The World

Sable is often associated with the Dynsaty soap opera, but it is actually a type of animal historically hunted for its fur. Sable is also used as a word for a warm, rich black color. Both associations carry hints of luxury.

Spice names are increasingly appealing to the senses of prospective parents; this one, belonging to a precious spice derived from the crocus has a vaguely orange-scented-incense sixties feel.

Sage is an evocatively fragrant herbal name that also connotes wisdom, giving it a double advantage. It entered the Top 1000 at about the same time for both genders in the early 1990s, but it has pulled ahead for the girls. Toni Collette named her daughter Sage Florence.

Nickname name hep in the era of Grease.

Santiago is a spirited Spanish name with great crossover potential. It's a place-name (a city in Chile), a surname, and the name of the patron saint of Spain.

A place name with a deep Southern accent, the once-obscure Savannah shot to fame, with others of its genre, on the heels of the best seller Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which was set in the mossy Georgia city of Savannah. Originally a substitute for the overused Samantha, Savannah is now becoming overused itself, long among the top girls' names starting with S.

The Scarlet spelling makes it less a name, less Gone With The Wind and Scarlett Johansson, and more the bright red color that inspired it in the first place.

Sienna has been a Top 100 choice in England & Wales since 2005, the year after Sienna Miller's acting breakthrough in the hit movies Alfie and Layer Cake. In the US, it also got a big boost in the early noughties, before dropping slightly then rebounding to reach an all-time high in 2022.

Sierra is a name borrowed from the western mountain range, with Latin rhythm and cowboy charm, that has led to many offshoots: Cierra, Cyara, and so on. It is now probably past its peak but retains its pretty-yet-strong sound. The meaning refers to the sharp, irregular peaks of some of the Western mountains such as the Sierra Nevada.

Simon is pure and simple (not in the nursery rhyme sense), and an appealingly genuine Old and New Testament name that's not overused. These factors make Simon a stylish yet classic choice.

The e-addition takes the name from slightly hippie-ish nature name to the place name of a picturesque island off the coast of Scotland, and for baby namers it's by far the more popular spelling.

With related choices such as Lark and Phoenix gaining popularity, why not Sparrow? Though it's usually thought of as a female name, Nicole Richie and Joel Madden chose it for their son.

The temperature is definitely rising for this popular seasonal name, which began being used in the seventies, and has been heard consistently ever since.

Sunday is among the most usable of the day names with its sunny first syllable, its sweet sound, and its potential to be both a sassy or a spiritual choice. The name initially made headlines in 2008 when Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban chose it for their daughter, Sunday Rose. Although it had been widely written that Kidman and Urban named their baby after art patron Sunday Reed, Kidman says this was a myth, they just liked the name.

Sydney was a hot girls' name in the 1990s, but she's arguably still cool. One of the original old man names adopted for baby girls, Sydney's popularity may be down but she's not out.

One of the hot two-syllable T names of the nineties (along with Tyler, Trevor, and Taylor), and well represented on soap operas; Tanner is still widely used, but its popularity is declining.

Tansy is a flower name rarer than Rose, livelier than Lily and a lot less teasable than Pansy.

Y-ending color adjectives like Tawny and Rusty are nowhere near as stylish as the more sophisticated Lilacs and Violets.

This lovely orange-scented Spanish place-name would make an inventive namesake for an Aunt Valerie.

Verona is a scenic place-name with the added attraction of a Shakespearean connection, as in Two Gentlemen of....