Pet Names

A grounded Indian name, perfect for a daughter with an earth sign.

Bea is a former old lady name that's cute again as a short form -- and is now beginning to stand on its own. Bee is a variation that, like Bea, can work as a diminutive for any name that starts with the letter B, or in the middle. Bea actually stood alone on the popularity lists for four years at the beginning of the twentieth century--and it could happen again.

This is an attractive Celtic mythological name, popular in Wales and a cousin of the better known Bronwyn. In Welsh mythology, Branwen was turned into a bird.

A word name with fashionable o-ending that has associations with both the homespun fabric and the mottled cat. Alice Cooper named his daughter Calico decades ago.

Calla is a lily name that is much more distinctive and delicate than Lily. Rarely heard today, it did appear in the popularity lists in the last decades of the nineteenth century.

Charity is one of the Big Three abstract virtue names, along with Hope and Faith, though far less widely used than the others. But as Faith, Grace and Hope grow more common, some parents are beginning to look at the more unusual three-syllable choices like Verity, Amity, Clarity and Charity, which sound much fresher and also have that pleasingly rhythmic 'y'-ending sound.

Chase, with its sleek and ultraprosperous aura, is redolent of the worlds of high finance and international banking. Chase has been well used during the last few decades, seen as a character on 24 and on several young-audience shows.

Clay is a rich, earthy one-syllable name with a southern-inflected handsome-rogue image, featured on soap operas and reality TV. Its longer forms are Clayton and Clayborne.

One of the first reality show-inspired names (he was a Texas hunk on an early season of "Survivor"); hugely trendy for boys but just starting for girls.

Conroy is one Con name that feels a bit dated, though perhaps it's so far out it's coming in? Worth consideration if you like Connor but feel it's too widely used.

An early and still one of the most popular unisex names, also a place name and name of a Native American people in the northern Mississippi valley, which makes it a controversial baby name choice. While the popularity of Dakota is trending downward for both genders, it's one of those rare genuinely gender-neutral names that is used for nearly equal numbers of boys and girls.

A Native American tribe name which is found in the names of two US states, Dakota was one of the first trendy nineties place names, but is now flagging a little in popularity. The cultural question around using a Native American tribe name as a baby name may be partly to blame.

An interesting unisex possibility, with an air of mystery connected to the Delphic Oracle, the most important oracle in ancient Greece; it was also a major site for the worship of the god Apollo.

An attractive and now underused nature name belonging to a tree whose wood is prized for its dark color and dense texture, which shines when polished. Ebony joined the most popular girl names list in the US in the early 1970s, peaked in 1982 at #132, and dropped back below the Top 1000 in 2006.

While Elliott and Elliot are well-established for boys, parents are now considering both these boy names for girls, too.

If you're looking for a Welsh name less common than Dylan, Griffin, Evan, or Morgan, you might want to consider this offbeat epithet of the wise wizard Merlin.

Root name Ambrose is an ancient saints' name derived from the Greek ambrosia, the food and drink of the gods that conferred immortality.

Fifer is a musical name that fits in seamlessly with the likes of Harper and Piper, but is much more unusual. It's also a Scottish demonym, referring to an inhabitant of the historic Scottish county of Fife.

Though TV's "Frasier" made the name famous, and Frazier is a well-used variation, Fraser is the original, used mostly in Scotland.