One of our most popular blog posts ever was on 100 wonderful names given to 25 or fewer girls each year.  (We did a boys’ version too.) 　　But what, we wondered recently, would happen if we narrowed the parameters even more?  If we looked only at names given to ten...

　　By Abby Sandel, Appellation Mountain 　　As the mother of a five year-old girl, Frozen was required viewing over the recent school holidays.  Somewhere between the first appearance of talking snowman Olaf and the happy ending, I found myself musing about the popularity of Disney-princess names. 　　I’ve long thought that any...

　　by Anna Otto, Waltzing More Than Matilda 　　1. Arrietty 　　Arrietty Clock is a teenage “borrower” from Mary Norton’s classic children’s fantasy book series, The Borrowers. The borrowers are tiny people who live by “borrowing” everyday items from the Big People they call “human beans.” Because of the spirited Arrietty’s curiosity, she and...

　　In this global culture, many of the same boys’ names are popular in both Europe and the US: Noah, Jacob, and William, for instance. But there are other names that seem to flourish there while going largely ignored here. Not every European name can make it in America, but here...

　　By Linda Rosenkrantz 　　There’s a new biblical boy on this year’s Top 10 list and his name is Benjamin—actually the only new boy to enter that hot spot. An Old Testament name that has had a continuous presence on the list through time, but had never before reached this level...

　　Rosanna writes: 　　We’re expecting a baby boy, due in May, and our name crisis is twofold. 　　First of all, my partner and I are having a confidence crisis over the name we were previously set on – Leonardo, or Leo. We like Leo as a given name, but we’re not...

　　Nonbinary names are balanced in the proportion of girls to boys who receive the name in a given year. At Nameberry, we define this as no less than 35 percent, but no more than 65 percent of a single sex. Compare that to unisex names, which are given to the...

　　Lovers of unique word names, put down your dictionaries! 　　We’ve found a better way to come up with truly original word names for babies: crowdsource it! We recently asked our brilliant Berry community to suggest cool new word name possibilities that no one’s thought of yet — and they didn’t...

　　Surnames used as unisex baby names offer fresh, modern-sounding options that aren’t too tied to one gender. 　　Last names as first names are always in fashion. Some lean strongly to one gender, as we can see in the USA’s list of popular names. Harper and Avery are mostly given to...

　　Color names, either flat-out color names like Blue or names with colorful meanings like Aurelia, are more and more popular. 　　But do you know the secret meanings behind the color behind that name you love? 　　Color-related meanings are drawn from a wide range of cultures and are often even older...

　　What makes a name classic? 　　Anyone who has done a quick search for names has likely come across a variety of lists of "classic names". While some names, such as John, Michael, and Mary, make consistent appearances on these lists, the other names are more variable. 　　So what is a...

　　The biggest critic of parents’ baby name choice? Yup, that would be Grandma! 　　According to a 2016 survey, almost half of new parents who received negative comments about their newborn’s name said that they came from their own mom. 　　Whether you’re surprised or totally unsurprised by that statistic – no...

　　By Abby Sandel, Appellation Mountain 　　How far would you go to find a truly stand-out name for your child? 　　Self-described geek dad Stephen McLaughlin has decided to let the internet name his daughter.  His wife insisted that they retain veto power, so the #1 name doesn’t automatically win. 　　Good thing,...

　　By Arika Okrent 　　Arika Okrent is editor-at-large at [_TheWeek.com](http://theweek.com/article/index/251655/the-least-popular-american-baby-names-from-1880-to-1932) and a frequent contributor to Mental Floss. She is the author of In the Land of Invented Languages, a history of the attempt to build a better language. She holds a doctorate in linguistics and a first-level certification in Klingon. Thanks to Arika for permission to reprint this...

　　By Linda Rosenkrantz 　　Though we here in the U.S. have to wait until May for our official 2013 popularity lists to be revealed, some other countries manage to get their reports ready even before the year ends.  As these listings start to trickle in, I thought I’d fill you in...

　　When I was a waitress, we had a trick to help indecisive customers make up their minds about what they wanted to eat. 　　If it was the main course that had them stumped, we asked, “Meat or fish?” 　　And if it was dessert, the question was “Fruit or chocolate?” 　　Now,...

　　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...

　　We won't sugar coat it: the legal and administrative logistics of a name change — whether it's your own or your child's — can be overwhelming. To make your process easier, we've compiled a far-reaching collection of name change resources, organized by location. 　　In the United States, name changes are processed at...