The Business

Mavis, another word for the song thrush, is also a relative of the Welsh word for strawberries, mefus. Mavis has something of a British World War II feel, a friend of Beryl and Doris, but it was quite popular in the U.S. a couple of decades earlier, peaking in the Roaring Twenties. With the renewed interest in names ending in 's' — and in bird names — Mavis could make a return, especially with the new interest in Maeve, and in fact, it reentered the US Top 1000 after a 50-year absence in 2016.

Minerva is the long-neglected name of the Roman goddess of wisdom and invention, the arts and martial strength, one of the mythology names for girls that might appeal to adventurous feminist parents. With Juno and Jupiter, she made the Capitoline triad, whose worship was at the very center of Roman religion.

Moby, the nickname of musician Richard Melville Hall, was thanks to his ancestor Herman Melville, creator of the infamous whale. You can imagine calling a child Moby as a cute nickname in honor of a grandfatherly Richard or Dick, but the ghost of a Dick would always follow the name around. In Melville's classic book, Moby was an invented word whose meaning has never been firmly established, though the best scholarship calls it a fictional place name that, in the custom of whaling ships of the time, helped identify the whale called Dick.

Like Penn Jillette, you can have your own little brash babe.

With its bubbly sounds and stylish feel, Pepper joins a small but distinctive group of names inspired by the spice rack: Saffron, Juniper, Cassia, Sage, Ginger, and Rosemary. Enough like Pippa, Piper and Penelope that it feels usable, Pepper has appeared every year in the US stats since the 60s.

A strong Greek name with pan-European charm, Petra is a relatively recent feminization of Peter, though it relates back to an incredible ancient city in Jordan that was rediscovered in the early nineteenth century.

Most ella names are hot, but this is one that won't catch fire because of the disagreeable connotations of prunes.

Like cousin Ludmila, a Russian name rarely heard in this country.

A very popular girls' name in Japan whose sound is consistent with its meaning. Another possibility is Ren.

With its surname-style, literary feel, and similarity in sound to Finley, Juniper, Pippa, Riley, and Presley, Ripley is an unexpected choice that was given to more than 200 girls in each recent year. First used back in the 80s, thanks to the powerful character played by Sigourney Weaver in the Alien films, it began to be used more substantially in the 2000s, after it was chosen by actress Thandiwe Newton for her daughter.

Rollo is a livelier, roly-poly, o-ending version of Roland.