Wonderful Word Names for Babies

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.

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).

Cool, cruising choice for either sex.

Very occasionally given to boys born on that day; Noel is a more common name for Christmas babies.

Fanciful, edging toward bizarre.

A tad spacy.

Smooth and evocative, but not very namelike.

Toni Morrison, the modern master of literary names, made this one famous as the title character of a novel. But things didn't work out so well for that Beloved.

African-American and women's rights activist Sojourner Truth was born as Isabelle into enslavement. She adopted her new name when she began traveling and preaching abolition in 1843. Sojourner is a heroine name that may, with the rise of spiritual word names such as Journey and Genesis, finally be ready for prime time.

Like True, a virtuous word name, but a little more awkward. In Trust we trust.

A bit too cunning.

The Shakespearean Portia may be a real name, but Porsche is now and forever a car, not a little girl.

Sound contradicts its meaning.

With the rising use of Eugenie and Eulalia, could literary Euphony make a debut? It certainly has a pleasant meaning and is euphonic itself.

For basketball fans, in honor of Magic Johnson. Or anyone who believes in magic.

In the US this is likely to conjure zebras, lions and elephants on the Serengeti, but its original meaning "journey" broadens its wearability. Safari is a name common in Africa for babies born while their parents were on a journey.

As the former stage name of TLC founder Perri Reid and the name of the youngest member of the animated Flintstones clan, it's got some pop culture cache. But it'll be too cutesy by half for most parents.

Believe it or not, this was a fairly common appellation in early New England, interpreted not in the sexual sense, but more in terms of desiring salvation. In modern times, the French name Desiree, pronounced dehz-ih-ray, would be more acceptable.

Royalty was the hottest name of 2016, moving furthest up the ladder to enter the Top 1000, and is also arguably the trendiest name of the past decade, used a whopping 71 times as often in 2017 as it was ten years earlier. Royalty represents the convergence of two important trends: word names and superlative names such as Legend and King. This is one we'll hear a lot of for a while.

This old-time name for a sofa would not be comfortable as a baby name.