The Art of Naming

Pulled from our previous list regarding The Very Best O Names for Boys and Girls is the interesting male name Oberon. Pronounced O-bər-ahn, this name is a variant of the name Auberon which is the Norman French derivative of the Germanic name Alberich. Alberich means "elf power" and is also the father name of Aubrey. A similar and relatively well-known literary name is Oberyn which was created by author George R. R. Martin for a character in the popular book series A Song of Ice and Fire and the television adaptation Game of Thrones. Oberyn may have been inspired by Oberon even though the two are pronounced slightly differently. Oberon is also a literary name but it dates back much further than Oberyn. Oberon was the King of the Fairies in Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream  in 1595. In honor of that character, Oberon is also the name of one of the moons of Uranus which makes Oberon a celestial name as well. Despite all of these associations,...

Beyond the popular Olivia, Oliver and Owen, there aren't very many popular names that start with O. In fact, most names that start with the letter O are rather obscure. Orion and Orlando are rather common now for boys, but many familiar female names like Ophelia or Octavia do not rank within the Top 1000 names and they haven't for decades. Do you have any favorite O names on your shortlist? If not, you have now found a treasure trove of unique options! Just browse the list below and name with boldness knowing that your little one will have a great, uncommon name! So tell me, which of the 25 very best O names for girls, and 25 for boys, do you like best? Oakley                    Oceana Octavia October Odelia Odessa Odette Odile Oksana Olenna Olga Oliana Olive Olivia Olympia Ondine Opal Ophelia Oriana Oriole Orla Osanna Ottavia Ottilie Ottoline Oakes Obadiah Oberon Ocean Octavian Octavius ...

Kids today have so much technology at their disposal that most of them probably don't write nearly as often as us older folks did. I don't know about you but when I grew up, cursive was still very much a thing. I remember having to practice each letter over and over again until I got them right. My favorite letters, of course, were the loopiest ones like f, g, l,  p, and y. I remember doodling all over my binders wishing that my name had loopier letters in it. When my name didn't satisfy, I began writing the names of my friends, my classmates, my family members and my crushes instead. These days, everything is so digital that I can't remember the last time I actually pulled out a pen and paper and got my loop on. Since I was thinking about it, I started to wonder which names would be the most fun to write. I'm sure there are tons of great options out there but I picked my 10 favorite names to write: 1.  This interesting and rare boy name has so m...

Inspired by our list of The Very Best N Names for Boys and Girls , I present the name Nova. Nova comes from the Latin word novus which means "new". A nova is also a space term for when there is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion on a white dwarf planet. It causes a sudden brightening of the star. A nova is slightly different than a supernova which is a stellar explosion that briefly outshines an entire galaxy with as much energy as the sun before fading. As a name, Nova has been in use for girls since 1885 in the US but it was never popular until it exploded within the past 5 years. It ranked below the Top 1000 at #1133 in 2010. By 2013 it was up to #529. As of 2014 Nova ranked way up at #287 with 1,121 births for the year. It also ranks well in the Netherlands and Sweden. Nova has recently spiked for boys, too. It has always been given to males here in the US but not regularly until 1996. In 2014 there were 102 boys named Nova for a rank of #1553. Do you like this n...

The letter N kicks off the 2nd half of the alphabet and the names are noticeably a bit more difficult to choose and narrow down. The tail end of the alphabet tends to contain more difficult letters. However, I did happen to find some of the very best options available that start with N! There seems to be a few solid names that start with this letter and many unusual options that don't rank very high on the popularity charts. Compiling this list was tricky, but I've put together the 25 best girl names that start with the letter N, and 25 names for boys too! Is N one of your favorite letters for names or do you have a hard time with it like I do? Take a look at the names I've picked and let me know if there are any great ones that I missed. Nadia                Nadine Naima Nancy Naomi Natalia Natalie Natasha Nellie Neve Nia Niamh Nicole Nicolette Nikita Nila Nina Noa Noe Noelle Noemi Nola Nora Nova Nyx Nash...

When something is "whimsical" it is defined as "playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way." When applied to names, I would consider these to be names that are a bit out of the ordinary. Something that you don't quite hear everyday but when you do hear it, you can't help but feel drawn to it. Many of these might only make it as far as your "guilty pleasure" list but you may find yourself falling for one enough to at least sneak it in the middle name spot. If you happen to be a bold namer, you're sure to love this list! Which of these do you like the most? Aerith                         Alaska Allifair Allure Alouette Amethyst Amity Anais Apolline Arianwen Astoria Atalanta Athalia Ayelet Belladonna Bliss Boheme Briar Bronwyn Calantha Calixta Celandine Ceridwen Charis Chrysanthemum Clemence Clover Corisande Cressida Daenerys December Éire Eirwen El...

When something is "whimsical" it is defined as "playfully quaint or fanciful, especially in an appealing and amusing way." When applied to names, I would consider these to be names that are a bit out of the ordinary. Something that you don't quite hear everyday but when you do hear it, you can't help but feel drawn to it. Many of these might only make it as far as your "guilty pleasure" list but you may find yourself falling for one enough to at least sneak it in the middle name spot. Or perhaps you're a bold namer and you're already adding many of these to your first names list. Whatever the case may be, surely you'll enjoy browsing this list: Adler                       Alchemy Alfric Ambrose Atlas Atreyu Auberon Bane Barclay Basil Beau Bingham Bravery Breccan Bromley Cadwallader Caius Caldwell Caspian Cassius Castor Cato Chauncey Cobalt Creed Crosby Cuthbert Dempsey Digby Draco Dre...