User-created list
Great For Book Charcters
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Sinjin
Phonetic spelling of St. John
The name St. John is much more usable in its phonetic spelling — similar to the way St. Clair evolved into Sinclair. St. John has some literary cred — St. John Rivers is a cool character in Jane Eyre…
Allaire
French surname, possibly meaning "cheerful"
"cheerful"
Allaire, a last name in France. could make a first, with its light and airy feel.
Vidar
Old Norse
"quiet god"
Mythological son of Odin, powerful and mute.
Cadogan
Welsh
"honor in battle"
This surname borne by several early Welsh leaders has a lot of energy.
Struan
Gaelic
"stream"
A strong, eminently usable which is currently highly fashionable in its native Scotland, but little known elsewhere. With its cool two-syllable, n-ending shape and attractive nature meaning, Struan…
Sulien
Welsh
"sun born"
Said to be the name of the most learned man in ancient Wales, in this country it would be open to mispronunciation, making it rhyme with Julien.
Luther
German
"army people"
Once restricted to evangelical Protestants honoring the ecclesiastical reformer and theologian Martin Luther, leader of the Protestant revolution. In more recent times it has been favored by parents…
Gray
Color name, also diminutive of Grayson
The girls have Violet and Scarlet and Ruby and Rose, but for the boys there's a much more limited palette of color names. Gray (or Grey), is one exception, which could make for a soft and…
Kermit
Irish, variant of Diarmaid/Dermot
"without injunction, without envy"
Kermit was a Top 500 name until the 1960s, not coincidentally the decade in which Kermit the Frog made it a one-person (well, one-frog) name. Derived from the Irish surname Mac Diamada, itself from…
Darko
Slavic
"gift"
If you're a movie fan or a sports fan, you might be attracted to this name, via the film "Donnie Darko" or the Serbian-born basketball star Darko Milicic. It is kind of dark, though.
Gehrig
German surname
Gehrig might have been used as a sports hero name honoring legendary baseball Hall of Famer Lou Gehrig, but the association with the disease he gave his name to makes it a no-no.
Arjan
Dutch, Punjabi, Albanian
"from Hadria; gaining; golden life"
There's something particularly attractive about names with an interior " j " and Arjan is a prime example. The Punjabi version is pronounced with a conventional j as in jar; the Dutch Arjan, which is…
Giles
Greek
"young goat"
One of those names that most Americans find just too too tea-sippingly British to consider; its meaning has led to occasional use for Capricorn boys.
Malone
Irish
"a devotee of Saint John"
Classic Irish surname with a lot of character and some interesting associations: the title character of a Samuel Beckett novel and basketball great Karl Malone. Malone is a popular name for baby boys…
Kenyon
English
"white haired or blond"
Kenyon is a very engaging British surname name, the middle y giving it a kind of southwestern canyonesque undertone. Though Kenyon appears in English records as far back as the fourteenth century and…
Kassiani
Greek
"cinnamon"
Kassiani, also spelled Kasiani or Cassiane, is an ancient Greek name best known as the name of a saint famous as a hymnographer. The Hymn of Kassiani, traditionally sung on Tuesday of Easter Week in…
Banyan
Indian
"the God tree"
This evocative name of a dramatic tropical Indian fig tree is ready to move west.
Gwyneth
Welsh
"blessed, happy"
Because of Gwyneth Paltrow, this has almost become a one-person name, but not in the prohibitive there's-only-one-Oprah sense. Also seen as Gwenyth and Gweneth, this mellifluous appellation is…
Pele
Hawaiian goddess of fire
Pele is a female name in Hawaiian culture that could make a provocative choice for a modern girls. Others might think you named your daughter after the all-time great soccer player, but the simple,…
Hanita
Hindi
"divine grace"
The added h turns Anita alluring and breathy.