Names of imaginary childhood friends

Stella is a name with star quality and sparkle, that manages to sound both ethereal and earthy. Celestial but not otherworldly, it lands somewhere between the popular Ella and bold Seraphina.

The musical, sylvan Sylvia seems poised to join former friends Frances and Beatrice and Dorothy back in the nursery.

Urban was not an uncommon name through the 1930s (rising as high as Number 435), having been attached to several saints and early popes, but it has completely disappeared from the landscape--both urban and rural. Yet in this era of word name appreciation and trend for 'an'-ending boys' names, we're thinking it might be ready for a return.

A saint's name with a noteworthy literary background, including uses by Shakespeare in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Much Ado About Nothing, by Ben Johnson, Walter Scott, Longfellow, D. H. Lawrence and Neil Gaiman. In real life, her two most well known representatives are writer Ursula Le Guin and actress Ursula Andress. In literature, there is also Ursula Iguaran, a key, long-lived character in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's major work, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

This once vivacious midcentury nickname is rarely used for modern babies.

This Polish form of Veronica is well-used in its native country, where it has been in the Top 50 since 2000.

This Polish form of Victoria is popular in its native country, where it was in the Top 3 for 8 consecutive years from 2000 to 2008, and it still hangs on to the Top 20.

There are many in Japan, but for most Americans there's only one Yoko.

Zenon is a relative of Zeno, which is a form of Zeus, used in both ancient Greece and modern Poland. With the new rise of all names mythological, this one may deserve a fresh look.

As Sophia gets more popular, parents search out more unusual spins, and the Z makes this qualify.