Nature Names Off the Beaten Track

Celeste is a softly pretty and somewhat quaint name with heavenly overtones, which kids might associate with Queen Celeste of Babar's elephant kingdom. She's a light and lovely choice that's finally getting noticed.

Infinitely preferable to the tease-inspiring English version of the word.

One of the rarest of the flower names, that of the blossom celebrated in Japan as a symbol of the sun and a possible object of meditation. One of the rare flower names counted among names for autumn babies, Chrysanthemum is also one of the most unusual nature-themed girl names starting with C.

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

Clay is a rich, earthy one-syllable name with a southern-inflected handsome-rogue image, featured on soap operas and reality TV. Its longer forms are Clayton and Clayborne.

Clementine is a Nameberry favorite that broke back into the US Top 1000 in 2014 after more than half a century off the list.

Like Sky and Sunshine, this fluffy name from the hippie 1970s has floated back onto the naming radar.

Clove is one of a whole tantalizing genre of spice names that might work for a boy. Clovis could be considered a long form.

Clover is a charming, perky choice if you want to move beyond hothouse blooms like Rose and Lily, and it's recently become a new celeb favorite, chosen by both Neal McDonough and Natasha Gregson Wagner, who used it to honor her mother, Natalie Wood, one of whose most iconic films was Inside Daisy Clover.

Even among the range of blue names on the current baby naming palette -- Blue itself, Azure, Cerulean, Teal, Aqua, Cyan, Indigo -- Cobalt remains the most unusual, not to mention the most masculine.

Do everyone a favor and spell it Coco, an up-and-coming choice.

First used during the Victorian craze for jewel names; it could rise again, along with Ruby and Pearl, though it doesn't have as much luster.

A name heard in Puritan times -- Cotton Mather was a minister involved in the Salem witchcraft trials -- which really deserves modern consideration as it blends nature and softness into a really trendy and wearable masculine name.

Cove is an up-and-coming nature name whose cool sound and peaceful image saw it rising for both sexes... until COVID-19 hit. It remained steady in use for boys in 2021, but actually increased for girls, although it remains a seriously rare and distinctive choice for either gender.

This elegant surname has great potential to turn into an unusual first name, especially with its literary associations to both Stephen and Hart Crane.

Crescent is an intriguing word name with a pretty sound and links to the moon. Cressie could make for a cute nickname, as used in the Worst Witch children's TV series, short for Crescentmoon.

Nickname name from the era of Father Knows Best, though we can see it making something of a comeback, a la Clover and Pippa. Cricket has new potential especially since it has recently been chosen by Busy Philipps. Still, it's one of the quirkier girl names starting with C.

Cyan is a highly unusual blue-green color name, a classmate of Celadon and Cerulean. It does come with the homey nickname Cy.

Lovely entry into the tree name genre, joining Juniper, Oak, and Willow.

Yes, though it seems so extreme, girls were actually sometimes given this name a century ago; now it is so uncommon it would make a strong springtime statement. Biggest obstacle: the nickname Daffy.