New Baby Boy

Ellery is a rhythmic three-syllable boy's name that is familiar and yet rarely used--and just waiting to be discovered. It's long been identified with Ellery Queen--which was both the pen name of two cousins, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, and the detective they created.

One of the first generation of surname names, along with Porter and Morgan, Parker's still one of the most appealing and remains firmly in the Top 100 for boys. About three times as many boys as girls get this occupational name. The association with Charlie Parker gives Parker itself a jazzy edge, and it also has a nature-related meaning. Rosie O'Donnell has a son named Parker.

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.

Common in Holland, the appealing Willem (as in de Kooning and Dafoe) makes William fresh and distinctive.