Mermaid names have made it big in recent years.  There’s Madison, Darryl Hannah’s character from Splash.  Disney christened The Little Mermaid Ariel in 1989, and she and her princess friends are now found on little girls’ gear everywhere you look. 　　Beyond Madison and Ariel: Other Famous Mermaids 　　Coralia – An...

　　Rachel, a mom of two from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is expecting her third child in March and is having trouble finding the right name.  She writes: 　　“My four-year-old daughter is named Avery Grace. My two-year-old son is named Isaiah Joel. We are having a third and final baby, a girl,...

　　Today’s Question of the Week is a two-parter: 　　Last week we talked about naming styles for boys, now it’s the girls’ turn. 　　With girls’ names, there are even more style preference category possibilities.  How would you characterize the names you like best?  Girly girl, boyish, or truly gender neutral names? ...

　　By Linda Rosenkrantz 　　The mid-20th century in America was a great time for D-named boys. As exemplified by Mad Men’s Don Draper, there were about forty D-names in the top half of the 1950 boys’ list—including not just Donald but Don, Donn, Donnie and Donny; Darrell, Darrel, Darryl and Daryl;...

　　By Kara @ The Art of NamingFor those parents who may secretly like the sound of the top names but hate their popularity, I’ve created a list of alternative options to the Top 10 names for boys. The names may be similar in sound, syllables, initial letter, meaning, origin or...

　　Kristen writes: 　　We put lots of thought into naming our first son, and I couldn’t be happier with what we settled on: Charles Alasdair, Cal for short. 　　Both his first and middle names honor his great-grandparents, Charles and Al. Cal is the name of my favorite character from my favorite...

　　Say “international baby names” — and what springs to mind? 　　Hands up if you said Anna or Adam! It’s true: there are plenty of popular names that feature near the top of the baby name charts in multiple countries. 　　But if your tastes lean towards more uncommon choices, finding a...

　　What’s hot in the middle spot? Unique unisex middle names, of course! 　　With more and more unisex first names in circulation, you’d think that conventionally gendered middles would be holding firm, if only for practicality’s sake. And you’d be right – to a certain extent, at least. 　　Although the SSA...

　　Total Bellas star Brie Bella, mother of three-year-old Birdie Joe and newborn Buddy Dessert, revealed she would have chosen the name Branch or Blossom for her child if she’d had a girl. “People thought I was crazy, but I thought Birdie and Branch would just be like the sweetest, cutest...

　　This week’s news includes names from books and technology, babies named after hospitals, and baby name trends in Ireland and the Isle of Man. 　　Technology and Top Ten trendsWe’re still learning new things from the US baby name charts for 2018. On the blog recently we’ve looked at the beauties...

　　The top baby names 2020 feature a host of names that went virtually unused a generation ago. These include newly-minted names, rediscovered antiques, plus names imported from around the world. 　　We predict 2020’s top baby names by calculating which names saw the biggest increases in interest from Nameberry readers so...

　　By Clare Green 　　This week’s international baby names news includes the boldest and Britishest celebrity boy names, and what’s hot in Poland, Hungary and Japan, plus the benefits of multi-nickname names. 　　Baby boy names: vintage and vivaciousInternational baby names news this week has seen boy name announcements from both sides...

　　A year ago this week, nameberry was born. The site had been months (about nine, actually) in the making, and so the launch felt like a culmination. But like most new parents, we quickly saw that it was only the beginning. Here, an inside look at nameberry’s first year. 　　We’ve...

　　If you’re looking for some eye-opening  name moments, try browsing  through some vintage name books and you might be surprised to discover just how dramatically perceptions of some  names have changed over time.  In some cases what we think of as perfectly valid current choices have actually been written off as dead and gone.  Today’s popular Ava, for instance, was rarely thought worthy of...

　　Thanks to all of you for entering the Nameberry Mother’s Day Contest. Now that the SSA lists are in, we are able to declare the winners–which turned out to be more complicated than we expected. Largely due to Emma jumping into first place–and not Isabella, which most of you predicted–...

　　Today the 1950 United States Census has finally been made public, giving us a peek into the post-war lives of our grandparents and great-grandparents. It’s a treasure trove for name lovers and family history enthusiasts alike! 　　You may want to name your child after a family member born in the...

　　Rainbow baby names — names for a child born after the loss of another — can be a way to mark a time of mixed emotions. Some parents find it helpful and meaningful to choose a name that both acknowledges the loss and celebrates new life, commemorating the past and...

　　When picking a name, it can be hard to find opportunities to test the name in a way that gauges the true ‘wearability’ of the name and the reactions it is likely to elicit. People’s abstract opinions of names (“no-one will ever be able to spell Aoife correctly”, “Harper is...