Wonderful Word Names for Babies

Eternal--or eternally pretentious?

A grassy place with trees is a nice image to attach to a name.

Bright is a rare yet intriguing word name used for a female character in Ann Patchett's novel The Dutch House.

Fey, for middle name purposes, could be thought of as a fey spelling of Fay. These days, however, Fey would be considered by most people to be honoring comedian Tina.

An early day name worthy of consideration today for someone seeking a truly unusual name.

Gruff is a name that gets used on a handful of boys each year, in both the US and the UK.

"Saturday Night Live" cast member Finesse Mitchell often mocks his own and similar names when portraying the character Starkeisha on the show.

A rarely used and distinctive word name with artistic flair, Mosaic has joins other creative choices, like Painter, Poem, Poet, Boheme, Story, Carver, and Monet. Appearing for the first time in the US stats in 2022 when it was given to 5 boys, it has yet to rank for girls. Nicknames could be Mo, Mick, Micky, Zay, or Maisie.

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.

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, though last year the trend had subsided and it was given to zero babies. Call it an equal-opportunity badass baby name with an unfortunately violent image.

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.

Rugged nature name with possibilities...but more for boys.

Otherworldly.

Garland is fragrant and celebratory, and also has a celebrity-tribute tie to the star of The Wizard of Oz.

If you like the idea of King and Prince but find them too sophisticated, this might be the name for you.

Broadening your horizons when choosing a name for your baby may lead you here. Horizon feels like the cousin of names like Meridian, Geo and Stellar - scientific spins on nature names. Rize is the usual nickname for this choice.

Most familiar as a nautical term -- for the part of a boat that facilitate steering -- but also has an occupational sense (someone who tills the soil) and can refer to a part of a crossbow.

An implied spiritual meaning makes this a plausible new name.

Yet another noble name to join King, Prince, Princess, et al. The name Empress was given to over 100 baby girls in the US last year.

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.