Potential Character Surnames

Unlike Rose and Blue, this color name is Not Ready for Prime Time.

Blake -- an early unisex option -- dropped out of the Top 100 in 2017 for the first time since 1988, but remains a sophisticated choice. And yes, both conflicting meanings of Blake are accurate. It originated as a surname in England derived from a nickname. Much of its masculine image was influenced by the wealthy, silver-haired character Blake Carrington in the massively popular 80s TV series Dynasty. Rosie O'Donnell has a son named Blake.

Blakeley is one of the many -ley ending surnames that is being adopted as a first name, taking the 80s unisex darling Blake into the new millennium.

A decade or two ago, we might have stopped with Blake, but today the surname Blakely or Blakeley sounds more modern as a first name.

Now that such Old Testament patriarchs as Elijah and Moses fill the playground, Boaz seems downright baby-friendly, having more pizzazz than many of the others, perhaps as a successor to Noah.

Booker would make for a very cool name, for writers, reformers, R & B fans and those wanting to pay tribute to Booker T. Washington.

Related to blackberry plants and colloquially to any thorny shrub, Bramble also has history as an English surname.

Braxtyn and its more traditional counterpart, Braxton, may sound like modern inventions but they actually have a longer history than you might expect. Meaning "badger" or "Brock's settlement", Braxton was the given name of a Civil War general and also appears in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women and Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird. It entered the US Top 1000 back in 1985, however it had been given to around 20 boys since the early 20th century.

An invented name that fits in with classmates Brayden and Jaylen.

Also found as Brason, this is one of an army of Jason sound-alikes, which include Cason, Mason, Kaysen, and so on. Stylish, yes; recommended, no.

One of several blunt B names just this side of the gender divide. While its short and to-the-point sound may feel modern, it has been declining steadily since the 1980s.

The popular -ley suffix can be credited for this name's use in recent years. We're not loving that it sounds as trendy and of-the-moment as it is.

Football great Brett Favre single-handedly kept this name in the limelight, though it continues to sink in popularity.

Fairy-tale memories of Sleeping Beauty inspire some parents—such as Rachel Bilson and Hayden Christensen—to call their daughters Briar Rose. But Briar plus a different middle name might work even better. It's one of the newly popular nature-word names, charting in the US for the first time in 2015 for both genders.

Bríet, the Icelandic form of Brit, feels fresher and more exciting than the original.

This name of a busy British port city -- as well as of several places in America -- has a brisk and bustling air. It will now--and for years to come--be identified as a (female) Sarah Palin name.

Rockers Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz put a new baby name on the map when they chose this downscale New York borough name for their son. The Bronx, the place, was named for early Dutch settler Jonas Bronck. Might Bronx become the next Brooklyn? We'd be surprised if it did.

Most color names, like Scarlet and Violet, are definitely female, but not this one. Brown is as rich and warm as the tone it denotes, though we must admit the Italian version Bruno has more spark and substance.