Dog Names That Start With C

The great sax player John Coltrane could be a cool naming inspiration for a jazz fan.

Lovely entry into the tree name genre, joining Juniper, Oak, and Willow.

Although it looks like an English placename, the surname Crowley is an anglicization of the Irish O Cruadhlaoich. A famous bearer was the occultist Aleister Crowley, and it also appears on characters in Supernatural and The Walking Dead. It has started to get a little use in recent years, as part of the new wave of names ending in -ley.

The name of the ferrymen of dead souls to the Greek underworld and the name of Pluto's desolate moon, Charon makes an interesting, if somewhat macabre, choice for a baby. There are two pronunciations of this name, depending on whether you're referring to the ferryman or the moon. While the Greek version is pronounced with a hard "k" sound, the astronomer who named the moon did not know about the Greek myth - he named the moon after his wife Charlene, so many astronomers pronounce it with a "sh" sound.

Crescent is an intriguing word name with a pretty sound and links to the moon. Cressie could make for a cute nickname, as used in the Worst Witch children's TV series, short for Crescentmoon.

Short and curt.

This surname related to Clement is strongly associated with Major League pitcher Roger Clemens, winner of more Cy Young awards than any other pitcher in baseball history, and has a softer sound than Clement. Some variations are Clemen, Clementio, Clemention, and Clemons.

Stephen King chose the name Cujo for the rabid St. Bernard character in his 1981 novel by the same name. He based the name off of the alias of William Lawton Wolfe, "Kahjoh", which the media misspelled as Cujo. Wolfe was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army and one of the people responsible for kidnapping Patty Hearst.

Curran is a common surname in Ireland, but unusual even there as a first. With its savory feel, calling to mind curry and currants, Curran can make for an attractive update on Colin or Connor.

Cristina is one case where the streamlined version feels more alluring.

May be the most modern, stylish Catherine nickname: more unusual than Kate or Cate, with an animal and word name edge. Cat Power is a trendy folksinger.

This herb is also known as cilantro. It's meaning, "bed bug" is on account of its smell, characterized by the ancient Greeks as bed bug-like.

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

The kind of French name that seemed daring -- and darling -- in the sixties.

Cameron is still more popular as a boy's name than a girls and this simple, snappy short form works well for either sex.

Both Christian and Cristian rank in the US Top 500 names for boys, and while the classic "Ch" spelling is used more than four times as often, Cristian is still given to more than 1000 boys each year, and is often used in the Hispanic community.

Carey is a surname name that works equally well on babies of all genders - Jazz great Carey Bell and motorcross champion Carey Hart are just two examples of how handsome this name can be for a boy.

This cosmological name has a zippy feel that might work well for the galactic parent looking for the perfect name for their own little star.

The name of the Roman god of love, the son of Venus, considered so romantic as to be unfit for mere mortals. Yet now that Romeo and Venus herself are fair game for modern babies, why not Cupid?

A distinctive alternative to Conan.