Mystic Names

A psychic mystique clings to this name of cards used in fortune-telling.

Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie put this name of a geographical feature on the baby name map when she chose it for her newborn daughter, Vale Guthrie Feldman. Vale might be considered part nature name, part place name: A vale is a kind of valley, often used in poetry. This truly unique choice doesn't even register on the US extended list of names given to five babies or more, but we expect Vale to register as parents are inspired by Guthrie and husband Mike Feldman's creative choice. More prosaicly, Vale might be a short form of Valerie or Valentina.

In 2014, fifteen newborns were named Whisper, all of them girls. We can see the attraction of the name but if you are in Australia be warned - Whisper is a well-known brand of sanitary products, so a teenaged Whisper will find life more embarrassing than usual.

Wisdom is a rare modern virtue name that might increase in use as this whole category becomes more mainstream. Wisdom is one of the gender-neutral names now on the table for both boys and girls.

With the rise of such working names as Gardener, Miller, and Bailey, someone out there might want to dub their child a Wizard — though we're not sure this exactly classifies as an occupation.