UK Baby Names

Place name and surname that sounds a tad snooty.

Best known from actor-comedian Cleavon Little, Cleavon feels less soap opera than Cliff and quite really on-trend right now.

Only if he actually is.

Hippie name of the Jonathan Livingston Seagull era.

Cheever has a nice, cheery sound, literary ties to novelist and short writer John Cheever and also, sideways, to the Edward Arlington Robinson narrative poem "Miniver Cheevy," as well as a subliminal association with the desirable word achiever: all strong pluses.

The great-great-aunt in the purple hat, singing jazz.

Tamlane is a variation of Tam Lin, a (male) character in an old Scottish legend and ballad. Tam Lin was imprisoned by the Queen of the Fairies, called Titania or Mab.

Fresh way to pass down Roger.

Between "Old MacDonald" and Big Mac allusions, this would be a risky choice.

To honor an ancestral Peter.

Randall Jarrell was an important mid-20th century poet; his surname makes a pleasingly soft name for a girl.

A possible nod to grandpa Roger, though somewhat stuffy.

This surname name may offer a pronunciation challenge, to those unfamiliar with Michael Crichton novels, but its fresher than Hunter or Cooper.

For now at least, Parton conjures up the larger-than-life image of Dolly. For an American boy, Patton or Peyton would probably be a better bet.

Has a certain fiery charm.

Ruggedly appealing word name in the Thorn/Rider/Storm school of boys' names.