QuillAndCompass's list of names

  1. Alastaire
    • Cecil
      • Origin:

        Latin
      • Meaning:

        "blind"
      • Description:

        Once a powerful Roman clan name, Cecil has lost much of its potency over the years, though it retains a strong presence in the sports and jazz worlds. Past bearers include film giant Cecil B. DeMille, poet Cecil Day Lewis, father of Daniel, and photographer Cecil Beaton. Fictional Cecils appear in Oscar Wilde's play, Lady Windemere's Fan, E. M. Foster's A Room With a View and the film Lee Daniel's The Butler.
    • Cressida
      • Origin:

        Greek
      • Meaning:

        "gold"
      • Description:

        Cressida is a pretty mythological and Shakespearean heroine name much better known in Britain than it is here — an imbalance the adventurous baby namer might want to correct.
    • Crow
      • Origin:

        Bird name
      • Description:

        From Haruki Murakami's Kafka on the Shore, the story of a boy named Kafka -- crow in Czech.
    • Grey
      • Origin:

        Color name
      • Description:

        The girls have Violet and Scarlet and Ruby and Rose, but for the boys there's a much more limited palette of color names. Grey/Gray is one exception, which could make for a soft and evocative—if slightly somber—choice, especially in the middle. Kaitlin Olson and Rob McElhenney named their son Leo Grey.
    • Locke
      • Origin:

        English
      • Meaning:

        "enclosure or fortified place"
      • Description:

        Usually adding an e to the end of a name makes it more feminine, but Locke is at most recent count used only for baby boys. Still, this stylishly strong one-syllable name is theoretically gender-neutral.
    • Mischa
      • Origin:

        Russian, diminutive of Mikhail
      • Description:

        This was a 100 percent boys' name till the willowy Mischa Barton of TV's "The OC" made it unisex, a la Sascha.
    • October
      • Origin:

        English word name
      • Meaning:

        "month name"
      • Description:

        What is so rare as a month named June? October – and November and December – are a lot rarer. Brisk and substantial, they're so much more memorable and modern than April or May. October got its name via being the eighth month in the old Roman calendar. Some related, more feminine variations are Octavia and Ottavia.
    • Quill
      • Origin:

        Irish, diminutive of Quillan or Quiller; also English word name
      • Meaning:

        "scribe, writer with a quill pen"
      • Description:

        Novel choice for the child of authors. Quill could be used to honor someone with a rhyming name, such as Jill, Bill, Phil, or Gil.
    • Rue
      • Origin:

        Botanical names or word name
      • Meaning:

        "herb; regret"
      • Description:

        Rue has gone from Golden Girls actress to Hunger Games heroine to a fresh alternative to beloved middle name Rose. This botanical name is also a coincidental double word name, meaning "regret" in English and "street" in French. Despite these unfortunate secondary meanings, Rue has real potential to be one of the most popular new middle names for girls.
    • Sascha
      • Origin:

        German variation of Sasha
      • Meaning:

        "defending warrior"
      • Description:

        Largely male throughout Europe, this name--spelled with or without the c, is an energetic choice that has really taken off for girls here; it's been used for the daughters of Steven Spielberg, Jerry Seinfeld, and Vanessa Williams. The Barack Obamas use Sasha as the nickname for their younger daughter, whose proper name is Natasha. Sasha Alexander, on the TV show Rizzoli & Isles, was born Suzana.
    • Solstice
      • Origin:

        English from Latin
      • Meaning:

        "when the sun stands still"
      • Description:

        Solstice graduated from word to official first name when author Lionel Shriver used it for a character in her novel Big Brother. But of course, there were people named Solstice before: 16 baby girls were given the name in the US in 2021 (and it is occasionally used for boys too).
    • Willoughby
      • Origin:

        English
      • Meaning:

        "farm near the willows"
      • Description:

        Willoughby is an energetic last-name-first route to the popular short form Will, livelier than any of the two-syllable options. It could be picked up by parents attracted to the Willow sound for girls.
    • Wynn
      • Origin:

        Welsh
      • Meaning:

        "fair, blessed"
      • Description:

        Wynn is an attractive Welsh name, originally male but now also used for girls outside of Wales. The authentic feminine version would be Gwen, which derives from the same very productive gwyn element, making it a relative of all Welsh names ending -wyn or -wen, as well as the Irish Fin- names.