Black Night And Shadowy Names

This nouveau spelling of Blakeley was one of the fastest-rising girl names outside of the Top 1000 in 2019.

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.

Blakeley is one of the many -ley ending surnames that is being adopted as a first name, updating the 80s darlings Blake and Ashley.

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.

Blakely, along with Blakeley, Blakelee and Blakeleigh, is one of the post-Ashley surname names that end with the lee sound so stylish today. Reality stars Trista and Ryan Sutter named their daughter Blakesley. These surname-names are among the most stylish English names for girls.

Blakesley is the name of a village in England, also sometimes found as a surname along with Blakely and Blakeley, turned into a first name for their daughter by reality stars Trista and Ryan Sutter. Blakesley joins other -ley ending names -- Hadley, Finley -- as one of the most popular forms of unisex names with a girlish spin.

Variant of Blake, borne by the great jazz drummer Art Blakey.

Blaque is a clever -- or should we say qlever -- spelling variation of either the androgynous surname-name Blake, as in Gossip Girl Lively, or Black, as in the color name. Either way, we prefer the original. Blaque -- an acronym for believing life achieving quest unity everything -- was also a late 90s R & B group and some people may choose the name Blaque to symbolize those qualities.

Blaque is a clever -- or should we say qlever -- spelling variation of either the androgynous surname-name Blake, as in Gossip Girl, Lively, or Black, as in the color name. Either way, we prefer the original. Blaque -- an acronym for believing life achieving quest unity everything -- was also a late '90s R & B group and some people may choose the name Blaque to symbolize those qualities.

In Shakespeare's The Tempest, Caliban is the name of the deformed son of a witch: not the greatest literary reference for a child. But Caliban does have an appealing international-yet-accessible feel and a rhythmic sound. As long as nobody knows its origin, it might make a great name for a boy or even a girl.

Carey is a surname name that works equally well on babies of all genders - Jazz great Carey Bell and motorcross champion Carey Hart are just two examples of how handsome this name can be for a boy.

Variously spelled trendy name in the 1970s that hasn't even been in the Top 1000 in a decade.

This shimmering name belongs to an elf in Lord of the Rings. She was the daughter of Galadriel, the wife of Elrond, and the mother of Arwen.

Popular name in Israel, worth considering for a dark-haired daughter with a bit of a bohemian cast.

Now that the Irish Ciaran and Ciara -- aka Kieran and Kiera -- are becoming more popular beyond their native shores, the short and strong Ciar might find some favor. As of now, more than 160 baby girls were named Ciara in the US last year, with half that many boys named Ciaran, but so far no baby boys named Ciar, though 17 were called Keir.

Ciara is very popular in Ireland, more familiar here as the Anglicized Kiera or Keira. The uninitiated will tend to pronounce Ciara as the Italian Chiara, a form of Claire—kee-AHR-a or even see-AHR-a, like the American singer-songwriter Ciara. In the US, Ciara peaked in 2005, when it was the Number 150 name; it's since fallen down to Number 882.

Extremely popular in Ireland, Ciaran is also well used in England and is beginning to be adopted by parents in the U.S., though usually via the more American-friendly Kieran spelling. The Irish spelling is, however, becoming more familiar on this side of the Atlantic, due to the rising popularity of Belfast-born actor Ciaran Hinds.