Like It, is a stylish A name with a strong, straightforward image. Another reason to love Arden: its similarity to "ardent." Arden is solidly unisex, with the current gender distribution running about 49 percent girls and 51 percent boys.

 A locational surname name deriving from several places in England, there are multiple legitimate derivations for this name. One is from Old English earn "eagle" + denu "valley", while another is from the Celtic ard meaning "high".

 As a girl name, Arden has been flirting with the bottom of the Top 1000 for a number of years, just missing out in a recent count when it was given to 237 girls. A solid Nameberry favorite, it currently ranks in the UK Top 800 for boys, where is leans notably more masculine (15:85)

 Arden is more familiar as a surname, as in cosmetics entrepreneur Elizabeth and actress Eve, and the narrative poem by Tennyson, Enoch Arden, along with Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden. 
 
A notable first name bearer is Arden Cho, actress and singer, and the voice of a lead character in hit movie, KPOP Demon Hunters, while social media influencer Lacey Douthat (of The Glitter Gospel) named her daughter Arden Laine in 2025.

Arden

Alec, a clipped British short form of Alexander, is less fresh than Alex, but leans more off-beat classic than Xander. Used since at least the 19th-century, Alec became particularly popular in the English-speaking world during the 1990s, possibly following actor Alec Baldwin's appearance in the movies Beetlejuice (1988) and The Hunt for Red October (1990). 
 
Used as both a full name and as a nickname, it has also been notably borne by actor Alec Guinness, writer Alec Waugh, and cricketer Alec Stewart. It's got literary credentials too, appearing in Maurice by E.M Forster, while in fiction more generally it has been used in Twilight, The Shadowhunters, GoldenEye, and Broarchurch.
 
Sharing the same strong meaning as long-form Alexander ("defending men"), Alec has been declining in recent years, possibly because it could easily get misheard as Alex, or because the aforementioned Alec Baldwin was accused (and later cleared) of involuntary manslaughter after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed during filming in 2021. 
 
Ranking at #977 in the US in a recent year, it was chosen by Vice President J.D Vance and his wife Usha for their son, born in 2026. For some, this may spark renewed interest in the name, though others may be further put off.

Alec

Annika is a surprise hit of recent years, inspired by golfer Sorenstam; for Trekkies, it was also the name of a 'Star Trek:Voyager' character. Some people's first memory of it might be as Pippi Longstocking's friend. A nice namesake for an ancestral Ann.