Wonderful Word Names for Babies

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

An implied spiritual meaning makes this a plausible new name.

No low self-esteem for this kid, or so his parents hope.

Just like Flora is for botanicals, Jewel is the generic gemstone name, not used much since the early twentieth century, when it was seen as a symbol of how precious a daughter could be. The French version, Bijou, feels more modern, as do Pearl and Ruby.

With Levi in vogue and country names on trend, Denim could fit in among the Waylons, Walkers, Coltons, and Rhetts. As a boys name, it brings to mind the qualities of the fabric: hardworking, cool and versatile. Singer Toni Braxton chose this name for her son in 2001, and parents have been using it for boys and girls ever since.

Gage we get. Cade we get. But Cage? Not really, and yet, it was given to about two dozen baby boys in one recent year.

Boo as a first name first achieved notoriety as the name of the child-man in Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. Arthur "Boo" Radley was meant to be frightening, but only in a simple, non-threatening way. More recently, Boo has been used as the middle name of one of chef Jamie Oliver's children and the nickname in the middle of television's Honey Boo Boo. Boo is also the name of the world's cutest dog and of the adorable little girl in Monsters Inc. In a more basic way, Boo is a term of endearment.

Gwyneth Paltrow's Apple has opened the world of botanical names beyond flowers to trees, herbs, fruits, and — why not — nuts. Cayley and Brandon Jenner have a daughter named Joan Almond.

Stormy is on the rise following the birth of Kylie Jenner's daughter Stormi, although the starbaby's spelling has taken over the lead.

Loyal is one of the few virtue names suitable for boys, an honorable and principled Boy Scout-esque appellation with a surprisingly long and distinguished history.

Glimmer is shimmery but a little too showy, as is Glitter, a character on a TV sitcom-- while Glimmer appears in The Hunger Games.

Starr today is more fashionably the plain-spoken Star or the more obscured Stella, Esther, or Estella.

If you use this for a boy, it had better be a family name, hidden away in the middle.

Infinity is a name that could have a long, bright future ahead of it, with its bold meaning and fashionable sound. It's an awful lot of name to pull off, but if Destiny can do it...

Some names referring to expensive things -- Tiffany, Armani, Porsche -- are in fact declasse, but Price transcends that label with its simplicity and strength.

Axe, spelled like this, is used for a handful of baby boys in the US each year. You can see it as one of the new weapon names, along with Dagger and Beretta, or as an abbreviation of the very popular Axel.

Chrysalis is a girls' baby name derived from the state of a butterfly or moth between larva and adult. A chrysalis is a hard-shelled pupa in which the transition of the butterfly or moth takes place. As a baby name, Chrysalis came to the fore as the rumored name of the baby girl of Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott, who reportedly love butterflies. Chrysalis does certainly have potential as a new word name or nature name for babies, with the simple familiar nickname Chrys.

Like Silver, a shimmering metallic color name, almost too dazzling for an ordinary boy.

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

Reminiscent of Puritan and Pilgrim name choices, Sincere is a relatively modern virtue name that has been in the US Top 1000 since the 2000s.