Wonderful Word Names for Babies

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

Some parents, including rapper Ludacris, are literally bestowing good karma on their children; it could just join the new spiritual name congregation.

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 may have started out as a nickname for the male character Arthur "Boo" Radley in To Kill A Mockingbird and these days may be closely associated with another male Boo, the "world's cutest dog" or with the adorable little girl in Monsters, Inc.

Otherworldly.

An implied spiritual meaning makes this a plausible new name.

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.

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

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.

Almond may seem like a hippy modern name, but its use for American boys goes right back to the mid-nineteenth century. In these cases, it was either a variation of Almund, meaning "noble strength," or the surname Aleman, meaning "German."

Knight (as opposed to Night) is a name clad in shiny armor. This high-ranking word name was introduced by singers Kelis and Nas. Knight might join brothers King, Royal, and Noble in a new definition of royal baby names.

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

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...

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Hippie name with a sweet meaning. While theoretically gender-neutral, Harmony was given to nearly 1400 baby girls last year....and zero boys.