Whimsical Winsome Names

If you like names that are not really names -- some say, the wave of the future -- Harbor has an attractive sound as well as an appealing meaning and image.

Sapphira is a lovely name which unfortunately has an unsavory Biblical history. The New Testament Sapphira was killed by God for lying about a tax payment.

The "Believe It or Not" jokes will get old fast, but this surname feels fun and on-trend for both girls and boys, reminiscent of Riley, Tripp, Bridger, and Oakley.

Mostly feminine, though "Office" star Rainn Wilson gives it a slight masculine twist. You might also use this as a short form of Raines.

Supermodel Christie Brinkley launched an entire name genre when she picked this breezy occupational name for her daughter in 1998, and it has become more prevalent in recent decades. The Saylor version, which you might consider a spelling spin or a surname-name, is now among the Top 500 names for girls, given to three times as many baby girls as the Sailor spelling. Counted together, Saylor and Sailor were used for about 1000 baby girls in one recent year in the US, versus about 100 boys.

Elton is an unassuming, lesser-used place name belonging to several towns in the British Isles, the US and Canada, and even a lake in Russia. The singer Elton John gives it a bit of extra pizzazz.

Severin is an ancient Roman family name borne by several early saints. It's still alive throughout Europe, and could be ready for import here. Severin Winter is a wrestling prodigy character in John Irving's The 158-Pound Marriage and, in its original Latin form, Severus Snape appears in Harry Potter.

The name Esca appears in Rosemary Sutcliff's 1954 historical adventure novel The Eagle of the Ninth, which is set in 2nd century Roman Britain. Esca is the name of a freed slave who accompanies his ex-master Marcus Flavius Aquila on various adventures. He was portrayed in the 2011 film adamptation The Eagle by English actor Jamie Bell.

This stuffy English surname and hotel name took on Twilight cool when attached to vampire Carlisle Cullen. Inspired by the character, it's more popular in this spelling than as Carlyle and more widely used for boys than for girls.

This Mediterranean island name would be a plausible choice for parents with a Greek or Turkish heritage.

A sweet, modern descriptive name, with a wholesome and winning feel, Winsome means "appealing, fresh, simple, innocent" or "cheerful and lighthearted." Some may find it a little too cutesy, but with Dolly, Birdie, Sunny, and Blessing on the rise, it could fit right in. Nicknames Winnie and Winn are an added bonus.

Fauna is the Roman goddess of the earth as well as one of the fairies who protected Disney's "Sleeping Beauty". It can also be considered a word name with a scientific, nature focused feel. Used to as a way to refer to all the animals in a particular area, habitat, or time period, many might think of the phrase "Flora and Fauna" on seeing the name.

Sky may be a bit hippie-ish, but it's bright and sunny nonetheless. Sky rejoined the Top 1000 in 2013 after spending many years off the list. Sky was the choice of magician David Copperfield for his daughter, born in 2010.

The French Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne put the spotlight on this name when she made the charts with "Sk8er Boi". It is simply the French form of April, the fourth month of the year, whose name might derive from the Latin aperire meaning "to open" in reference to the start of spring in the Northern hemisphere. Other sources suggest it comes from the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite.

Junius is one of those names that's growing on us, along with many of its Roman countrymen such as Julius and Atticus. We once thought it was a combination of the least attractive elements of Junior and Julius but now we think...well, we think it's okay. Not great, but okay.

Even among the range of blue names on the current baby naming palette -- Blue itself, Azure, Cerulean, Teal, Aqua, Cyan, Indigo -- Cobalt remains the most unusual, not to mention the most masculine.

Theon, an ancient name attached to a noted Greek teacher of mathematics and astronomy, also father to the first woman mathematician, might appeal to parents in this field. You can think of Theon as Theo with something a little extra.

A variation of the popular Caden, Kayden, Kaden, and so on, Caiden is in the US Top 500 and the UK Top 1000. When you combine all the spelling variations however, Caiden begins to feel and sound like a Top 20 choice in the States.

Cute and eminently wearable surname name for girls.

Associated with poetry, pop music, and the Greek lyre, Lyric has a light and zippy sound to it and joins the likes of Melody, Harmony, Cadence, and Aria as musical names that have become baby names. A unisex name, it is currently three times more popular for girls in the US where it sits in the Top 600. It has declined in use since its 2014 peak, but was still given to around 560 girls in a recent year.