UK Baby Names

One of the more unusual word names used by Plymouth pilgrims for their children. Fear Brewster is an example of the usage of this name. Definitely one of the historic pilgrim names best left in the past.

This Cornish variant of Isolde is rare even in the UK - but that's part of its charm. Like Isolde, Eseld is generally thought to mean "ice battle", a meaning sure to be pleasing to a little girl in this age of all things "Frozen".

St Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, and her feast day on January 25 is the equivalent of Valentine's day in Wales. The short form Dwyn may be more manageable for the non-Welsh.

Simplify things and spell it Dai, or even Day.

The suffix Bran is familiar as raven-related since Game of Thrones, and the -ley suffix has been popular since the 1990s heyday of Ashley.

Made familiar by poet William Blake. According to Blake, after her death, Conwenna "shines ... over the north with pearly beams gorgeous and terrible". Make of that what you will.

A decade or two ago, we might have stopped with Blake, but today the surname Blakely or Blakeley sounds more modern as a first name.

Best known to most as a brand of Whisky, Ballantine is a Scottish surname relating to the Celtic god Bal. It has potential as a off-the-beaten-track boys name that is still familiar. Ballantine is the brand name of a whiskey, a beer, and a publishing imprint.

One step up from Irwin, and that's not nearly enough.

Waspy-sounding choice, well known in literature for Boswell's Life of Johnson.

You might want to honor premier U.S. architect Frank Gehry--even though he was born Ephraim Goldberg. Gehry, pronounced like the more common surname Geary, may be a spin on the name Gary, which means spear, or derive from the Middle English word geary, which means fickle.

The Mc and Mac surnames are asserting themselves as first names and this is among the most usable. MacArthur or McArthur makes a perfect honorific for an ancestral Arthur and leads directly to the nicknames Mac or Art

The Welsh way to spell Price, which is more complicated but elevates it beyond the monetary realm.

Yule is one Christmas baby name that doesn't sound very festive. We prefer Winter or even Christmas itself.

Stick with the original.

Darnel, the plant from which this name derives, is an intoxicating plant, which used to be grown to make medicines and poisons.

Christmas is a day name long and quietly used as a name for babies born at Christmas. Prettier and more modern than Noel or Noelle.