just rad names by kaitlyn

This cute masculine nickname -- with connections to princes, Hogwarts headmasters and the Manzo family of "Real Housewives of New Jersey" -- almost has enough heft to stand on its own. But all of its precursor names have merit.

The Spanish form of Amaya is both a given name and a surname, originating from the Spanish mountain and village of Amaya. In this context it means "mother city" or "the capital." Amaya can also be considered a derivation of Amaia, a Basque name meaning "the end." In Japan, Amaya is a surname.

This short-but-strong name is popular for boys in The Netherlands. While Cass is usually a female name in the U.S., it feels just as right for boys.

Celyn, which starts with the hard K sound and rhymes with Helen, is a Top 100 name in Wales although largely unknown outside that tiny, beautiful country. It is usually a masculine name.

Emery is one of the newly popular Em- names that has great potential, though right now for girls more than boys: it received a boost in 2009, a year after Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn used it for one of their daughters.

Finley has been used for both sexes for enough years to become one of the most popular unisex names. Given nearly equally to boys and girls, Finley appeals to contemporary parents as a truly gender neutral choice.

Maeve is a short and sweet name that has become one of the most stylish Irish names for girls in the modern US. Maeve would make an excellent first or middle name choice, with more heft than Mae/May and more modern charm than Mavis.

An obscure yet on-trend name with two wonderful meanings associated with it. Neoma is one of the freshest celestial girl names with moon-related meanings, rarer than Luna or Phoebe but with the same fluid sound.

This Old Testament female name has been one of the most popular girls’ names in Israel over the last decade. Also highly popular in Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, and a new entrant to the US Top 1000, it may be misunderstood here as an attempt to streamline and feminize the more familiar Noah – although it's a separate name with a separate derivation.

Oliver is an international star, ranking near the top of the charts in the US and throughout the English-speaking world, along with a host of European and Latin American countries, from Norway to Chile, Slovenia to Switzerland.

Paxton stands out from a lot of other two-syllable surname names for two reasons: the dynamic letter X in the middle, and its admirable peace association, providing the great nickname Pax.

Sanne is hugely popular in the Netherlands, but almost unknown here; which makes it an interesting prospect for the parent in search of an unusual name. Pronounced sah-na, Sanne is in keeping with the Dutch taste for nicknames plucked from the middle or end of a name vs. the beginning, such as Bas for Sebastien or Bram for Abram.

Aromatic but also problematic.

Viridis is a medieval Italian name which is also the Latin word for green. This name is a beautiful option for parents looking for an unusual name that conveys freshness, youth, springtime and nature.

Viridius was a pagan god of ancient Roman Britain. An alternative spelling is Viridios.