Names that end in y

A name halfway between its old milquetoast image and a more jovial Irish-sounding contemporary one. Sounds more feminine than masculine these days.

A name that works until your daughter is, say, six.

Valery was in the Top 1000 from 2005 to 2009, and reemerged in 2018. This spelling is often used among Hispanic families in the US.

You can't get much more feminine, sweet, and ladylike than Lady. Would make a cute nickname for up-and-coming Adelaide. Lady will also bring to mind the canine lover of the Tramp.

Cute boyish nickname for Thomasina, Thomasin or Tamsin.

It's difficult to imagine anyone using the first name Jonesy -- and in fact, in the most recent US tally, there were nearly 100 babies named Jones but none named Jonesy. Still, this is a name that many people with Jones for a name, last or first, end up being known by, and as a nickname, it's sorta cute in a Skip, Chip, Bitsy kind of way.

The original Zooey, hero of J.D. Salinger's Franny & Zooey, was male, but nowadays the name is more closely associated with actress/singer Zooey Deschanel. With Zoe at number 31 for girls and Zoey in the Top 50, the related Zooey feels more female than ever. But it's distinctively quirky for either sex.

A last name as a first name that also has the feel of nicknames like Sully and Cole, Cully could derive from an anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Colla. Meaning "descendent of Colla", Colla being a form of Connla, meaning "wolf or hound warrior", Cully's meaning may well appeal to those who want a softer sounding name but with a strong meaning.

This Ashley-like surname name actually made the US Top 1000 around the turn of the 20th century. Used very quietly today in equal numbers -- about a dozen each -- for boys and girls. Ashby is a major thoroughfare in Berkeley, California.

Yes, Timothy has been given to baby girls before — although how many were the result of a clerical error, we can’t be sure.

Combine two parts Paisley with one part Hazel and one part Harley, add a dash of Hayes, and voila: Haisley.

A key cheerleader in the nickname game of the 1970s, Stacy is now the mom. Consider Stacia, or the original Anastasia.

An old royal name in England and Scotland that's also spelled Marjorie. Popular in the Middle Ages and Tudor period, it was revived at the end of the 19th century, peaked in 1921 and dropped off the list in 1958, enough time to be reconsidered as a Margaret alternative. The name Margery Daw is familiar via the seesaw nursery rhyme and Margery Williams wrote the children's classic The Velveteen Rabbit..

Ashley alternative climbing up the baby names charts, probably due to the trendy ley/leigh ending and its similar-but-different status to the more popular Ainsley.

A Leave It to Beaver/old comic-strip name, vacationing for years with the Griswolds in WallyWorld, but now back as WALL-E?

Jessamy and big sister Jessamine are all but unknown in the U.S., but make distinctive alternatives to overexposed Jessica, Jessie, and Jasmine.

Thierry, which is very popular in France, would make an interesting import; it's somewhat familiar through designer Thierry Mugler and international soccer star Thierry Henry. It almost sounds like Terry, but not quite.

Despite the strong association with the University of California, Berkeley, the more common version of this name omits the second E, Berkley.

British last name that, though rather gentle, feels like a sharper, sleeker Shelby. Todd Selby, known primarily by his last name, is a hip photographer of interiors.

This variation of Wesley moved into the Top 1000 among boys' names in the US in 2016, perhaps because it makes the name more Western, with the cowboy nickname West., or because parents have taken inspiration from the protagonist of the movie The Princess Bride.