snips - snails - etc

  1. Montgomery
    • Origin:

      Norman
    • Meaning:

      "man power"
    • Description:

      This image of this distinguished Anglo-Scottish surname, drawn from the French place name of the ancient castle of Saint Foi de Montgomery, is rapidly shifting from fusty and formal to cool. And dashing short form Monty (or Monte) nudges it to cute.
  2. Mortimer
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "dead sea"
    • Description:

      Other kids might see a teasible connection to mortician or mortuary. Mortimer is an English family name used a few generations ago as an Anglicization of Moses; it was Walt Disney's original choice for the name of his mouse, until his wife talked him out of it.
  3. Nicholas
    • Origin:

      Greek
    • Meaning:

      "people of victory"
    • Description:

      Nicholas is derived from the Greek Nikolaos, a name that evolved from the components nikē, meaning "victory", and laos, "people." It shares origins with Nike, the name of the Greek goddess of victory. Nicholas is also a New Testament name that is well-used in literature, such as in Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby.
  4. North
    • Origin:

      English word name
    • Meaning:

      "cardinal direction of north"
    • Description:

      A lot of attention was drawn to this name when Kim Kardashian and Kanye West announced it as the name of their baby daughter, making it instantly unisex.
  5. Penrose
    • Origin:

      Cornish and Welsh place name and surname
    • Meaning:

      "top of the heath"
    • Description:

      Penrose – an ancient locational surname derived from several villages in Cornwall, Wales, and the Welsh border country of England – might work as a first name, although the "Rose" syllable might lead the uninitiated to assume it's a female name. As a middle name, however, it would make for a surprising and distinguished choice. A male Penrose could be called Pen/Penn, Ross or Roe for short.
  6. Rhodes
    • Origin:

      Greek
    • Meaning:

      "where roses grow"
    • Description:

      This is a name we've seen the potential of for some time now — A Greek island and a prestigious scholarship make for a preppy first name with the uber-stylish S ending. Needless to say we were not surprised that Rhodes cracked the Top 1000 in 2022, and we expect it to keep rising. Rhodes was recently chosen by actress Emma Roberts for her son, born in 2020.
  7. Sawyer
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "woodcutter"
    • Description:

      Sawyer is a surname with a more relaxed and friendly feel than many others, and is one of the hottest occupational names right now, with the Nameberry seal of approval. Sawyer is becoming one of the top unisex names. Both Sara Gilbert and Diane Farr used Sawyer for their daughters, while it was given a boost as a boys' name by the character Sawyer on Lost, an alias for the character really named James Ford.
  8. Terence
    • Origin:

      Latin clan name
    • Meaning:

      "soft; thresher"
    • Description:

      A name that seems to hail from the old Irish neighborhoods of Boston and New York, Terence actually dates back a lot further, to the time of a famous second-century poet, who started life as a North African enslaved man in the house of a Roman senator and it was also borne by several early saints.
  9. Thorne
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "thorn thicket"
    • Description:

      Rose and Briar are popular, and Hawthorn is cool – so why not the equally prickly Thorne? The E ending gives it a surnamey spin à la Hawthorne.
  10. Vivian
    • Origin:

      Latin
    • Meaning:

      "life"
    • Description:

      Deriving from the Roman cognomen Vivianus, Vivian was originally a masculine name, with Vivien being a feminine soundalike coined by Alfred Lord Tennyson for the Lady of the Lake in his famous poetic adaptation of the legend of King Arthur. It has since become a much more popular choice for girls in the US, but retains a refined British charm which sees it cropping up occasionally for boys in the Telegraph birth announcements.
  11. York
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "from the yew estate"
    • Description:

      Brisk, preppy York is an underused classic with the potential to really shine in the 21st century. It's most familiar as a place name — York is a city in England — and surname. New York City and State were named after the Duke of York.