Wonderful Word Names for Babies

Bamboo is a plant name that you might want to save for the zoo's name-the-panda contest. It was used for a starbaby in 2000, though, the rapper Big Boi.

Name that enjoyed some popularity early in the 20th century but now is locked in another, ahem, era.

This old-fashioned word for poetry has some antiquated charm but doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.

Pistol is one of the new names that entered the lexicon in the US in 2013, when it was given to nine babies of each gender. Call it an equal-opportunity badass baby name with an unfortunately violent image.

Spacey.

The mythical daughter of Eros and Psyche becomes a modern-sounding word name. Danger: could be seen as X-rated.

Sister is an old-timey nickname-name for girls, ranking in the Top 1000 as a proper name for girls until the beginning of the 20th century. But more often, Sister was used as a nickname in the truest sense of the word, not a short form ala Kathy but a nickname in the way that Chip and Bud are. Or maybe Junior is a more appropriate name analogy: Sister was sometimes the nickname given to the only girl in a family of boys, so literally a descriptive word name like Junior.

Ochre is an exceedingly rare name, found only a few times since the nineteenth century, and not showing up in any current data. Yet it means much the same thing as popular Sienna (another clay coloured with iron oxide) and sounds similar to fashionable Oakley. A strong earthy nature name that is both unusual and evocative.

Ode could be part of the extended Otto/Otis family, or it might be a literary term, referring to an elaborate lyric poem.

An unassuming virtue, that is also a surname name.

Although this month name was used only for girls in a recent year, there's no reason it can't work for both genders. For a holiday baby, more original than Noel and more universal than Christmas.

Brace yourself? You're going to hear that one a lot if you choose this word name for your baby son, as a handful of parents in the US did in a recent year. One reason for this word is being used as a name: It rhymes with the popular Jace.

Even if you're hoping for a fiery child, this seems like playing with fire. One celebrity--Steve Vai--was bold enough to use it for his son.

A name with vision.

Did you really mean to name your child Channel, as in the body of water? Like, you know, the English Channel? Or were you going for the last name of the French designer Chanel, with a soft "sh" sound at the beginning and the emphasis on the last syllable? If so, we recommend sticking with the Chanel spelling.

This unusual word name means a song sung to put infants to sleep, from the components lull as in calm and by as in goodbye. While it's not on record as being used for any actual babies in the US, it's a rhythmic choice and one of those unique baby names with more mainstream nicknames such a Lula and Bee.

Associated with a vivid red-orange-colored lacquer, would make a more than distinctive color-related choice.

An offbeat word name referring to the speed of a piece of music.

To most Australians and New Zealanders, using the name Anzac might feel sacrilegious now, as the ANZAC story has become interwoven with national identity. But Anzac was used as a name for both boys and girls on both sides of the Tasman Sea in the aftermath of the First World War. It was often used in combination with other names associated with battles or military leaders - for example Dardanella Anzac and Verdun Anzac (both girls) and Winston Anzac and Anzac Kitchener (boys).