The Art of Naming

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...

Our featured boy name is Milo. It comes to us from our previous article that featured The Very Best M Names for Boys and Girls. The origin of the name Milo is not fully known. Milo has been listed as being both Latin and Old Germanic. Sometimes it is said that it is a form of Miles, but it seems more likely that Milo came first. According to Behind the Name, it's possible that Milo came from the Medieval Slavic name Milu from which names like Milan, Milena, Ludmila, and Miloslav come. It makes sense that Milo would be related to these names but apparently it isn't certain. What we do know is that the name Miles came from the Germanic name Milo which was introduced to England by the Normans. The confusing part is that Milo is listed as the "Old Germanic form of Miles as well as the Latinized form." So according to Behind the Name, Milo gave rise to Miles which gave rise to Milo. Either way, this name dates back to the Middle Ages where it was found bein...

The letter M seems to be regarded as one of the more favored letters when it comes to baby names. After browsing the list below, you'll understand why people like it! There are so many great options available in this letter that it was difficult to narrow down the choices to just 25 names for girls and 25 names for boys! If you know you love M names but you haven't yet chosen the perfect name for your child, perhaps you'll find it here! Put down that baby name book and close out those other tabs. It's been a long search but, finally, the name you want is below! Mabel                        Madeline Maeve Magnolia Maisie Margaret Margot Maria Marley Mary Matilda Maude May McKenzie Megan Meredith Mia Michaela Mila Minerva Mirabelle Miranda Miriam Molly Morgan Maddox Magnus Malachi Malcolm Marcus Marlon Marshall Martin Mason Matthew Matthias Maverick Maximilian Maximu...