Black Dog Names

Eisele was originally a nickname for the Old German given name Isenhart, which derived from Isenlin — a nickname for a blacksmith.

Mysterious.

Save this for your next run to Starbucks.

Rose and Briar are popular, and Hawthorn is cool – so why not the equally prickly Thorn? Add an E to give it a surnamey spin.

With the recent arrival of fruit names like Apple and Plum, this more traditional example, symbolic of fertility, might rise in popularity. Photographer Berry Berenson was born Berinthia.

Carey is a surname name that works equally well on babies of all genders - Jazz great Carey Bell and motorcross champion Carey Hart are just two examples of how handsome this name can be for a boy.

Farrar has two separate origins: an occupational name meaning "smith", and a Scottish river name, from a Pictish word meaning "to wind". Barely ever recorded as a first name, Farrar is a blank slate that fits with the surname style that's popular today.

A coffee filter.

Known as a British royal family line as well as a style of architecture, this name has a forbidding solemnity; schoolmates might also confuse it with tutor.

Dark horse Irish surname.

Obsolete Swanhild gives way to oh-so-modern Swan, joining the flock of newly fashionable bird names such as Wren and Lark. In France, the Swann spelling is fashionable for both sexes. But Swan carries an image of grace, though perhaps also a bit of languor. It's a lovely and original name, right for our times.

Stormi is like Sunni, with angst. If naming your child Storm or Stormy is asking for trouble, naming her Stormi -- as Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott did -- is asking for trouble of several different kinds. But we're sure she'll be adorable and as celebrity baby names go, this one is nearly normal.

Shyam is one of the alternate names of Hindu God Krishna.

A distinctive alternative to Conan.

Boo as a first name first achieved notoriety as the name of the child-man in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. Arthur "Boo" Radley was meant to be frightening, but only in a simple, non-threatening way. More recently, Boo has been used as the middle name of one of chef Jamie Oliver's children and the nickname in the middle of television's Honey Boo Boo. Boo is also the name of the world's cutest dog and of the adorable little girl in Monsters Inc. In a more basic way, Boo is a term of endearment.

Veruca is a name Roald Dahl made up for the horrid little girl Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A modern rock band adopted the name, though few parents familiar with the original namesake and meaning would choose to pass it on to an innocent child. Verruca is another spelling, but don't use that one either.

Boo may have started out as a nickname for the male character Arthur "Boo" Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird and these days may be closely associated with another male Boo, the "world's cutest dog" or with the adorable little girl in Monsters, Inc.

Dugald is a Harry Potter name. In fact, there are not one but two characters name Dugald in the Harry Potter books.

Grrrr.