2000+ Cat Names

This ancient Greek male name, well-used in Britain, also has an herbal quality that may explain its increasing use for girls. While as a name it rhymes with dazzle, the herb has a long a, making the pronunciation BAY-zel.

A pretty, dainty name for one of the little characters in the children's book series The Borrowers. It was the basis for a later Studio Ghible animated film, The Secret World of Arrietty. While the connection to Harriet is tenuous, you might want to consider Arrietty as an honorific for an ancestral Harriet, Harry, or even Henry or Henrietta.

A handful of years ago, a judge in Tennessee ruled that parents could not name their son Messiah, "because there's only one." That decision has since been overturned and the name no longer looks out of place besides the growing number of Saints and Chosens.

Bayou? No, but it sounds the same, and since both the Indonesian name and the English word have appealing nature meanings, this is a perfect choice for the family that wants to bridge cultures.

Hard and shiny, Steel projects an image that's smooth, macho...and cold to the touch.

Katniss Everdeen is the heroine of the popular Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, whose name comes from the (very real) edible aquatic plant of the genus Sagittaria. Katniss's father tells her that if she "finds herself," she'll never go hungry. Other unusual botanical names in the series include Primrose, Posy, Rue, and Clove, all for girls. Several of the boys' names come from ancient Rome: Cato, Seneca, Flavius, Caesar. Katniss the name has less appeal than Katniss the heroine, though it's definitely more attractive than Renesmee.

There's a football player called Pepper (born Thomas and given the childhood nickname for sprinkling pepper on his cereal) Johnson -- but this sounds more like the name of a cheerleader.

It's a car brand, a planet, and the messenger of the gods -- but it's questionable whether it works as a little girl's name.

This ancient name is that of the hero of the epic Beowulf, which is thought to be the oldest-ever poem in English lit written in the vernacular. J. R. R. Tolkien used the poem as one of his inspirations for The Lord of the Rings.

Israeli-born singer Keren Ann introduced this traditional Hebrew name to this country, where it could well be mistaken for Karen.

Spelling variant of Arianwen. Note that in Welsh, the -wyn suffix is usually masculine.

The popular cosmetics brand Maybelline inspires at least a few baby girls' names each year. Company founder Thomas Lyle Williams created the name as a portmanteau of Mabel and Vaseline after watching his sister Mabel mix up a quasi-eyeshadow out of coal dust and Vaseline.

This female form of Sa'id is one of several eminently usable Arabic S names.

Has a musty 1940s feel. Try Georgia -- or Georgiana.

An odd name, with a pretty bad meaning, rescued by the reputation of the courtesan (more beautiful than Aphrodite) and the charming character Phryne Fisher from Australian author Kerry Greenwood's detective series Phryne Fisher's Mysteries, set in the 1930s. In the series Phryne is a wealthy Melbourne woman, but goes beyond her class and gender stereotypes - she can fly a plane, drives her own car and sometimes wears trousers. However, while displaying bohemian panache, she manages also to maintain style and class.

With its musical allusions, a harmonious possibility.

Used much more often for girls -- about 1000 girls were named Saylor or Sailor last year, versus about 100 boys -- Saylor is a medieval German surname that means ropemaker, which is also related to the occupational name Sailor.

One of three Cherokee names with the same meaning, along with Inali and Enoli, both male names.

Other wild animals like Fox, Wolf and Bear are catching on as baby names, and Tiger is a rarer option with several famous namesakes, including golf champ Tiger Woods, who was born Eldrick. Other famous Tigers include Indian actor Tiger Shroff, born Jai, and British actor Tyger Drew-Honey, who spells his name with a Y.

Isra is a gender-neutral Arabic name. The name of a chapter of the Quran, it refers to the Prophet's journey from Mecca to Jerusalem.