999+ Nature Names for Babies

An old-man name that sounds cute when used for a little girl, and is starting to seem cool again for boys too.

Nickname name hep in the era of Grease.

Why bother to invent a new name or spelling when there are intriguing oddities like this in existence. Also in the Welsh encyclopedia of names: Ffion, Ffiona, and Ffraid, the Welsh form of Brigid.

Isle is a super rare nature name that sounds like an appealing unisex form of Isla.

All baby names can be made more "creative" by putting a Z at the beginning instead of what's conventionally there: B or C or H, for instance. Zaley is an adorable entry in this group, also spelled Zailey or Zayley or Zalee. The Zaley spelling attains a measure of authenticity when seen as a feminine form of Zale, a Greek name with an ocean-related meaning.

We've seen Haven take off as a nouveau girls' name; Harbor could follow in its wake.

Better known as Tapioca, Cassava makes an innovative way to get to the nicknames Cass or Cassie.

Spring doesn't sound half as contemporary as Winter, which has become the cool season name.

Derya is a unisex name in its native Turkey, though even there it is far more popular for women than for men. It is related to the Persian name Daria, which also means sea.

A rare flower name that works as well for boys as it does for girls, so named because of its resemblance to a small glove.

This name has a nicely fragrant woodsy feel, bringing it into the nature-tree name category. Its only well known bearer, folk singer and Oscar-winning actor Burl Ives, had the full birth certificate name of Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives--nothing compared to his two siblings named Argola and Lillburn.

This name's buttoned-up British vibe is what makes it cool - that, and the fact that it was chosen by Anne Bronte as her pseudonym - Acton Bell. That's quite the literary - and may we add feminist - credential for a name. For those with an adventurous edge, Acton is one of the highest peaks in Antarctica.

Solemn but soaring name with patriotic symbolism.

Cormoran first popped up as the name of a Cornish giant in the 18th century fairy tale Jack the Giant Killer, which drew on ancient British folklore. Today, though, it is more familiar as the name of the protagonist of J.K. Rowling's detective novel The Cuckoo's Calling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Its proximity to Cormorant, a family of seagoing birds, gives it extra appeal to nature lovers.

Mesa is the term for a flat-topped mountain, derived from the Spanish word for "table".

Commonly associated with Chinese supermodel Liu Wen.

A merry surname cousin of Kerrigan, could make a lively choice for a happy little girl.

Would you really want to name your child after a Japanese anime movie called Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space.

A subtle nature name which would nevertheless make for a bold choice, saint’s name Corbinian derives from Latin corvus ("crow; raven"). It’s a traditional yet rare choice in parts of southern Germany, where it’s usually spelt Korbinian.

Photographer Diane Arbus named her daughter Doon, inspired by the sand dunes she walked among when pregnant. Used this way, Doon might be considered a nature name, a refashioning of the word dune. But Doon might also stem from the familiar Scottish surname Dunn or Dunne, which means brown or dark, originally used for a dark-haired person.