Names I Would Never Use

As a highly popular girls’ name in all Spanish-speaking countries, this saintly Latin variation of Mary retains a timeless beauty. Through the centuries, Maria remains one of the most widely-used girl names starting with M.

Thanks to Mariah Carey, everyone now knows this name – and is aware that Mariah's pronounced with a long i – just as Maria was in the Jane Austen era. And though Mariah now sounds modern, it was heard as far back as 1550 in Great Britain.

One of the ultimate teasable names, an Irish saint's name now associated with the oversized comic-strip dog. Scottish adventurer Bear (born Edward) Grylls took up the challenge when he used it for his son.

The newly-styled Maxon takes its cue from Jaxon, another elaboration of a classic name on the rise. Maxon is not bad, as invented names go, yet it's hard for us to advocate for Maxon over Maxwell, Maxfield, Maximus, or just plain Max.

Once a poetic Celtic name, that of the angel who governs the month of June, Muriel became the mom or grandma on TV sitcoms. She does have literary cred via Edinburgh-born author Muriel Spark, author of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and also appears as a character in Anne of Green Gables. Muriel was a Top 200 name from 1912 to 1933.

One of the best known early Nemos was the captain in Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, while the more familiar modern one is the animated little orange fish in the Disney movie. Unusual name well worth considering. By the way, there is also a Shakespearean Nemo and one in Dickens's Bleak House. An enchanting early comic strip by Winsor McCay was called Little Nemo.

The association with the infamous Nero, the fiddling Roman emperor, would be unavoidable. But there was also the detective Nero Wolfe, hero of many mystery stories.

A fresher spin on Jaxon, with built-in cool nickname Nix, and a great way to honor an ancestral Nick. But the association with disgraced former president Richard Nixon remains strong, which might explain why this otherwise bang-on-trend surname name has remained under the radar, peaking at #482 in 2017.

Odin is the name of the supreme Norse god of art, culture, wisdom, and law — who was handsome, charming, and eloquent into the bargain. The name projects a good measure of strength and power and has excellent assimilation potential.

The misspelling that created an indelibly one-person name.

Ororo Munroe is the civilian name of African-American comic book heroine Storm, from the X-Men series.

Swinging London songbird Petula Clark claims that this name was her father's invention; in any case it hasn't seen much copycat usage.

Rachel was derived from the Hebrew word rāchēl, meaning "ewe." In the Old Testament, Rachel was the favorite wife of Jacob, and mother of Joseph and Benjamin. International variations include the Spanish Raquel and Israeli Rahel.

Rainer is one of those baby names that is still under-the-radar but has been quietly gaining traction: The number of boys who've received the name has doubled in the past decade, to just under 50. Part nature name and part traditional German name for boys, Rainer can claim a place among the two-syllable r-ending baby names so fashionable for boys today.

To many people, Ronald is off playing shuffleboard with Donald, though others aren't swayed by its old man image. In the Top 10 in the late 1930s through the mid-1940s, the name later came to be strongly associated with President Reagan, along with his nicknames, Ron and Ronnie—as well as with the McDonald franchise mascot. A more youthful bearer is the likable character Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter series. In the early days of Hollywood, Ronald Colman was a dashing matinee idol.

Rousseau gives French flair to other red-haired names like Russell and Rory. It is associated with the influential eighteenth century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, as well as the painter Henri Rousseau.

Supermodel Christie Brinkley launched an entire name genre when she picked this breezy occupational name for her daughter in 1998, and it has become more prevalent in recent decades. The Saylor version, which you might consider a spelling spin or a surname-name, is now among the Top 500 names for girls, given to three times as many baby girls as the Sailor spelling. Counted together, Saylor and Sailor were used for about 1000 baby girls in one recent year in the US, versus about 100 boys.

Previously known only as the nickname of Waylon "Shooter" Jennings, Jr., who's married to Sopranos star Drea DeMatteo, the violent Shooter recently became a proper name when painter Julian Schnabel used it for his newborn son with gallerist May Andersen: The little boy is named Shooter Sandhed Julian Schnabel, Jr. Does this mean that Schnabel's own first name is really Shooter? We're not buying that and see Shooter as a too-cool addition to such trendy badass baby names as Breaker and Rebel.