Names That Are Variations

Like Jaxon, Jaxen is an attempt to switch things up from the more popular Jackson. News flash - Jackson is cooler.

A stable classic in Turkey, consistently ranking between the Top 50 and Top 70 for boys.

A more substantial but less-popular feminization of Tristan, the originally-male mythological name now used for girls as well as boys.

A feminization with a long (if sparse) history of use among European aristocracy. One young member of the illustrious Arco family of Central Europe is named Maximiliana.

The name of the patron saint of Wales is virtually unknown in the US under this spelling. There were no baby boys named Dewi or Dewie in the US in 2021, though there were 35 named Dewey. Incredibly enough, Dewey ranked among the US Top 1000 for an entire century, from 1887 to 1986, reaching as high as Number 19 in 1898.

Murat was a very popular name in Turkey in the 1980s but is now progressively falling in popularity. It currently sits just outside the Top 80.

Ilena-style variants have all been considered more stylish than Helen for many years.

A lovely variation of classic Margaret, worn by two Olympic medal winners — Marharyta Makhneva and Marharyta Dorozhon.

Thayer sounds like a modern update '90s success-story Taylor — although it's much rarer and will likely never reach Taylor's heights. It is also reminiscent of currently trendy Thea, which could also be used as a nickname.

Though this one would be sure to inspire confusion, Ven- names can be an intriguing alternative to the Ben- group.

Spelling variant Ameer is much less popular than the original. An Amir is a ruler in the Arab world.

All the sounds of Giovanni without the authentic spelling.

One of those quintessentiallyFrench names still wearing a beret, also too tied to the image of tires.

Lutza is largely unknown in the English-speaking world and might remain that way, due to its resemblance to klutz.

Alyce is an aceepted enough variation that there were more than 50 baby girls given the name with this spelling in the US last year. Of course, there were more than 3600 baby girls named Alice, spelled the conventional way.

One way to set up a superiority complex in your child is to call your child Czar as American actor Rockmond Dunbar did in 2016.

Popular Margaret variant in Nordic countries, often spelled Margrét.

Casey-with-a-K never quite reached the heights of the original, but it broke the Top 500 for boys in the late '80s and early '90s.

Spirited Italian form of Octavius

Odesza is a variation of Odessza, the Hungarian form of Odessa. It joined the charts in 2021 thanks to the electronic music band ODESZA, who took their name from one of the band member's uncle's sunken ship. The ship was named Odessa, but there was already a band with that name so they altered the spelling to differentiate themselves.