ances tree

Popular President Franklin Delano Roosevelt inspired a brief fashion for this as a first name in the 1940s; almost never heard today.

Denise was a French favorite of the fifties and sixties but is less chic now. In 2020 it broke back into the Top 1000 after a five-year hiatus, catapulted into style by reality TV star Denisse Novoa — but it dropped out again the following year.

Although it has come to sound Irish, Dennis is one of the most widely-used French names (St. Denis is the patron saint of France) and harks back even further to Dionysius, the Greek god of wine and debauchery. It was introduced to England by the Normans.

Highly unlikely philosophical choice.

Believe it or not, this was a fairly common appellation in early New England, interpreted not in the sexual sense, but more in terms of desiring salvation. In modern times, the French name Desiree, pronounced dehz-ih-ray, would be more acceptable.

One of the original French names chosen by midcentury parents for their sophistication and je ne sais quoi, Desiree has since become completely assimilated in the US. It ranked in the Top 1000 from 1954-2017, but has since dropped back out.

Vintage surname that's fallen out of use, but perhaps deserves a revival.

The jazzy, ultra-cool Dexter, like most names with an "x," has a lot of energy and dynamism.

Diana, the tragic British princess, inspired many fashions, but strangely, not one for her name. For us, Diana is a gorgeous and still-underused choice.

Dickinson is a possibility for Richard's boy, though that Dick nickname is problematic no matter how you get to it.

Dickson's nickname problem keeps it from having the upside possibility of similar names like Jackson and Harrison. If you're looking for fresh baby names to honor an ancestral Richard or Dick, consider Dixon. Or better, Richardson.

As the song says, "Dinah, is there anyone finer?" Dinah is a charming, underused Old Testament name with a rich literary and musical resume.

Dionne is an Americanized version of the Greek Dione, with many sub-versions of its own, identified with singer Dionne Warwick. It was also the surname of the Canadian quintuplets born in 1934, who gained worldwide fame as the first kown quints to survive to adulthood.

Once a birth order name, now might work as a cool x-ending nickname. But be warned that it sounds very close to an unfortunate slang term.

A relatively common surname, Dixon would be an inventive way to honor an ancestral Richard or Dick, the X form a lot livelier than the Dickson spelling, just as Dix is a more modern short form than Dick; it would be right at home alongside Dax and Jax.

This old short form might be seen as a little dubious by some, though it could make for a fun pet name or an update on Roger.