Variation Names That Will Change Your World

Time was, even C-starting Catherines who called themselves Kate spelled it with a K, but Cate Blanchett changed all. Cate is now as acceptable as (but not as well used as) Kate. Cait might be short for Caitlin.

Casey-with-a-K never quite reached the heights of the original, but it broke the Top 500 for boys in the late '80s and early '90s.

Mari enjoyed some mid-century popularity as a nicknameish version of Mary, but now deserves a second look as a multicultural classic. Mari is the name of the Basque goddess of fertility and weather and is also, for unrelated reasons, popular in Norway. The biggest problem with the potentially-lovely Mari will be getting people to say it the way you want. While some Europeans pronounce it as Marie, that will only confuse things more. Better to make it its own individual name by pronouncing it MAH-ree. As one commenter pointed out, in Estonian the name is not a Mary variation but means "berry" – all the more reason for us to like it!

Sharp but sweet, ancient but with a contemporary sound, Sarai has been rising steadily up the US charts since the 90s and now sits comfortably in the Top 1000. In the Old Testament, God changed Sarai's name to Sara, so this would make a clever and legitimate honor name for an ancestral Sarah.