Names from 2050

Digory is the name of a character in a romantic poem from the Middle Ages as well as from The Chronicles of Narnia, also known as The Professor. There's a Harry Potter character named Diggory.

In ancient Greece, a student of Plato; in modern America, a cool guy.

A perennial classic in the Netherlands, short-and-sweet Dirk is starting to feel like a fresher alternative to cousin Derek.

Dovie was a fairly popular nickname name a century or more ago, dropping off the Top 1000 in the 1940s only to be heading straight back uphill now.

A word that's been used, very infrequently, as a name for hundreds of years. Interesting sound and meaning.

Used by the Puritans but off the US charts completely since the mid-1990s, Eartha is best known today as the name of American singer Eartha Kitt, as well as of the philanthropist and humanitarian Eartha M. M. White.

Echo, the pretty, resonant name of a legendary nymph, was the heroine of Joss Whedon's sci-fi series Dollhouse. Nick Hexum, of the band 311, named his daughter Echo Love.

Makes a serious name frilly and feminine, which, depending on your viewpoint, might be a good or a bad thing. In this case, we vote good.

For tree huggers.

Rising star among Hispanic families that would make a good cross-cultural choice. A morepopular name with the same stellar meaning is Esther

Evander is a name that could build on the popularity of shorter form Evan, and could work and play well with schoolmates like Zander and Xander.

A twist on the standard Everett takes it to lofty heights. The snow-capped Everest would surely stand out in a classroom, yet has an acceptable name-like feel.

One of the bird names that's more appropriate for a boy, though it works for a girl too.

Of all the botanicals, Fern has been one of the slowest to move back from the front parlor into the nursery, despite the appealing girl character in the children's classic Charlotte's Web. Fern was most popular from the turn of the last century through the 1940s, reaching a high of #152 in 1916. We can certainly see her rejoining the long list of popular greenery names.

It feels like Finch should be a modern bird name that's as popular as Wren or Lark, but that's not the case - so it's one to consider if you're looking for a nature name that's familiar but rare.

Fletcher is a common surname with a touch of quirkiness; it definitely fits into the So Far Out It's In category--and moving further in all the time along with other occupational names from Parker to Forester.