r slash tragedeigh

This soulful musical name was introduced to the lexicon by Glee actor Darren Criss, who named his daughter Bluesy Belle in 2022. It's a saucy choice that owes something to Beyoncé's Blue, and something to the retro nickname Susie. For the daughter of a musician, Bluesy is a rare yet accessible name.

A common name for cats with boot-like markings on their feet. In the same vein: Mittens, Socks.

Not even for Brandy's twin brother.

Braeden was one of the many -aiden names that we heard everywhere just a few years ago. Now it's fading, along with Aiden, Jayden, and company.

One of the most girlish offshoots of Braeden.

Branch is an attractive name with associations both with trees and with branching out into brave new worlds. Baseball's Branch (born Wesley, with Branch as his middle name) Rickey broke the color barrier by hiring Jackie Robinson for the Dodgers. Like Leaf, Branch makes a nice, not-so-obvious, addition to the tree category.

Take modern virtue Brave, add the trendy -n ending, and voilà! A cool new word-meets-surname name which feels bang on trend right now.

Combines the prefix of Brayden and the trendy -lee suffix, and has the marks of the popular Bailey.

One of the aggressive new boys' names, ala Tracker and Heller, that have become fashionable among parents who are courting trouble.

Britton, technically a spelling variation of Britain, is much more popular that the original place name for both boys and girls. There are about three baby girls named Britton for every four boys, making it a truly nonbinary choice.

For the parent who might also have Buck and Ryder on his list.

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.

This extra-N variation matches up with the current preferred spellings of Oaklynn, Raelynn, and Adalynn, however it has always been outranked by popular Brooklyn. Though both spellings have trended downwards since their peak in 2011, Brooklyn maintains its place in the US Top 100, while Brooklynn lags behind in the #300s.

Blending the sounds of Bryce, Brian, Riley and Kylie, Brylee is a modern invention that ranked in the US Top 1000 from 2005 to 2022. It peaked back in 2012 when it was given to around 770 babies, but has since been in decline. Given to around 230 girls in a recent year, Brynlee and Oakley are now preferred.

Caliber belongs to the class of tough boy names — along with Shooter, Wesson, and Trigger — that are given to a small but notable number of boys each year. We generally discourage parents from using such violence-promoting names — there are better routes to the nickname Cal.

Cannon sits amongst other weapon names like Colt, Pistol, Lance, and Remington. Definitely a name that offers bombast.

Canyon is a unique baby name evocative of natural splendor and the old Steve Canyon comic-strip heroism, making it an intriguing new word-name possibility.

Color us surprised — Kashton is over four times more popular than Cashton. While the on-trend K spelling ranks in the US Top 500, Cashton lingers just outside the charts and is given to around 170 boys each year.