Food Baby Names

Several "Mel" names are shining in the Top 1000, including Melody, Melanie, and Melina, and Melona is a sweet and unique alternative that was given to around 30 baby girls in 2022. Melona is also a brand of Korean frozen fruit bars.

Though greatly overshadowed by the trendy Olivia, Olive has a quiet, subtle appeal of its own -- and is now enjoying a remarkable comeback. Olive is one of only four girl names starting with O on the US Top 1000. Cool couple Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen chose it for their daughter, reviving the name to stylishness, and now Drew Barrymore has a little Olive too, as has country singer Jake Owen.

No babies of any gender were named Orange in the US in the most recent year counted. But that doesn't mean, in this era of anything-goes baby names, that it couldn't happen.

Seems suddenly possible, in this era of Apple. But Clementine would be much better.

Pam was a somewhat pampered prom queen of the sixties who was never called by her full name, which is a pity because Pamela is so mellifluous and rich in literary history. A Top 25 name from the late 1940's through the late 60's, Pamela has just, sadly, dropped out of the Top 1000.

Peach is one of those names that, a generation ago, would have been placed in the wacky celebrity baby name category. But now with the proliferation of word, nature, and yes, food names, Peach sounds adorably baby-ready.

Peanut Kai is the crazy celebrity baby name of the son of General Hospital star Ingo Rademacher and his fiance Ehiku. Cute but not recommended.

With its bubbly sounds and stylish feel, Pepper joins a small but distinctive group of names inspired by the spice rack: Saffron, Juniper, Cassia, Sage, Ginger, and Rosemary. Enough like Pippa, Piper and Penelope that it feels usable, Pepper has appeared every year in the US stats since the 60s.

British-born novelist Plum Sykes has taken this rich, fruity name out of the produce section and put it into the baby name basket. It's more appealing than Apple, more presentable than Peaches. The French equivalent, Prune, is very fashionable there but would not fly with English speakers.

Sarada is the Japanese word for "salad," and thus, is not a given name in Japan. It was used for the Naruto character Sarada Uchiha. According to Tumblr user @ruineko, "When you say her full name, you get something that sounds like sarada-yu. Sarada-yu means cooking oil, oil is used to light a flame...she is the oil that will start the flame of the Uchiha."

Another entry in the fruit name category, this one borne by writer Strawberry Saroyan, granddaughter of William, so named by her hippie parents. While fruit names may become more familiar, they'll never pass without comment -- but maybe that's what you're looking for.