Birch is a rarely used nature name that calls to mind the lovely image of the tall, strong but graceful white-barked tree.

This old-fashioned word for poetry has some antiquated charm but doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Randolph is a timeworn classic that had its last hurrah in the 1940s, when Randolph (born George) Scott was starring in westerns, but then was probably done in by its tricky nickname Randy (which, strangely enough, was itself a Top 50 name in the fifties and sixties).

The jazziest nickname for Charles.

Variant spelling of Nyx, the name of the Greek goddess of the night. It also coincides with the English word "nix, a corruption of German nichts "nothing".

Viva Las Vegas? What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas? We think not. Maybe Vega, the name of an actual heavenly star?

Haitian writer Edwidge Danticat highlighted this sophisticated, chignon-wearing choice for literate parents.