Occupational Names

These days, it's more likely you'd call your daughter the popular Belle or Bella.

Some surnames should stay surnames.

About 40 baby boys were named Artist -- not Picasso, not Art -- in the US in one recent year. But not so odd, when you consider all the occupational names, from Sawyer to Sergeant, stylish today. The name Artist is also starting to register on the girls' side of the ledger, making Artist a name as gender-neutral as the occupation.

Sean and Robin Wright Penn chose this name for their son to honor their friend Dennis Hopper; others might associate it with the painter Edward. Couldn't be more spirited.

One of the less common members of the currently popular craftsmen's guild, Becker once had a self-named sitcom, and is also associated with Wimbleton tennis legend Boris Becker.

Gardener is surely one of the most pleasant and evocative of the occupational options, calling up images of green grass and budding blooms. The name can also be spelled without the first 'e', as in Gardner (born George Cadogan Gardner) McCay, a hunky TV heartthrob of the 1950s and 60s. Gardner is a much more common surname spelling, associated with screen legend Ava, mystery writer Erle Stanley and art collector and patron Isabella Stewart, founder of Boston's Gardner Museum.

Jeter, which of course is used as a first name only because of Yankee star Derek, rhymes with Peter and may be derived from the French surname Jette, which was often bestowed on foundlings because it means "thrown out," or the German Jetter, an occupational name meaning "weeder." If your husband insists on Jeter, counter with Percival.

Whether pronounced like the wag of a tail or as the correct German VAHG-ner, this might be something a devoted opera buff could consider as a middle name.

Could join such up-and-comers as Miller and Gardener.

The name Parson might have seemed ridiculous even a few years ago, but when Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe named their son Deacon, they opened up a whole new field of ecclesiastical cool. Bishop, Priest, and Pastor are other possibilities.

Member of a newly chic name genre. Bonus: its relationship to author William Faulkner.

Cutter was an old-fashioned term for a tailor or barber that was eventually adopted as a surname. That gives it more legitimacy than many of the other aggressive boy names — Striker, Shooter, Breaker, et al. — but Cutter remains equally threatening.

A simple, self-possessed, somewhat serious surname, which might work better as a middle.

Adventurous and unusual choice from this trendy group in the wild new world of baby names.

Chosen by aviators Charles and Anne Lindbergh for their daughter, Reeve is another single-syllable surname waiting to be borrowed by the girls.

Wheeler is one of the most energetic of the newly stylish occupational names, all those 'e's giving it a friendly, freewheeling sound.

New, fast, cool, and chosen by director Robert Rodriguez, whose other sons are Rebel, Rocket, and Rogue, all somewhat risky options.

A German occupational surname deriving from the German word Bad, meaning "bath". Its most famous bearer in recent years has been (the notorious) RBG – former Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, making this a great feminist name or a nod to a lawyer in the family. Its simple, dynamic, er-ending sound fits right in with the likes of Hunter, Carter and Baker.