way out there but I love it!!

Alouette is a sweet Gallic twist in the stylish bird name genre made familiar via the charming French children's song, Alouette, gentile alouette.

Most will see this as a refreshing middle name possibility, but Bristol Palin baby daddy Levi Johnston used it as a first name for his new daughter, Breeze Beretta.

This ancient name, also spelled Caspar, is finally shedding its ghostly image and moving into the 21st century. Popular in the Netherlands and Scandinavia, where it's sometimes shortened to Cas, Casper could ride the style coattails of cousin Jasper. Casper was one of the Three Magi who brought gifts to the infant Jesus along with Melchior and Balthasar.

Crispin, which was introduced into the mainstream by actor Crispin Glover and which means "curly-haired" in Latin, has an image very much like its first syllable: crisp, autumnal, and colorful.

One of the new bird names, like Lark and Wren, this one's associated with the billing and cooing sounds of love. Soft and gentle, Dove also has the admirable association with peace.

While John Wayne and Duke Ellington are worthy role models, the reason Duke is currently enjoying a revival and returned to the Top 1000 in 2013 as one of the year's fastest-rising boys’ names is more likely due to the name given to high-profile TV couple Giuliana and Bill Rancic. Christened Edward Duke, he has always been called by his middle name, just as Edward Duke Ellington was. Duke is just one of several aristocratic titles being increasingly used by ordinary citizens.

Though the tragedies of the Greeks and Eugene O'Neill that used this name are filled with incest and murder, Electra is still a brilliant choice. Isabella Rossellini chose the gentler Italian verson, Elettra, for her now grown daughter.

This comes from Faivish, the Yiddish form of Phoebus, the Greek sun god...and it's also the little mouse in "An American Tail."

The Forest variation of Forrest, used by actor Whitaker, nudges the meaning more toward the woods and away from the woodsman.

Goldie is a shimmering new addition to the nickname name lineup, and became one of the fastest rising girl names in 2023. After peaking at Number 114 in 1904-1905, Goldie slid off the list completely in 1958. She re-entered the US Top 1000 again in 2021.

A familiar and usable last name turned first. Or you could look at it as a homophone of the verb howl, which gives it a wilder feel.

Jethro, though the biblical father-in-law of Moses, has suffered for a long time from a Beverly Hillbilly image, but some really adventurous parents might consider updating and urbanizing it and transitioning it into the hip o-ending category.

Loulou is more likely to be fashioned as Lulu today, but as a short form for any of the Louise names, Loulou is the more logical if more cumbersome spelling. Adorable, in either version.

An old English surname name that sounds just like the invented Marlo. Though the final w places it among the more buttoned-up androgynous baby names, all spellings of the name, which also include Marlowe, are gaining in popularity for girls.

This name of the famous fifth-century sorcerer and mentor of King Arthur may or may not be a bit wizardy for a real-life modern child. Its most noted modern bearer: football star turned actor Merlin Olsen, whose father was named Merle.

More often used in Britain than here, where most names ending in ville fall into the unthinkable class, this might make an exception via fans of the musical Neville Brothers.

A bird name from the same Latin root as Aurelia, Oriole is extremely rare as a name: No babies were given the name in the US in 2022. But most people are aware of the Oriole bird, which makes this name uncommon yet possible.

This old-fashioned word for poetry has some antiquated charm but doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.