Dog Names That Start With A

Fans of writer Paul Auster might consider this a worthy alternative to the trendy Austin.

Axe, spelled like this, is used for a handful of baby boys in the US each year. You can see it as one of the new weapon names, along with Dagger and Beretta, or as an abbreviation of the very popular Axel.

Popular in the Hispanic world and use in honor of Saint Augustine, Agustin is an anglicized form of the Spanish Agustín. It peaked at Number 561 in 2001 in the US charts and has since dropped on and off of the list again. Given to around 210 boys in a recent year, Agustin also ranks highly in Chile and Uruguay.

The açai palm is a tree native to Brazil that produces açai berries (the base of those trendy smoothie bowls). Since US birth certificates don't allow for diacritical marks, we are unsure if people are naming their children after the fruit (pronounce ah-sah-EE) or omitting the cedilla and pronouncing it a-KYE.

This Roman family — whose most famous bearer was Emperor Hadrian, of wall fame — possibly derives from Greek helios, meaning sun.

Cute nickname of Angela and other angelic names, Angie is now being used on its own, although its popularity has fallen in recent years. That said, Angie is one of those surprising classics, hanging on in the girls' Top 1000 continuously since its inception in 1880.

Ayn is a nonconformist name associated with controversial Russian-born writer and philosopher Ayn Rand, (born Alisa) author of The Fountainhead, who adopted it when she moved to the US in 1926.

Arch can be used as a nickname for Archibald or a stand-alone word name — perhaps for the child of an architect.

Though this is traditionally a male name, it can work for a girl in our culture. Might also be considered a short form of the Italian Amadea.

The name of the capital city of ancient Syria, an important centre in early Christianity. Its founder Seleucus I Nictor named it after his father, Antiochus. Antiochus was the name of several early rulers and saints, including the patron saint of Sardinia.

Common Japanese name rising for both sexes in the US.

Name of the French town where a vision of the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared, this name, virtually unknown elsewhere, is in the Spanish Top 100.

Alabama is a hot southern place-name, picking up from Georgia and Savannah. This is not a geographical name come lately, though--there have been girls named Alabama dating back well over a century.

One of the romantic names favored by British pastoral poets, more appealing in its longer form, Araminta.

New name in the pool of international names, added by lovely supermodel Alyona Osmanova.

Akari is a feminine name in Japan but gender-neutral in the US, with a slight edge as a masculine name.

A fresh and summery — if rather long — color that sounds namelike, but is extremely rarely used.

Alafia is a Yoruba name for peace and is used as a name for both men and women in Nigeria.

Stiff and formal surname. Try Roone instead.