Unusual and On-Trend

Alaska's Denali National Park is the home of the highest mountain in the US, officially renamed Denali in 2014, endowing the name with a lofty feel. Twice as many girls as boys were given the name in 2021, but the gender gap is closing.

It's a hat, it's a race, and it's even been known to be a name. In Britain, it would be pronounced darby.

This 1950s Welsh bird name sounds less dated than our fifties Robin.

Desmond is a sophisticated and debonair name, with noble ties to 1984 Nobel Peace Prize-winning Bishop Desmond Tutu, and with some great nicknames: Des/Dez, Desi/Dezi.

Synthesized name in the Justin/Dustin mold, but has an unpleasant similarity to the diaper rash ointment called Desitin.

Destry rides again, this time as a Western flavored baby name. Derived from the French surname Destrier, from an Anglo-Norman word meaning "warhorse", this rugged name was popularized by the 1930 novel Destry Rides Again by Max Brand, subsequently adapted for the big screen.

Destry rides again, this time as a Western flavored baby name. Derived from the French surname Destrier, from an Anglo-Norman word meaning "warhorse", this rugged name was popularized by the 1930 novel Destry Rides Again by Max Brand, subsequently adapted for the big screen.

Devlin is an Irish name that's fresher and even more devilish than Devin.

The earliest written record of this surname occurs in the thirteenth century, when an O'Devlin was appointed Bishop of Kells in 1211.

Both a biblical and an Israeli place-name, this can be used as an offbeat substitute for Deborah.

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.

Diantha, a mythological flower of the supreme Greek god Zeus, is a melodious and more unusual cousin of Diana, heard most often in The Netherlands.

Dimity is fairly common in Australia, but unheard of outside of it, which is surprising given its similarity to names like Amity, Verity, and Cassidy.

Novelist Djuna Barnes introduced this interesting and unusual name with an arty, Bohemian feel to the mix. She explained that it was invented by her father, saying it came about as a combination of her infant brother's pronunciation of the word moon as 'nuna' and a character in a book her father was reading, Prince Djalma, and so he "put the Dj onto the 'una'." Result: the silent-D pronunciation (as in Django) of JOON-a.

Worldly, artistic and attractive Slavic version of the name of the Greek god of fertility and farming.

Had a surge of popularity in the Dynasty days, now has subsided in the wake of fresher French choices like Destry and Delphine, though it retains its sense of sophistication. It's one of the most truly gender-neutral baby names right now.

Swaggering, cutting-edge choice equally appropriate for both genders. It's also very rare, given in the US in 2015 to only seven baby girls....and no recorded baby boys. Do you want to be the first?

One of the first of the appealing Irish surnames to take off in this country, this boys’ name has long outgrown its "Mellow Yellow" association, which came via the single from a sixties singer-songwriter named Donovan.

The Dorians were an ancient Greek tribe, one of the three major pre-Spartan tribes. It literally means "of Doris," a Greek district, or "of Doros," referring to the son of Helen of Sparta. Dorian derives from the Greek doron, meaning "gift," along with related names such as Dorothy and Dora.

This name stems from an Irish word meaning sullen, but in the Isle of Man is used to refer to sullen weather, rather than sullen people (hence the tempest meaning). It's a cute and spunky name that could easily work outside Manx circles.

Dark horse Irish surname.