Scorpio Names

Hard and shiny, Steel projects an image that's smooth, macho...and cold to the touch.

The Roman god of the underworld, the former ninth planet, a cartoon dog...but not a baby.

Another winning and relaxed but energetic o-ending Latin name, sometimes associated with designer Paco Rabanne.

Carnelian is an ochre-colored semi-precious gemstone, named after a type of cherry.

Too tightly tied to the acronym for the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

More uncommon and powerful than garden varieties like Rose and Lily. Named for Scottish botanist Dr Alexander Garden.

Kiernan Shipka, aka Sally Draper on Mad Men, brings this Irish surname into the girls' column. And, like Kieran and Tierney and Tiernan, it's one of the perfectly unisex baby names. Only 14 girls were named Kiernan in the US in a recent year...and three times as many boys. If you want to move beyond Riley and Kennedy to one of the more unusual surname-based Irish names for girls, this may be a good choice.

One of the new color names that is catching on, invoking a calm, blue-green-sea feeling.

Omaira is an intriguing Middle Eastern possibility.

Unisex name in Israel, ideal for a Hanukkah baby.

Carey is a surname name that works equally well on babies of all genders - Jazz great Carey Bell and motorcross champion Carey Hart are just two examples of how handsome this name can be for a boy.

Variant spelling of Nyx, the name of the Greek goddess of the night. It also coincides with the English word "nix, a corruption of German nichts "nothing".

Dark horse Irish surname.

Shakti is the female equivalent of the god Shiva in Hinduism. A sacred name sometimes used in a secular way.

One of the jewel names in use a hundred years ago, due for revival along with sisters Ruby and Pearl.

Shyam is one of the alternate names of Hindu God Krishna.

Loyal is one of the few virtue names suitable for boys, an honorable and principled Boy Scout-esque appellation with a surprisingly long and distinguished history.

Cute, distinctive diminutive for this regal-sounding name.

Seems to stand at attention and salute.

The name of the ferrymen of dead souls to the Greek underworld and the name of Pluto's desolate moon, Charon makes an interesting, if somewhat macabre, choice for a baby. There are two pronunciations of this name, depending on whether you're referring to the ferryman or the moon. While the Greek version is pronounced with a hard "k" sound, the astronomer who named the moon did not know about the Greek myth - he named the moon after his wife Charlene, so many astronomers pronounce it with a "sh" sound.