The Art of Naming

Water is everywhere. We use it for countless reasons every day. Heck, we're made of water. It is essential to life as we know it. What better way to honor our precious life-sustaining water than to choose a name inspired by it? Plenty of parents are already fans of nature names, why not filter those down to just the water-related ones? You'll find that you have many great options to choose from. Before we dive into the deep end, let's explore a bit of mythology. The God of the Sea is known as Poseidon in Greek mythology. One of his love interests was the Sea Goddess Amphitrite . Together they had a son named Triton who was the Messenger of the Sea.  The Roman equivalent of Poseidon is Neptune , the God of Freshwater and the Sea. Here are some of the best names inspired by water: Bodies of water that could be used as names: Bay Bayou Brook Cascade Cove Delta Fjord Frost Harbor Icy Laguna Lake Marsh Ocean Rain River Snow Names of falls...

This featured name is brought to you by the letter W and  the very best W names for boys and girls . We recently talked about how one of the biggest boy name trends is to use surnames as first names . As an English surname, Wesley is no exception. It fits right in with other surname names for boys. As a name, Wesley could be considered more on the gentle side of boy names. This could be partly because many of the other -ley names are rather unisex like Bailey or conquered by the girls like Ashley. However, there are many who also consider Wesley to be a tough guy name due to pop culture associations such as actor Wesley Snipes. Another major association is John Wesley, an 18th century theologian who founded the evangelical movement known as Methodism. Wesley  is short for "Wesleydale" which is Anglo-Norman in origin. The "wes" part refers to the direction "west" while "lea" is an open grassy area. Therefore, Wesley refers to a wester...

As you continue your search for the perfect name, I'd like to ask you to take a moment and consider using a name that starts with the letter W. We're nearing the end of the alphabet so if you've been following this series and you haven't found a winner yet, this might finally be the list for you. The letter W has a good variety of names. There's the more proper ones like William and Winston for boys, and the more whimsical options like Waterlily or Wintress for girls. There should be a little bit of something for everyone here. Tell me in the comments, did I miss any good W names that you enjoy? Of the ones featured below, which name catches your eye the most? Wanda Waterlily Waverly Wednesday    Wendy Whisper Whitley Whitney Wilda Wilhelmina Willa Willamena Willene Willow Wilma Wilmet Windsor Winifred Winnie Winona Winter Wintress Wren Wylie Wynne Wade Walker Walter Warren Watson Waylon Wayne Wendell Wesley Wes...

Have you ever really taken a look at the names in the United State's Social Security Administration's Top 1000 most popular names chart? I mean, have you  really  looked at it?  I decided to fish a little bit and I found a ton of Arabic names swimming right at me. Had I  really  never noticed these names before? Sure, I'm not an ethnic match for any of them but not all of them stand out as foreign. Just take a look at the female names! Many of them aren't obviously Arabic and they are no doubt being used on girls of a variety of races all across the country. For example, the highest ranking name is Layla at #29 and it has so many variants that are very fashionable today such as Lyla, Laila, Lila, Leila and Lilah which all rank within the Top 1000.  Then there's the Aaliyah sisters with a similar story. Let's start with the male names. There are four spellings of Muhammad and also variants like Ahmad that rank in the Top 1000. Somehow, though, the mascul...

One of The Very Best V Names around is Viola, of course! Taken from our previous article, this name is still a rarity but could potentially gain popularity in the coming years. The name Viola means "violet" in Latin. If Violet is too popular for you (it ranked #67 in 2014), try Viola. It is very similar in sound but it is ranking well below the Top 1000 chart. As you may know, the viola is a bowed string instrument. Wikipedia says that "it is slightly larger than a violin in size and has a lower and deeper sound than a violin. Since the 18th century it has been the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello."  This would be a great name choice for musical parents, specifically ones who may actually play this instrument. The Viola is also a genus of flowering plants within the violet family of Violaceae . The name Viola would please not only musical parents, but those with an appreciation for nature. Additionally, literature love...

The letter V is trending these days within popular names like Ava and Evelyn for girls. It's been a constant for boys in the name David. Both genders love Avery as the top unisex name. What about names that start with the letter V? Victoria still ranks well and Violet and Valentina are trending upward for girls. Vincent is just outside the top 100 for boys with Victor not far behind. Are you a fan of the letter V? If you are, surely you'll enjoy this great list of the 25 best V names for girls and 25 for boys.  Did I miss any of your favorite V names? Vale Valencia Valentina Valerie Vanessa Vanna Vella Velvet Venus Verity Veronica Vesper Victoria Vida Vienna Vincenza Viola Violet Violetta Virginia Viveca Vivian Viviana Vivienne Vrai Vadden Valdemar Valentino Valor Van Vance Vander Vasily Vaughn Verne Vernon Vicente Victor Vidal Viggo Vin Vince Vincent Vincenzo Vinny Virgil Vitaly Vito Vladimir Voyer W...