word names i love

The Forest variation of Forrest, used by actor Whitaker, nudges the meaning more toward the woods and away from the woodsman.

Forever still feels more like a sentiment than a name, and rather feminine at that.

Your teenager will either love you or hate you for choosing this name. Better: Fox.

One of the classic hippie word names. In the 1970s, actors Barbara Hershey and David Carradine gave this name to their son...who later changed it to Tom.

Gage was part of the craze for one-syllable surnames, with associations to tasty green gage plums and the mathematical gauge.

Though the mythological Hero was female, this name might prove too big a responsibility for a little guy to shoulder.

If you like such uplifting New Age word names as Peace and Justice, the evocative and pretty Imagine should definitely be on your short list.

Joy is from an older generation of word names, which also included Merry, Bliss, and Glory -- all of which exert a certain amount of personality pressure on a child. One interesting name that means the same thing: Chara.

Justice is a fashionable word name, used for both girls and boys. Justice has the distinction of being a virtue name without the religious implications of Faith or Grace. It still feels more male than female, perhaps partly due to the classic Roman name Justus, but Justice has become a more common pick for girls in recent years.

Legend joins cousins Story, Saga and Fable in the baby name pantheon of narrative words. Unlike Story and Fable, however, Legend comes with additional weight, being used for fame ("living legend") and to denote a person who is fantastic "what a legend"). Who can live up to that?

Loyal is one of the few virtue names suitable for boys, an honorable and principled Boy Scout-esque appellation with a surprisingly long and distinguished history.

Meadow's upward popularity trajectory certainly suggests that the name has transcended its connection to The Sopranos.. In the US, more than 750 baby girls were named Meadow last year, a number we expect to keep rising.

The Play Misty for Me jokes will get old really fast.

The original oddball celebrity baby name, via Frank Zappa's daughter Moon Unit, who claims she's always liked it.