Cute Baby Names

This nickname name might be cute for a niño, but one of the full names ending in tino would make a more mature statement.

A Leave It to Beaver/old comic-strip name, vacationing for years with the Griswolds in WallyWorld, but now back as WALL-E?

Cedric the Entertainer chose this for his daughter, but most other parents would find it, though optimistic, not exactly substantial.

Shortening Francisco somehow makes it sound even cooler. Cisco is also the name of a digital security company.

Audacious offshoot of Roxanne, the wayward heroine of the musical Chicago.

With Tillie a new favorite of avant-garde parents, the British music-hall Tessie might conceivably follow.

If Frances and Fran are too serious for you, and Fanny too saucy, you might like Franny, still identified by some with J. D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey stories.

Hodge is a medieval English nickname for Roger, which was brought to England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Roger isn't ready for a comeback yet, but we'd love to see the resurgence of Hodge, which never was a common choice in the US.

Sharp and preppy.

Zibby is the adorable, zippy nickname for Elizabeth used for the lead female character in the film "Liberal Arts." Zibby can make a Libby for the 21st century.

With its C spelling, Cayley is softer than its more popular counterpart, Kayley. It's never ranked in the US Top 1000 and at this point probably never will, now that the -aylee, -ayley, and -aylie names are starting to dip.

With Bear and Fox becoming hot baby names, why not Panda? Why not indeed. Both the name and its animal namesake are adorable. And Pan is a nickname right in line with the mythological name trend. The word panda comes from the Nepali word ponya, meaning "bamboo eater" for the panda's favorite food.

This snappy nickname may remind some of the 1985 Chevy Chase movie of the same name.

Splits the difference between Joanie and Joni, if you can't decide between the two.