Names I like but will never use

Pronounced like Tom, but not everyone will know that.

Pre-Thomasina female form of Thomas, now seen as more literary and upscale British. In Thomas Hardy's novel The Return of the Native, a leading character is Thomasin Yeobright.

Creative choice, evoking the high-kicking can-can girls and other colorful figures in the works of Toulouse-Lautrec.

Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie put this name of a geographical feature on the baby name map when she chose it for her newborn daughter, Vale Guthrie Feldman. Vale might be considered part nature name, part place name: A vale is a kind of valley, often used in poetry. This truly unique choice doesn't even register on the US extended list of names given to five babies or more, but we expect Vale to register as parents are inspired by Guthrie and husband Mike Feldman's creative choice. More prosaicly, Vale might be a short form of Valerie or Valentina.

Valentine is an attractive Shakespearean name with romantic associations, but those very ties to the saint and the sentimental holiday have sent it into a decline, one which we think may be about to turn around.

Vital and vivacious, Vita is stirring back to life along with many of her V-themed sisters -- Vivian, Vivica -- and is becoming a new celebrity baby favorite.

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

Its jaunty o-ending makes this name more appealing than most of its Germanic brothers, and we hope we're beyond the constant response to his name being "Where's Waldo?" The weighty reputation of writer and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson adds a measure of backbone to the name.

Made famous by the iconic and macabre character Wednesday Addams, this name has the spooky and Halloween-inspired feel that some parents might be looking for. The character has appeared in various adaptations of The Addams Family over the years, but the 2022 television series starring Jenna Ortega has given the name an unexpected boost in popularity.

The girls have dibs on Spring, Summer, and Autumn, leaving this name evocative of snowy landscapes as the one possible seasonal choice for boys. And naturally, it's one of the most obvious names for winter babies.

Wolf is a name with a split personality. It can be seen as one of the fierce animal names, like Fox and Bear and Puma, with a touch of the werewolf, or it can be viewed as a quieter, Wolf Blitzer kind of name, fairly common in German (where is pronounced Vulf) and Jewish families, sometimes as a short form of Wolfgang, or even Wolfram or Wolfhart.