SURNAME BABY NAMES

Adair has flair, the grace of a Fred Astaire. It's a Scottish surname which came from the first name Edgar.

Newly fashioned but familiar and with an on trend, unisex feel, Addison seems like the perfect solution for anyone who can’t decide between Madison, Adeline, and Alison.

Adler is a German-Jewish surname that is beginning to be used occasionally as a first and is among the stylish new German names for boys. Among the distinguished bearers of Adler as a last name are Freud colleague Alfred Adler, actress and influential acting teacher Stella Adler and Guns N' Roses drummer Steve Adler.

While theoretically unisex, this surname name has been edging up the girls’ names list, perhaps originally as an Ashley substitute. One quality in Ainsley's favor: It's remained steadily popular -- but not TOO popular -- for more than 20 years now, ranking consistently around Number 400. That makes it stylish and familiar without showing up everywhere.

Anderson shot up quite a bit on the popular names list in the 2000's, no doubt in large part due to the prominence of white-haired cable newsman Anderson Cooper. Perhaps surprisingly though, Anderson was even higher on the list in 1880. Actress Edie Falco named her son Anderson in 2005. Though there haven't been many first-named Anderson namesakes, there have been countless notables bearing the surname, including Hans Christian, Marian, Maxwell, Sherwood, Gillian, Laurie, and Pamela.

Arden, the name of the magical forest in Shakespeare's As You Like It, is a stylish A name with a strong, straightforward image. Another reason to love Arden: its similarity to "ardent." Arden is solidly unisex, with the current gender distribution running about 60 percent girls and 40 percent boys.

Avery is a hugely popular name in the US, especially for girls. But while nearly four times as many girls as boys are named Avery today Avery's popularity is starting to soften for girls while it continues to strengthen for boys.

Macho to the max. But with the rise of x as a fashionable letter anywhere it appears in a name, ala Jaxson or Maxon, we may be hearing more of Axton.

Bailey -- a jaunty surname -- was first used for a female TV character in 1978 in the show WKRP in Cincinnaati, then caught on big time. Bailey's still an appealing choice, though, and a celebrity fave. Parents of daughters named Bailey include Scot Baio and Stella McCartney.

Americans may not realize Barclay is the phonetic spelling of the British Berkeley -- though both sound like old-fashioned butler names.

This one may well be an undiscovered choice for many parents - it has a fabulous meaning, a sturdy surname-name appeal that is very on trend right now and several great namesakes including the Bartlett pear and the tome of quotations. Despite that third T, it could also be a favorite of The West Wing fans wanting to evoke fictional president Jed Bartlet.

An x makes any name cooler, so that Baxter has a bit more pizzazz than the original Baker. Baxter had some currency as a first name a century ago--it was on the popularity lists sporadically from 1880 till the 1920s, peaking at Number 515 in 1886-- which means it's just about due for a comeback. And we can see Bax as a worthy follow-up to Max and Jax.

One of the less common members of the currently popular craftsmen's guild, Becker once had a self-named sitcom, and is also associated with Wimbleton tennis legend Boris Becker.

Benton is an old English surname of a type usually given to local landowners. It is also recorded in early records as Beneton and Bentune. Benton newly returned to the Social Security list in 2011 after a forty-plus year absence, perhaps as a fresh route to Ben.

One of the first generation of cool surname names, now largely used for girls in the US, but still popular for boys in its native Scotland. A prominent association for Brits is former prime minister Tony Blair, who was leader at the time of the Iraq War.

Bowman has a lot of winning ingredients: an occupational surname, a cool "Bo" sound, and an archery-related meaning.

An English surname name, Bradley has a long history, dating way back to at least 1086, but as a first name it actually succeeded in the US before it reached England--though Dickens used it in his novel Our Mutual Friend. Bradley Cooper is one namesake.

Bryant has a longer history as a first name in the US than its father name Brian, ranking among the Top 1000 since the list began in 1880 while Brian only jumped on in 1925.