Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Juno, Margot & Willow: Girl Names Ending in the "Oh" Sound

There is something intriguing about feminine names that end with the "oh" sound. Many of these names have a spunky elegance to them.

Since this ending sound is somewhat unusual for girls, the majority of these names are far from popular.

Willow ranks the highest at #138 in 2014. Harlow ranks at #508, and Shiloh is at #608. A name to watch is Margot. It is catching on fast, ranking at #749 in the US.

These are some of the best options I could find that end with "oh". If you are searching for names that are interesting and uncommon, you've found the right list!

Which of these do you like most? Can you think of any names that I missed?

Amiko                            
Arlo
Arrow
Callisto
Cielo
Cleo
Clio
Coco
Devereaux
Dido
Echo
Farrow
Flo
Gwenno
Halo
Harlow
Hiro
Indigo
Io
Isabeau
Jo
Juneau
Juno
Kahlo
Keiko
Kimiko
Lilo
Lucero
Margeaux
Margo
Margot
Mariko
Marlo
Marlow
Marlowe
Meadow
Peridot
Picabo
Rainbow
Rio
Rosario
Shiloh
Snow
Socorro
Sparrow
Tamiko
Willow
Winslow
Yoko
Yoshiko
Be sure to check out the list of boy names that end with the "ah" sound, as well! 

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Ezra, Josiah and Luca: Boy Names Ending in the "Uh" Sound

In recent years, the majority of masculine names have ended in the letter N. The second runner up to that is the letter R. These endings, while also used for females, tend to denote a strong, masculine name.

However, there is a whole other breed of masculine names that happen to end with what some may consider the "most feminine sound." The names we're looking at today are mostly biblical and end in either -a or -ah. There are a few notable exceptions such as Dakota, Indiana and Ventura that aren't based on a biblical name but still work very well for boys.

Interestingly, though, it is this "uh" sound at the end that gives these biblical names their strength. More and more parents today are using these names. For example, our #1 boy name for the past two years is Noah which is leading the pack and paving the way for other "ah" names to rise to fame.

Take a moment to explore these masculine "uh-ending" names:

Abdullah    
Adoniah
Alijah
Alva
Andrea
Asa
Azariah
Bautista
Cinna
Coda
Dakota
Dana
Eliah
Elijah
Elisha
Ezra
Garcia
Gianluca
Hamza
Hezekiah
Hosea
Indiana
Ira 
Isa
Isaiah
Ithaca
Jebediah
Jedediah
Jeremiah
Jonah
Jorah
Josemaria  
Joshua
Josiah
Judah
Judea
Koda
Luca
Lucca
Mattia
Messiah
Micah
Micaiah
Mischa
Nehemiah
Nikola
Noah
Nova
Obadiah
Santana
Sascha
Sasha
Seneca
Shea
Shia
Tacoma
Tobiah
Uriah
Urijah
Uriyah
Uzziah
Ventura
Yeshua
Zachariah
Zebediah
Zechariah
Zephaniah
Zoriah
Zuma

Which are your favorites? Are there any I missed?

Friday, September 11, 2015

Oberon

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, Oberon remains obscure in the US. Oberon was not used as a name on record in the US until 2007. Even then, the most births it has received in a single year is 8 in both 2012 and 2014. This unranked, unusual name is surely deserving of some love. After all, its cousin name Aubrey is doing so well for girls at #20.

What do you think of the name Oberon for a boy? Do you prefer Auberon?  Here are some sibling and middle name ideas:

Sibling Name Ideas:
Sisters: Alice, Johanna, Matilda, Minerva, Rosalind, Winifred, Zelda
Brothers: August, Conrad, Hawthorne, Jarvis, Roland, Titus, Willard

Middle Name Ideas:
Oberon Charles
Oberon Gray
Oberon Noble
Oberon Rivers
Oberon Walter

As a Middle Name:
Everett Oberon
Luther Oberon
Phoenix Oberon
Thomas Oberon
Vincent Oberon

These are just ideas. What would YOU pair with Oberon?

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

The Very Best O Names for Boys and Girls

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?


  1. Oakley                   
  2. Oceana
  3. Octavia
  4. October
  5. Odelia
  6. Odessa
  7. Odette
  8. Odile
  9. Oksana
  10. Olenna
  11. Olga
  12. Oliana
  13. Olive
  14. Olivia
  15. Olympia
  16. Ondine
  17. Opal
  18. Ophelia
  19. Oriana
  20. Oriole
  21. Orla
  22. Osanna
  23. Ottavia
  24. Ottilie
  25. Ottoline
  1. Oakes
  2. Obadiah
  3. Oberon
  4. Ocean
  5. Octavian
  6. Octavius
  7. October
  8. Odin
  9. Odysseus
  10. Oliver
  11. Olson
  12. Omar
  13. Onyx
  14. Orion
  15. Orlando
  16. Orrin
  17. Orson
  18. Osbourne
  19. Oscar
  20. Oswald
  21. Othello
  22. Otis
  23. Otto
  24. Owen
  25. Ozzy
If O isn't your letter of choice, be sure to browse the links below to view the very best names of the other 25 letters:

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

10 Names That Are Super Fun To Write In Cursive


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 much going for it in the way of cursiveness. The ll, the g-to-h, the b and the y... I'm dying to write this down right now! Aren't you?  Willoughby was sometimes used a century ago for males but it's very rare now. This spelling had 6 births for boys and 7 for girls in 2014.



