The Art of Naming

Colors are everywhere: some vibrant, some pastel. Things would be dreary if we suddenly removed color from our lives. Some might even go the extra step to ensure that their surroundings are always colorful and lively by painting the walls in their home or dressing in only the hottest pinks or brightest yellows. Plenty of parents already opt for nature names so why not extend your love for colors to baby naming, too? I've previously posted a list of color names on The Art of Naming, but they were not broken down according to the major base colors. I decided to take a look at the rainbow and categorize some of the more interesting name possibilities under the closest related parent color. The following list was the result: Red: Amaranth Carmine Cerise Crimson Magenta Red Rose Ruby Scarlet The last three on the red list are probably the most popular with Rose leading the pack, however Scarlett is more popular than Scarlet. Would you use one of the more unusual reds

Today's featured name comes from the list of The Very Best K Names for Boys and Girls. This one actually happens to be unisex these days but it will be mainly presented for males in this article, (hence the blue below). The Kai that I'm most familiar with is the Hawaiian name that means "sea". This is the one being featured here.  Other possible meanings for this name include "forgiveness" in Japanese, "food" in Maori and "willow tree" in Navajo. Kai is also considered a diminutive for names like Gerhard, Nicolaas, Cornelis and Gaius/Caius. It is also a feminine variant of Kaja which comes from Katarina. Internationally, Kai ranks well! It is actually doing better in other countries for boys than it is in the US. However, we're the only country that has a ranking for this name as a feminine one. This is how Kai ranked in the US: Boy: 2,387 births (#177) Girl: 262 births (#1000) This means the name's unisex ratio i

If you weren't a fan of the very best C names for boys and girls, perhaps you'll prefer the very best K names!  While similar, the letter K gives a whole different vibe to names than the letter C.  K names are sometimes thought of as trendy alternate spellings of traditional C names. However, many Greek names, for example, were spelled with a K originally. So when it comes to spelling a name with a C or a K, it's all a matter of taste and opinion. If you happen to enjoy the letter K, this is your list! Below are 25 of the very best names for girls that start with the letter K, and 25 for boys too!  Be sure to share your favorite K names in the comments whether they're listed below or not! Kacy                                     Kaia Kalista Kalliope Kara Karen Karissa Kassandra Kassidy Katarina Kate Katelyn Katherine Kathleen Katrina Kayla Kayley Keira Kelly Kendra Keturah Khloe Kiersten Kimberly Kristina Kade Kai Ka

Last month we discovered which names were most favored by America in 2014. As you know, Emma and Noah were ranked at #1.  Have you ever wondered which unisex names are the most popular? The SSA doesn't make a separate list for unisex names. It's up to us to determine which names are used for both boys and girls. If you saw my previous article regarding  the boy-to-girl ratios of every unisex name within the Top 1000 , you'll see that some names are used more often for one gender than the other, yet some names are very evenly used. So how can we determine which unisex names are the most popular based on this information? Since there are two genders, it's a bit complicated to determine the exact popularity, especially since I was taking into account the boy-to-girl ratios of the names, the number of births for each gender, and the rank assigned to the names by the Social Security Administration.. While determining which unisex names are the most popular across

Welcome to our annual list of unisex names. This is where we analyze the gender ratios of each name. Some of these may not truly classify as a true "unisex name" because they will swing very heavily to one side or the other. I chose to include some names like that because it is worth mentioning, especially if it ranked at 3% last year and now ranks at 5%. That means the name is beginning to gain more popularity for the minority gender. Over time, it could continue to change and become more of a 20/80 thing and perhaps later a 40/60 thing. Wouldn't you like to be able to guess these things in advance if its a name you're pondering for a future child? There have been many cases where a name was traditionally male and it was then slowly taken over by the girls. Some of those formerly male names are now considered completely female. Names evolve. If we can catch them in the act, well, I think it would be exciting. I'm only mentioning all of this because last

While everyone will have differing opinions about which are The Very Best J Names for Boys and Girls, I'm sure many can agree that Juno is an interesting and unique choice! The feminine name Juno is very mythological. The ancient Roman goddess was a daughter of Saturn, the wife (and sister!) of the Jupiter and the mother of Mars and Vulcan. She was the goddess of marriage and childbirth and often looked after the women of Rome. Juno was also the Queen of the Gods, known as "Regina" which means Queen. Her Greek equivalent is the goddess Hera. The meaning of the name Juno is generally thought to be unknown but some speculate that it is related to an Indo-European root word that means "youth".  Juno is a variation of the Roman name Iuno. Other related names are Iunius, Junius, Iunia, and Junia. As a name, Juno isn't very used in the US. It randomly charted way back in 1919 with 6 births and it wasn't heard from again until 1996. This name re

There seems to be such a plethora of choices for the letter J that it was difficult to narrow them down. Do you agree? Perhaps this was just a tough letter for me. Throughout this alphabetical name series, have you come across a letter that gave you a hard time narrowing down the names to just 25 for girls and 25 for boys? The opposite can be true, too, if a letter doesn't have nearly enough lovely choices to fill up the list. What are your problem letters? I hope you'll enjoy this compilation of the very best names that start with the letter J. Do you agree with the ones that I chose? If not, which would you remove and what would you replace them with? Jacqueline                 Jade Jane Jasmine Jayla Jeanne Jemima Jenna Jennifer Jessica Jillian Joan Jocelyn Joelle Johanna Jolie Jordan Josephine Joy Judith Juliana Juliet June Juniper Juno Jack Jacob James Jared Jason Jasper Jayden Jeffrey Jeremiah Jesse Joaquin Joel Joha