Land or Sea

This recently coined respelling of Cole darkens its image.

Cove is an up-and-coming nature name whose cool sound and peaceful image saw it rising for both sexes... until COVID-19 hit. It remained steady in use for boys in 2021, but actually increased for girls, although it remains a seriously rare and distinctive choice for either gender.

A light and breezy nature name that's currently in style limbo, despite its pleasant meaning.

Originally a short form of Odell, a place name turned surname that hails from England.

Devon, spelled like the lovely seaside county in Britain that inspired the name, has crashed since its heyday around the Top 100 in the 1990s. Despite its use as a female name, for example for Devon on the TV show The 4400, Devon continues to be far more popular for boys than for girls.

Dune is a name of several layers. It's a modern nature name, like Ocean, Bay and Reef, although rarer, conjuring up images of breezy sand dunes on summer beach days.

Unlike Amber, which is in decline, this name still has a bit of a glow left -- though confusions between the two will inevitably arise.

Flint is one of the new macho names on the rise today, part old-school tough guy, part rebel. You won't find a tougher, steelier-sounding name; it's part of a genre on the rise along with cousins Slate, Stone and Steel.

The long association to the Ford Motor Company doesn't stand in the way of this being a strong, independent, single-syllable name.

The Forest variation of Forrest, used by actor Whitaker, nudges the meaning more toward the woods and away from the woodsman.