The Hoarder's List of Names

Vera was the height of fashion in 1910, then was for a long time difficult to picture embroidered on a baby blanket. Now, though, it has come back into style along with other old-fashioned simple names such as Ada and Iris.

The simple, sleek Vera gave birth to the more elaborate Veradis and Veradisia. Neither name was used for any baby girls in the US last year.

Verena is pleasant but old-fashioned. Whether that's the outdated kind of old-fashioned or the so-out-it's-in-again kind is your call.

More often spelled VERENA, this name is attached to a third century Swiss saint. But the "virtue" name VERITY, is more appealing and comes more directly to the point.

If you love Puritan virtue names and want to move beyond Hope and Faith and Grace, this is a wonderful choice, both for its meaning and its sound. A rare find here, though occasionally heard in England. It was used in Winston Graham's Poldark novels, was Madonna's name as James Bond's fencing instructor in Die Another Day, and made a brief appearance in Harry Potter. Not to mention being a fixture on British and Australian soaps. Verity also appears in one of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple mysteries.

Once aristocratic British surname yet to be revived. Vince Vaughn recently gave his son the same double initials as his own when he named him Vernon Vaughn.

The o ending and the positive meaning in many languages makes this a winner, and with the feminine Vera making a surprise return, and the new love for the letter 'V', this becomes a name that has definite possibilities.

This name of an architecturally glorious Italian city makes a romantic and evocative possibility.

A vivacious Latin alternative to the superpopular Sierra.

Vienna is one of the more popular of the European place-names, with a particularly pleasant sound, evoking elegant images of the Blue Danube, of castles and cafes, sweets and sausages and Strauss waltzes—and Sigmund Freud. It could be a possible substitute for the popular Sienna.

With the rise of both Russian names and those that start with the letter V, this sharp Eastern European choice may become more familiar in the English-speaking world.

Too close to violent.

Embroidered lace hankie of a name, used in a Thomas Hardy novel. That literary cred lends some gravitas.

In Eastern Europe, more fashionable these days than Vladimir.