2.

This nature name looks beautiful in cursive. You really can't beat going from a drop-down-loop to an upper loop like this y to double-l transition. And there's something adorable about a lowercase S. Amaryllis has never been popular but it has been used since 1926 in the US. There were 49 births for girls in 2014. 

3. 

My favorite cursive letter of all is the capital L! There are so many loops in Loulabelle that it's impossible to not want to write it a dozen times! Plus it sounds beautiful too! This spelling of Loulabelle has no usage on record in the US as a name.

4 .

Honestly, the longer the name, the better! With four syllables and eleven letters, Cadwallader offers so much in the way of cursive writing. Even just eyeballing it made me dizzy! Cadwallader has no usage as a name in the US but it would be a quirky choice. 

5 . 

I may have added an extra L to this beautiful guilty pleasure name but Tigerlilly really is a pleasure to write! I mean, check out that capital T!  According to records, this spelling of Tigerlilly has only been used for 5 girls in 2001 and 5 girls in 2010.

6 .

It would be a shame to exclude the marvelous lowercase letters Z and Q.  Plus, capital E's are so curvy and fun to write!  Used since 1912, Ezequiel has ranked in the Top 1000 since the early 1980s and had 485 births for boys in 2014.

7. 

Don't forget about those loopy F's! Rafferty excellently displays plenty of fun letters that you'll love to doodle absentmindedly. Cross that T with style! As a name, Rafferty is rare. Used in the US since 1989, it only had 11 births for boys in 2014.

8.  

Another satisfying letter is the capital D. This lovely name will take you on a roller coaster ride of cursive goodness! Plus, it's rare and lovely as a name! It has been around since 1902 but it has never gained steam. There were only 8 girls named Delphina in 2014.

9.  

Gorgeous Gwendolyn also has an amazing capital letter along with some lowercase loopiness and an l-to-y combo. What's not to love? This name had a popularity peak in 1953, declined after that but is starting to climb the charts again. There were 756 girls given this name in 2014 for a rank of #420.

10. 

Last but not least, Jumpin' Jehoshaphat may not be used at all as an actual name in the US, but it's definitely full of excellent cursive loopiness. Look at that capital J! It even has three H's! I dare you not to doodle this one throughout your next class or business meeting. 


What do you think of my collection of cursive-friendly names? I know there are way more names out there that would inspire anyone to pull out a pen and paper. Can you think of any?

Friday, August 28, 2015

Nova

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 name more for a boy or a girl?

Nova is an interesting celestial name that's gaining more popularity today than ever before. It's short and sweet with a vivid letter V. It's quirky and cool for a modern girl. If you're considering using Nova, here are a few ideas for sibling names and middle names:

Sibling Name Ideas:
Sisters:  Amara, Celeste, Estelle, Lila, Sidonie, Vella, Zoey
Brothers: Evander, Griffin, Hale,  Jules, Merritt, Orion, Xander

Middle Name Ideas:
Nova Beatrice
Nova Helene
Nova Juliet
Nova Leonie
Nova Scarlett

As a Middle Name:
Charlotte Nova
Elizabeth Nova
Josephine Nova
Margaret Nova
Penelope Nova

What middle names would you pair with Nova for a boy?

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

The Very Best N Names for Boys and Girls

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.


  1. Nadia               
  2. Nadine
  3. Naima
  4. Nancy
  5. Naomi
  6. Natalia
  7. Natalie
  8. Natasha
  9. Nellie
  10. Neve
  11. Nia
  12. Niamh
  13. Nicole
  14. Nicolette
  15. Nikita
  16. Nila
  17. Nina
  18. Noa
  19. Noe
  20. Noelle
  21. Noemi
  22. Nola
  23. Nora
  24. Nova
  25. Nyx
  1. Nash
  2. Nathan
  3. Nathaniel
  4. Naveen
  5. Neal
  6. Ned
  7. Nehemiah
  8. Neil
  9. Nevin
  10. Newman
  11. Niall
  12. Nicholas
  13. Nico
  14. Nigel
  15. Nikolai
  16. Niles
  17. Nixon
  18. Noah
  19. Noam
  20. Noble
  21. Noel
  22. Nolan
  23. Norman
  24. Norris
  25. Nyle
What are your favorite names that start with this letter? Perhaps you have more favorites than I do. Share your thoughts in the comments below!  And be sure to use the following links to browse more names!

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