Black Dog Names

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.

Known as a British royal family line as well as a style of architecture, this name feels both solemn and formidable, but with an intriguing "dark-academia" feel to it too. Currently in the Top 1000 in England and Wales, it is also used in Romania and Moldova.

Prissy, no matter how you spell it.

Dark.

A funkier version of Coco that may be more appealing if you have Japanese or Native American heritage. Koko comes from the Blackfoot tribe, native to what is now Montana and Alberta, Canada.

Traditionally given to the ninth-born son, which is a rarity nowadays.

Abbey might sound exactly like the popular Abigail nickname Abby or Abbie, but spelled this way it is also a churchy word name with a Gothic feel. But hearing it, no one will know the difference.

Save this for your next run to Starbucks.

Familiar via Harry, but much more worldly.

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.

Although this is a legitimate name, most people would associate it with a line of Volkswagens -- you'd be better off choosing a Mercedes.

Nimbus is a word from nature for a type of cloud that has occasionally -- very occasionally -- been used for a human. But it's evocative and upbeat and certainly makes an intriguing and stylish nature name.

Popular name in Israel, worth considering for a dark-haired daughter with a bit of a bohemian cast.

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.

This intriguing Scandinavian name is associated with Roald Dahl, author of the juvenile classics James and the Giant Peach and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. You can honor an ancestral Ronald just by dropping that middle 'n'.

Sabbath is a faith-inspired word name, like Sunday or Faith, that is attracting some notice since heavy metal musician Zakk Wylde chose it for his son. But then there's the band Black Sabbath, which gives the name a more devilish twist. While there's nothing intrinsically male or female about Sabbath as a first name, it squeaked onto the Social Security roster for five boys in 2012, but was not recorded for girls. Sabbath comes from the word for "day of rest" in many ancient cultures.

Cookie is most often used as a dog name, and it should stay that way.

If not for Motown founder Berry Gordy, this name would now be totally in the girl group.

Kona is strongly associated with the Kona coffee of Hawaii. The Hawaiian word kona means "leeward" or "dry side of the island," and Kona districts are where Kona coffee is grown.

A coffee filter.