2000+ Cat Names

Short for Rocco, this bold nickname has a more peaceful meaning: "rest". But Rocky sounds wild and edgy – even more so for girls.

When actress Rachel Griffiths chose this highly unusual name for her son, many assumed it was a bizarre invention. But a noted Australian poet (Griffiths is an Aussie) is known by this name.

This rarely used boys name is one of the few gem names for a boy. Obsidian is actually a type of volcanic glass, formed when lava cools very quickly. This ultra-cool name might spark a love of volcanoes and geology in a little boy.

Runes are symbols in ancient Germanic alphabets. They are often viewed as mysterious and therefore as a name, Rune imparts a feeling of folkloric mystery. As intriguing as that might be, the homonym ruin creates a lot of teasing potential.

Sure, he'd probably get a certain amount of red-nosed teasing around the holiday, but a boy named Rudolph could probably take it. Besides, he's got other, more distinguished namesakes -- the great ballet dancer Nureyev, silent screen Lothario Valentino and 9-11 Mayor Giuliani.

Hazen is a variation of the Dutch surname Hasin, which has two separate origins. The first is as a nickname for Haso, a Germanic given name derived from haswa, meaning "gray" or "black." Hasin was also a variation of Haas, a Dutch and German surname meaning "hare."

An unusual, energetic surname choice that would make a good Madison alternative. Madigan was a typical police detective series of the 1970s, starring Richard Widmark.

A word name with fashionable o-ending that has associations with both the homespun fabric and the mottled cat. Alice Cooper named his daughter Calico decades ago.

A sleek, smooth, understated name off the grid in the US but among the Top 100 girl names in Germany. In the US, it is a unisex name, while in Germany and the Netherlands, it is predominantly feminine.

A cute nickname, but June is a much better bet for the birth certificate.

Canyon is a unique baby name evocative of natural splendor and the old Steve Canyon comic-strip heroism, making it an intriguing new word-name possibility.

A thirteenth-century Tuscan saint, patron of homemakers, Zita is the kind of name that sounded really creative in an earlier era.

Popular in India and among Indo-Americans, this name of the hero of a famous Hindu epic has an extremely pleasing sound.

Popular Spanish name that relates to the patron saint of Mexico. It could conceivably, like Soledad and Consuelo, cross the border into multicultural territory, but the name's decline since the nineties would seem to make that less likely.

An Asian name not widely known in the West.

This jazzy old name could make a comeback, the way Josephine and Ella have. In England the name was popularized by Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, after whom her governor general of Canada husband named the North American province. Jazz singer Alberta Hunter was a noted bearer.

French version of August, for both sexes. And for those who feel the spelling of August is too plain.

Familiar via Harry, but much more worldly.

The name of an area in northern Greece, known in the era of Homer's Odyssey as Aeolia, Thessaly makes a spirited and pretty place name. Reminiscent of Tessa, Rosalie, and Thea, the name likely derives from that of an ancient tribe, though the exact meaning isn't known.

A common surname often used as a first among the Amish.