A possible Christmas name for a baby boy, if you find Noel too mundane. But we fear it doesn't sound very festive.

Many African tribes have a tradition of naming children for the day or time they were born -- Friday, Afternoon -- a practice finding new life in the Western world as word names become more popular.

This recently coined respelling of Cole darkens its image.

A distinctive surname that, despite its meaning, has a cowboy swagger, a la Autry.

One of the trendiest of the new two-syllable boys’ names that have swept the country in the past few years, including the rhyming Aidan, Caden, Kaden, and Jaden. It's been falling on the US Top 1000 lately but it is still among the most popular contemporary English names for boys..

Connolly, an alternate spelling of Connelly, could make a livelier and less common substitute for Connor.

A provocative word name that may strike the right chord for an adventurous baby namer, Reason has begun to sound, well, more reasonable as a name in recent years. While it did first feature in the US stats back in the early 20th-century, it only began to rise in the 2020s.

Clove is one of a whole tantalizing genre of spice names that might work for a boy. Clovis could be considered a long form.

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

Gentle giant Rubeus Hagrid is the groundskeeper at Hogwarts in the Harry Potter novels (probably after Hagrid Rubes, the equally kind ancient Greek mythological giant), but that's not the only reason this name could prove a playground liability.

A new unisex word name with a lot of charm, especially appropriate for the child of writers. Soleil Moon Frye named her second baby boy Story and Jenna Elfman called her son Story Elias.

Forget Patience and Charity: Here's a Colonial name (and sentiment) that seems perfect for modern times.

An evocative, windswept choice that is part of the third generation of western-influenced names, picking up where first Jesse and then Dakota left off, though with a slight feminine edge.

Ron Burgundy was Will Ferrell's fictional helmet-haired newsman, but this color name is much more suited to a girl.

This softer version of Adolf is sadly still off-limits due to the connotations with Hitler.

Woodsy names are fashionable for boys, as are surnames and occupational names, so Forester scores on all three. It can also be spelled Forrester.

A traditional French male name that could, with American pronunciation, become an admirable word name.

Extremely attractive color name chosen by some African-American families for its reference to the West African Ivory Coast; more commonly used for girls.