Could Hal be the Jack, Max, or Gus of the future? It just might happen in the new nickname environment. Hank Azaria put it on his son's birth certificate.
 Hal is a venerable nickname for Henry, Harry and Harold, famously used by Shakespeare in King Henry IV as the name of the king's son, the future Henry V.
 A number of show biz figures of a certain era have gone by the name, including Hals Roach, Wallis, Ashby, Holbrook, David and Linden. In the eponymous film, Jack Black played "Shallow Hal."
 As for the bad-guy machine in "2001: A Space Odyssey," that HAL stood for Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer.

Vital and vivacious, Vita is stirring back to life along with many of her V-themed sisters -- Vivian, Vivica -- and is becoming a new celebrity baby favorite. 

Vita Sackville-West was a British author and garden designer in the early 20th century, most famous as the friend and lover of Virginia Woolf.

Vita

Aphra would make an interesting choice-- especially since it's the name of the first professional female writer in English, the seventeenth century's Aphra Behn. Born in 1640, she was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration, and a spy.
 The spelling Aphra was probably inspired by the biblical place name Aphrah, but in medieval English records it also had spellings such as Eaffry and Affery, and is thought to derive from Anglo-Saxon names such as Aethelthryth and Aelthryth — which would make it a cousin of Audrey.
 In antiquity, Afra was also a name for a woman from Africa that eventually became a given name, and was borne by several Roman saints.

Aphra

 aphra

bea/beatrice

joanna/jo

josephine/jo

marlow/marlo

miriam/miri/mira

pauline/paulie

madeleineld's list "ultimate faves!" of 10 great name ideas: Hal - pauline/paulie!

ultimate faves!

a short list of some names i like (with explanations in some cases). i don't know!!!!

ultimate faves!

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