User-created list
By dxnielle · Updated May 2023
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English, diminutive of Michael
Unlike Jake or Sam, few parents put Mike on the birth certificate.
Latin
"fortress, walled town,"
Chester is a comfortable, little-used teddy-bear of a name that suddenly sounds both quirky and cuddly. Chester was a Top 100 name in the US from the 1880s to 1929, gradually fading till it finally…
English
"linden tree hill"
An English surname-turned-first-name whose most famous bearer is former US president Lyndon B. Johnson. His appointment in 1963 caused a huge spike in use for his unusual name the following year,…
German
"bright, shining intellect"
A name that sounds so old-fashioned some parents out there might conceivably find it quirky enough for a comeback, along with other one-time fuddie-duddies like Oscar and Homer. Along with other…
Al is a masculine name that primarily functions as a shortened form of names beginning with 'Al,' such as Albert (meaning 'noble and bright'), Alfred ('wise counselor'), Alexander ('defender of the…
Irish variation of Gerard
"spear strength"
After being one of the hot upscale surnames of the nineties, Garrett has left the Top 100 and this streamlined spelling is dawdling near the bottom of the Top 1000.
"caretaker of the mill"
If you're looking for a presidential first name, keep looking.
Hebrew
"God is just"
Adlai is an Old Testament name long associated with 1950's liberal presidential candidate Stevenson, who was named after his grandfather, who was Grover Cleveland's vice president in the nineteenth…
Punic and Assyrian
"grace of Baal, god of fertility and fortune"
These days, it's thought of less as the name of the great general and more as the first name of Lecter the fictional cannibal. Either association is too heavy for a child to bear.
Dutch
"scholar"
This worthy name, imported by the early Dutch colonists, has been all but overpowered by the phonetic spellings -- Skyler for boys and Skylar for girls. With the surnames-as-first-names trend,…
"white, or, man from Alba"
More often spelled ALBAN, Alben is an ancient and highly unusual name. Alben Barkley was Harry Truman's vice president.
Diminutive of Richard
"dominant ruler"
Dick was a once-common short form of Richard; replaced by Rick or Richie, and finally by the full name itself. Rude meaning -- make that two rude meanings -- pretty much knocks this one out of…
"old bridge"
Elbridge is an uncommon last name used as first. It sounds rather forbidding, but Bridge would be a cute, modern nickname.
"I breathe"
Grandparents are sure to link this to disgraced Nixon vice president Spiro Agnew.
