910+ Middle Names

More a concept than a place -- or a name.

Tornado first meant thunderstorm and only later came to mean whirlwind, the common modern meaning. More recently, Tornado is the first name of a tennis-playing teen whose sister is called the equally attention-getting Hurricane. Both names work for either gender, if you think you can withstand the storm jokes.

Christmas is a day name long and quietly used as a name for babies born at Christmas. Prettier and more modern than Noel or Noelle.

An appealing Hawaiian name which belongs to a town, river and bay on Kauaʻi island in Hawaii. The two possible meanings of the name, "crescent bay" or "garland (lei) valley" both describe the beauty of the place.

Nobility names like Duke and Count seem to be forming a minitrend: actor Danny Bonaduce named his son Count Dante Jean-Michel Valentino. Beat that. Or wait: don't.

There are many lovely day/month/seasonal names -- and this is one of the most intriguing.

Adventurous word choice, but still quite a burden for a child to bear.

The French word for "twin," often used to refer to items found in pairs. Its plural form, jumelles, is the word for binoculars.

Power is one of the new crop -- Justice, Liberty, Peace -- of strong, clear-cut, declarative choices, though this one carries more assertiveness than virtue.

Actor French Stewart introduced this one to the lexicon. French is part word name, part place name, and part surname-name, reminiscent of celebrity baby names that reference a nationality rather than simply a place, such as Moroccan.

Alternative to Princess or Queenie.

Honesty is one of the modern virtue names, which along with Justice and Destiny are picking up where Faith, Hope, and Charity left off. Is Honesty the most appealing name ever? No, and it's also sure to spark lots of tiresome jokes. Still, Honesty is a positive quality and a lot more appealing than negative word names such as Pistol and Rehab (which both, yes, were given to five baby girls in the US last year).

Alternative to Prince, Duke, King, or Earl, but not an improvement on them.

Winner is a positive word name that entered the lexicon thanks to rapper Nya Lee, who chose it for her baby girl. But this name is a unisex winner with the cute nicknames Winnie or Win.

One of the simplest, most down-to-earth yet evocative of the word names, which could work — especially as a middle.

Mythical wonderland makes strong, evocative first name.

Highly unusual water name -- and actor Colin surname -- with a Scottish burr. Firth derives from the Old Norse word fjord.

Trying to imbue your child with charisma at birth involves a certain degree of chutzpah. It was brought into the mix by ex. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" actress Charisma Carpenter, who was named after an Avon perfume.

Eighties star Judge Reinhold (born Edward Jr. , he was given this nickname at the age of two weeks) made this possible, but it could cause a lot of confusion.