round 1

first impressions
  1. Anya
    • Origin:

      Russian diminutive of Anna
    • Meaning:

      "grace"
    • Description:

      Anya is a Russian variation of Anna, which came from the Hebrew name Hannah. Anya is the form found most frequently in Russia, Poland, and other East European countries, while Anja is the spelling usually preferred in Germany Norway, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, and The Netherlands. In the Hungarian language, Anya also means mother.
  2. Aurora
    • Origin:

      Latin
    • Meaning:

      "dawn"
    • Description:

      The goddess name Aurora has consistently been on the US popularity list since the nineteenth century, but has really taken off in the past 30 years. Aurora also enjoys remarkable international popularity, ranking in the Top 100 throughout the English-speaking world as well as in Italy, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, and several other European and Latin American countries.
  3. Azure
    • Origin:

      English color name
    • Meaning:

      "sky blue"
    • Description:

      Azure is a colorful gender-neutral choice, currently used equally for baby girls and boys in the US. It refers to a specific shade of blue seen in a cloudless sky. Elon Musk recently revealed Azure to be the name of his daughter with Shivon Zilis, twin sister to Strider. While X and Y didn't stand a chance at greater popularity, parents may be inspired to use the name Azure following this celebrity endorsement.
  4. Aero
    • Blaze
      • Origin:

        English word name
      • Meaning:

        "fire"
      • Description:

        Originally a form of the saint's name Blaise, though now more likely to be a hot word name used for both sexes, though heavily weighted toward the boys. It has been in the boys' Top 1000 since the year 2000. On the pop culture side of things, Blaze Bayley is a singer and musician who has been connected to the bands Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden.
    • Bianca Daire
      • Dane
        • Origin:

          English
        • Meaning:

          "from Denmark"
        • Description:

          Dane is a more masculine Dana alternative, with added style edge. Dane has been on the US Top 1000 for more than seventy years, having entered the list in 1945.
      • Dash
        • Origin:

          Diminutive of Dashiell, meaning unknown
        • Description:

          Dash is a nickname that can stand on its own and sounds, well, dashing. Connected these days with Kardashian enterprises.
      • Emerson Daire
        • Fallon
          • Origin:

            Irish
          • Meaning:

            "leader"
          • Description:

            Fallon is one of several boyish surname names introduced in the over-the-top 1980s nighttime soap Dynasty: they sounded cutting-edge at the time, but no longer.
        • Geneva
          • Origin:

            Swiss place-name or French
          • Meaning:

            "juniper tree"
          • Description:

            Unlike its somewhat formal Swiss city namesake, this is a lively and appealing place-name that also has a real history as a female name.
        • Indigo
          • Origin:

            Greek
          • Meaning:

            "Indian dye"
          • Description:

            Indigo is one of the most appealing and evocative of the new generation of color names. Color names have joined flower and jewel names -- in a big way -- and Indigo, a deep blue-purple dye from plants native to India, is particularly striking for both girls and boys. Indigo is the name of a character in the Ntozake Shange novel Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo, and was used for his daughter by Lou Diamond Phillips.
        • Lux
          • Origin:

            Latin
          • Meaning:

            "light"
          • Description:

            This name of a character played by Kirsten Dunst in the movie Virgin Suicides, originally a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, is gaining attention, also thanks to the heroine Lux, Lady of Luminosity in the League of Legends games. Luz is the Spanish version.
        • Lumi
          • Lux Alayna
            • Mia
              • Origin:

                Italian word name or Scandinavian short form of Maria
              • Meaning:

                "mine or bitter"
              • Description:

                Mia is an appealingly unfussy multicultural name that has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the charts and is now firmly among the ten top girl names. Mia has surpassed its mother name Maria as the Number 1 girls' name starting with M.
            • Morgan
              • Origin:

                Welsh
              • Meaning:

                "sea-born, sea-song or sea-circle"
              • Description:

                Morgan has long been a traditional Welsh male name, a variant of the Old Welsh name Morcant, from the Welsh elements mor, meaning "sea" and cant, "circle." The female Morgan is unrelated to the male version—it is a name from Arthurian legend created for Morgan le Fay, King Arthur's half-sister and famed sorceress. Her name comes from Morgen, an Old Welsh name meaning "sea-born," and is related to the Irish name Muirgen.
            • Oliver
              • Origin:

                Latin
              • Meaning:

                "olive tree or elf army"
              • Description:

                Oliver is an international star, ranking near the top of the charts in the US and throughout the English-speaking world, along with a host of European and Latin American countries, from Norway to Chile, Slovenia to Switzerland.
            • Oliver Flynn
              • Penn
                • Origin:

                  English
                • Meaning:

                  "enclosure"
                • Description:

                  This simple, elegant name offers something for many kinds of parents, from writers and history buffs to photographers to Pennsylvania dwellers. Most famous bearers are comedian Penn Jillette and Gossip Girl hottie Penn Badgley, both of whom were given this distinctive name at birth. Long obscure, Penn seems destined for greater usage.