New Baby Names

Smoldering Spanish actor Benicio Del Toro made this version an American possibility. It debuted on the US Top 1000 in 2016, when it was the third-fastest-rising boys' name.

Pronounced KAY-nan, this Old Testament place name has a strong modern feel that blends in with on-trend choices like Carter, Colton, and Kayson, but also with Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Tobias. Associated in the Bible with "The Promised Land", it is also the name of one of Noah's grandsons.

In the New Testament this was exclaimed by those around Jesus when he first entered Jerusalem. An exuberant choice!

The popularity of Mila has no doubt influenced the rise of Mylah, which can also be viewed as a feminization of Milo.

This distinctive spelling was popularized by the R&B singer Mya (Harrison) and has inspired many baby namers to adopt Mya for themselves.

Author Colson Whitehead introduced this surname-name to the lexicon, perfect for, well, a son or grandson of a Nicholas.

Audrina is a name that owes its fame to overnight reality TV sensation Audrina Partridge, one of the original cast of the MTV reality series The Hills.

More and more parents are turning to this name as a route to the cool nickname Dax.

Actor couple Chyler Leigh and Nathan West added this one to the lexicon when they adapted the surname of actress Jennifer Aniston as their daughter's first name. Aniston, which theoretically might mean "Anis' town," (Anis is a medieval form of Agnes) was actually Anglicized from the Greek Anastasopoulos. With its similarity to both Addison and Anna and its relationship to the attractive star, Anniston is taking off a la Jolie.

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian added this new word name to the lexicon when they chose it for their second son and fourth child. Psalm and Saint certainly make a perfect sibset. A psalm is a hymn or sacred song. The bible contains a Book of Psalms.

Singular and serene noun name that's been used by a couple of celebs.

We think, probably, most parents who name their sons Alias are using it as a variation of Elias.

Stormi is like Sunni, with angst. If naming your child Storm or Stormy is asking for trouble, naming her Stormi -- as Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott did -- is asking for trouble of several different kinds. But we're sure she'll be adorable and as celebrity baby names go, this one is nearly normal.

Landry is one rising surname name, often after legendary Dallas Cowboys football coach Tom Landry, that is given to boys and girls. But the y ending does give it a feminine sound (as opposed to the more boyish and more popular Landon). Land is a Landry nickname that might work for boys or girls.

This variation of Wesley moved into the Top 1000 among boys' names in the US in 2016, perhaps because it makes the name less like Lesley and more Western, with the cowboy nickname West.

Neil Gaiman invented this name for a character in his comic book Sandman. It can now be seen on the TV show Lucifer.

One of the designer baby names -- Chanel and Gucci are others -- that have appeared in this era of branding everything from your purse to your offspring.

A recently entered name on the roster, Poet was used for her daughter by Soleil Moon (Punky Brewster) Frye, who obviously appreciates the advantages of an unusual name. This is a possible middle name choice for verse-loving parents who want to skip specifics like Auden or Poe or Keats or Tennyson and go with the generic.

The short, clipped Cru is one of those modern names that's starting to find favor -- it was given to nearly 50 boys last year, while Crew has vaulted onto the Top 1000. One inspiration is undoubtedly the Spanish name Cruz, which came to wider attention via the third son of Victoria and David Beckham. Cru has a handsome sound and a modern feel.

A fresher spin on Jaxon, with built-in cool nickname Nix, and a great way to honor an ancestral Nick. But the association with disgraced former president Richard Nixon remains strong, which might explain why this otherwise bang-on-trend surname name has remained under the radar, peaking at #482 in 2017.