UK Baby Names

Alas, poor Yorick, your name is fated to remain locked forever as a skull in Hamlet.

Kelsey (ex-Frasier) Grammer is a famous male bearer, although most modern Kelseys are female. It derives from several English place names, possibly meaning "Cenel's island", from the Old English name Cenel "fierce".

Kinsey enjoyed popularity blip thanks to similarity to Lindsay, and because of Sue Grafton's alphabet mysteries heroine, Kinsey Millhone. Now, Kinsley has become more popular than Kinsey.

Highly unusual as a baby name for either gender, Yarrow is an herb that grows wild and has long been used for its medicinal property. It's named for the mythical Achilles, who was said to carry yarrow into battle.

Medieval name without much of a future.

Updates Ellis -- but also has a lot of feminine potential thanks to Allison/Ellie similarity.

Dagger is one of the new badass baby names, a sharp and scary choice that some parents may feel arm their child for battle in a cruel modern world.

Unlike the other fruit names that are just coming onto the baby name menu, Peaches is an old-timey nickname previously reserved for spangled showgirls, and now would be considered an outrageous -- verging on hip -- choice.

Loch is a watery word that sounds more like a name because it's one step removed from its English form. Pronounced as "lock," it's also a short form of the variously-spelled Lachlan.

Tolkien may have been inspired by this unisex name of a Celtic goddess of war. Welsh poet Dylan Thomas named his daughter the variation Aeronwy. With goddess names so hot for baby girls, this ethereal choice is one to consider.

Actor Coby Bell gives this short but sweet name a hefty amount of street cred. Can also be spelled Koby or Kobe, as in Kobe Bryant.

Abbreviated form of Harley that might also be spelled, for girls, Arleigh or Arlee.

One part nature name, one part surname name. Oakes gives you the best of both worlds.

You may never have known a Nettie personally, but there well might be one hidden in your family history, considering that she was a Top 100 name until 1901 and stayed on the Social Security list until 1962.

Penrose – an ancient locational surname derived from several villages in Cornwall, Wales, and the Welsh border country of England – might work as a first name, although the "Rose" syllable might lead the uninitiated to assume it's a female name. As a middle name, however, it would make for a surprising and distinguished choice. A male Penrose could be called Pen/Penn, Ross or Roe for short.

Though still being used, Deanna peaked many decades ago.

This is the most popular Welsh form of Agnes. Variants include Annest and Nest. There was an eleventh century Nest who was known as 'Helen of Wales' for her beauty and the problems it caused.

Rough and sporty, but too specific.

In the Ossianic poems, Morven is the name of Fingal's kingdom. This name, borne by young Scottish actress Morven Christie, has a darkly intriguing quality to it.

Has that blunt masculine feel -- à la Cole and Kyle -- that many modern parents are drawn to.