Names I dig '

A fun and confident choice, Holiday is a celebratory name, particularly associated with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, and New Year, and with rest, leisure, and vacations more generally. Fitting for a winter baby, but totally sunny too, it comes from the Old English hāligdæg meaning "holy day" as it was originally used to mark religious festivals and celebrations.

Jessamine, a charming name occasionally heard in England, is just beginning to be appreciated in the U.S. as a possible successor to all the Jess names of the past. It's also spelled Jessamyn, as in Quaker novelist Jessamyn West, author of Friendly Persuasion--who started life with Jessamyn as her middle name.

Selma has recently been given a more youthful spin via actresses Selma Blair and Salma Hayek. But while Selma has not yet become popular again in the US, it is widely used in both Sweden and Norway.

A pretty and substantial German smoosh name, a combination of Hanne and Eleonore. Most popular in Germany from the 1930s to the 1950s. Former German Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Helmut Schmidt both had wives named Hannelore.

Curiously appealing, in a hoop-skirted, wasp-waisted way, Ottoline has recently entered the realm of modern possibility, especially since Sienna Miller chose it as the middle name of her daughter Marlowe.

Hedda is a card-carrying member of the league of older, slightly bohemian urban names like Nedda, Andra, and Petra; also linked to Ibsen heroine Hedda Gabler, as well as being the basis of cruel joke names like Hedda Hare.

Multicultural mini name with an intuitive pronunciation — it's a recipe for success, yet Lida remains under the radar.

Long-standing French name that retains a feminine, fragile, and shell-like image.

Minty isn't a fresh word name — it's an old-fashioned nickname for Araminta, the romantic smoosh name coined by playwright William Congreve in 1693.

A feminine multicultural nickname name perfectly able to stand on its own, Zanna might technically relate to either Susanna or Jane, making it a flexible honor name for an ancestral Susan or Jane or even John.

Spring doesn't sound half as contemporary as Winter, which has become the cool season name.

Thanks to two cultural influences, January has joined March, April, June and August as a plausible month name.

Stormy is on the rise following the birth of Kylie Jenner's daughter Stormi, although the starbaby's spelling has taken over the lead.

A musette is both a dance and an antique instrument, but the name is most associated with the classic opera La Bohème.

A captivating and sprightly name brought into the limelight by actress Thandiwe Newton.

You may be surprised to learn 73 girls have been named Sweden since the 2000s. Appearing sporadically in the US name stats over the last twenty years, the name derives from the Old Norse Svíar which may come from an even older word meaning "one's own tribe".