UK Baby Names

Euphonious and long stylish in England, India was one of the fastest-rising names on the 2013 list, after jumping 240 spots back into the Top 1000.

Cute Gracie is one of the more recently revived nickname names by parents who chose it over the more formal Grace--or variations like Graziella or Grania. Country singers Faith Hill and Tim McGraw cut straight to the nickname when they called one of their daughters Gracie, and actors Ron Livingston and Rosemarie DeWitt named their newborn daughter Gracie James. Gracie Gold is a popular young figure skater.

Short form of Donald -- or more stylishly, Donahue or Donovan -- that's acquired a new sixties-era suaveness thanks to Mad Man Don Draper. The name also carries a Sopranos or Godfather-style double entendre.

A sweet Scottish short form of Alexander which is feeling newly appealing now the era of Sandra is far behind us. Sandy would also work well as a nickname for a child with pale red or dark blond hair.

Jamie is typical of the relaxed unisex names starting with J that seemed so cool in the sixties after decades of Jeans and Joans, though now pretty tepid. Jaime and even Jamey and Jayme are alternate spellings.

Cute kid with freckles, bouncing a Spalding ball. Cool couple Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton put the name Billy Burton on their son's birth certificate. While the classic William, name of the future king of England, may in fact be German, the nickname Billy along with such other classic short forms as Jim and Joe are authentically English names for boys.

In English, the word 'maven' refers to an expert or connoisseur, someone who possesses deep knowledge. Comedian Tracy Morgan brought this name into the spotlight when he chose it for his daughter, Maven Sonae, in 2013. Now, over 100 newborn girls in the US are given this name each year.

Once aristocratic British surname yet to be revived. Vince Vaughn recently gave his son the same double initials as his own when he named him Vernon Vaughn.

Malin is multicultural name with many possible sources,. As a female name, Malin is popular throughout Scandinavia, a form of Magdalene. The male version has several theoretical roots. One of them is the multicultural surname Malin, which may be a matronymic descending from Magdalene or Mary or may be derived from an Irish surname meaning pleasant. In India, Malin is a male Sanskrit name meaning crowned or alternately, flower or gardener. Some may see it as a simplified spelling of the Biblical Mahlon. At once simple and unusual, the name Malin was given to 17 baby girls in the US last year but fewer than five baby boys.

Lochlan and Lachlan are running neck and neck and both rising into the Top 1000. Which spelling you use is purely a matter of taste.

This alternate spelling of Miles has its fans, among them Myles-parents Eddie Murphy and Lars Ulrich. Pro basketball player Myles Turner uses this spelling. The Myles spelling is also associated with Pilgrim Myles Standish and so can make one of the classic Thanksgiving baby names.

Chosen for their daughter by Bruce and Demi (inspired by the To Kill a Mockingbirdcharacter), and for her son by Tai Babilonia, an interesting choice for either sex, with overtones of a "good scout" and the upstanding qualities of a Boy/Girl Scout.

The more popular Greer spelling might lean feminine, however, Grier sees more even distribution between the sexes. It is given to a small handful of babies each year, but for every one Grier, there are three Greers.

Anwen is one of the simplest and best of the classic Welsh girls' names, more unusual than Bronwen but with the same serene feel.

Just when we had written off Peggy as the eternal perky, pug-nosed prom-queen she projected from the 1920s into the fifties, along came Mad Men, with intriguing mid-century characters with names like Joan and Betty--and Peggy, causing a bit of a re-think. MM's proto-feminist Peggy Olson was followed by Amy Adams's strong Oscar-nominated Peggy Dodd character in The Master.

Widely used here since the fifties, Allison -- a derivative of Alice -- has now been once again surpassed by the original Alice as parents embrace vintage revivals. Despite this, Allison's popularity has slipped only slightly.

Kent is a no-nonsense, brief, brisk one-syllable name, almost as curt as Kurt.

This name of three early popes has been associated in recent years with a cocky cartoon cat ("Thufferin' thuccatash!") and the Italian Stallion hero of the Rocky and Rambo movies (who was born Michael) — and yet we think it just might be ready to move further back into the mainstream.

Very much in style, especially after its starring role in Six Feet Under, Nate is one of a new generation of nicknames that go directly on the birth certificate. Other similar names: Sam, Jack, Mack.

A Scottish place and surname that was once adrogynous but now leans about 20 to 1 toward the girls' side, Leslie has a pleasant, heathery feel that kept it in or near the Top 100 for several decades; the Lesly and Lesley spellings are also frequently used, especially in Britain. While Leslie may not be the freshest name in the bunch, it's become a modern classic and is one of the surprising names always to have ranked among the US Top 1000 for girls.