Middle Names

Annette is a French diminutive of Ann which was among the first wave of widely-used girls' names from France, now neglected for so long that it's almost starting to feel stylish again.

This feminine form of Arliss, is familiar via the recent HBO series. But why not just use Arliss?

In all its iterations, this name is on the rise. Ariana and Arianna are both highly popular choices in the US, and as with other popular appellations, creative spellings are inevitable. The trendy y in place of the i might be tempting, but anyone bearing this spelling will constantly be correcting people who assume one of the two dominant versions.

A classic in its native Scandinavia, Axel has a cool rock 'n' roll flavor in the US, thanks to Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose (born William). With its distinctive letter 'x', it has an effortlessly cool vibe about it, and is currently growing in popularity.

Fairy-tale memories of Sleeping Beauty inspire some parents—such as Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen—to call their daughters Briar Rose. But Briar plus a different middle name might work even better. It's one of the newly popular nature-word names, charting in the US for the first time in 2015 for both genders.

Strong and modern, Cade shot up the popularity lists around the millennium—it was as high as Number 201 in 2001. Now, it has declined in popularity slightly, but nevertheless remains in the US Top 300, given to around 1200 babies each year. Combined with all the baby Kades, Cadens, Kaidens and Kaydens however, it might feel even more popular that it actually is.

Caprice is a word name with an appealing sound and a light-hearted meaning. Caprice is a rare name, used for only ten baby girls in the US in 2023.

Common name in Wales that's all but unknown in the U.S. Certainly an attractive choice ripe for export. In the UK it sits at Number 330.

Chase, with its sleek and ultraprosperous aura, is redolent of the worlds of high finance and international banking. Chase has been well used during the last few decades, seen as a character on 24 and on several young-audience shows.

A Gallic twist on a word or nature name, which has a nice lemony feel. 

Names that sound and/or are spelled like Dalila exist in several languages, from the Swahili Dalili to the Arabic Dalil to the Hebrew Delilah. A beautiful cross-cultural choice.

If Erykah Badu can name her son Seven, why can't you name your daughter (or son) this? Eleven has recently gotten a lot of attention via the character on the TV show Stranger Things.

The multicultural Eliana has been rising quickly in recent years and is now popular in Netherlands, the UK, Canada, France, and Brazil. With in-built nicknames Ellie, Elle and Ana, Eliana - and her spelling variants - are versatile and appealing.

A simple and seamlessly international choice with a joyful sound and beautiful meaning.

The second most popular spelling of this name is also the most straightforward.

You might think of Harper as the hottest name of the last decade, jumping from obscurity to the Top 10, where it remained until last year.

Looking for a Texas name more distinctive than Austin and Dallas? Houston is a lanky, roguish place-name, right in style with its Texas accent and cowboy image.