200+ Cool Middle Names

Tied to the bluesy southern city and to the world heritage cite in Egypt after which it was named, Memphis is a modern choice with ancient history. Currently significantly more popular for boys in the US, as a place name with sounds reminiscent of Paris, Meredith and Emma, it has plenty of potential as a unisex choice.

Queen has seen a revival in recent times, reaching its record high in 2018 with 280 births — it has remained steady since then. Previously, Queen saw a peak in the 1920s, but its origins go back even further than that. Queen was a noted name among enslaved people in America, along with other royal choices such as Duke, Squire, and Prince.

Kenya is fairly commonly heard as a girl's name, but its capital city makes a much more exceptional choice. The name comes from the Maasai phrase "Enkare Nairobi," which translates to "cold water." Nairobi is popularly known as the Green City.

Supermodel Shalom Harlow glamorized this name, which is heard as a greeting every day in Israel.

Many African tribes have a tradition of naming children for the day or time they were born -- Friday, Afternoon -- a practice finding new life in the Western world as word names become more popular.

Knowledge is a word name that's on an upward trend for boys, in 2021 hovering just below the Top 1000 in the US. And if Maverick, Legend, and Justice can be popular baby names, why not Knowledge? It's an important quality for any child to possess, via their name as well as their brain.

Whether it's an Asian surname-name or short for Channing, has a sound and feel that's both simple and stand-out.

"Saturday Night Live" cast member Finesse Mitchell often mocks his own and similar names when portraying the character Starkeisha on the show.

Prince rose to its highest ranking in a century in 2015, and the tragic death of its most famous bearer in April 2016 propelled it even higher. The Purple Rain legend isn't its only tie to pop royalty: Michael Jackson chose it for not one but two of his sons. Royal names such as King and Prince, once thought of as canine, have begun to be used by human non-royals for their sons.

This Italian boys name has started to be used on girls, with 251 girls in the US being given this appellation in 2021. Beware that the gender neutral names trend isn't international, and a female Gianni travelling through Europe is likely to be given a lot more grief. May we suggest the feminine Gianna or modern Giann as alternatives? For whatever gender, Gianni is one of the most popular Italian baby names around.

Journalist Hiawatha Bray is a singular contemporary bearer of this name of a Native-American leader immortalized in a Longfellow poem.

An Irish classic for boys that has a streamlined, surnamey, unisex appeal in this spelling.

Musician Ry Cooder brought this short form into the lexicon -- his full name is Ryland -- and it feels more familiar now that more Ry- beginning names such as Ryder and Riley are, ahem, riding up the ranks. The Rye spelling makes it more of a word or a nature name and less of a nickname.

Depending on how you look at it, a variation of the word name Colt or an abbreviated form of Kolton.

The Latin word for love. Amor has strong potential for the middle name position.

Panda, welcome to the baby name menagerie! Panda is an adorable animal name (after an adorable animal) that is sure to be both very rare and very cute. In Skins there was a character called Panda, which was short for Pandora. The name Panda comes from the Nepali word ponya meaning "bamboo eater".

This hip Parisian neighborhood name would make a delightful middle for a baby girl.

Has a dotty, antic feel via dotty, antic Auntie Mame.

Nico is a fun and lively nickname, full of charm, and suitable both as a full name and a short form. Nikko is a unique spelling that currently sits just outside of the US Top 1000.

This evocative place-name is rising in popularity -- despite (or perhaps because of) the unfortunate association with an airplane that went missing in March 2014.