Welcome to the thematic name lists. Again, these baby names are broken into ten thematic categories: Nature, Arts & Letters, Place, Symbolic, Grammar, Old-fashioned, Out-of-the-Ordinary, Up & Comers, Crossovers, and Unisex. To compile these lists, we simply looked through the names in the book and pulled out any that fit the above categories. We also made suggestions of new names by paging through books on gems, meteorology, ornithology, classic novels and plays, dictionaries, and the Web.

So if your surname is Green or Meadows, perhaps you'd like to match it to a name from the Nature list, which is broken down into subcategories: Earth (Lily and Cliff), Animals (Raven and Drake), Gems (Pearl and Micah), Colors (Sienna and Royal), Weather (Misty and Storm), Outer space (Nova and Orion), and Food (Coco and Basil). And if you like those names, we also came up with some new ones—like Tulip, Ibis, Topaz, and Comet. You'll find that some of the lists have more girls' names while others have more boys' names simply because parents tend to name girls for flowers and gems and boys for heroes and action words. We tried to include only the most obvious examples on each list, but if you think of more, email us and maybe we'll add them!

Even if your surname doesn't evoke any particular mood, your hobbies and personality still might draw you to look for a theme name. Perhaps you like to travel and the names on the Place list are full of happy memories. If you need to know which names are gaining in popularity—either to keep up with the next new naming trend or try to avoid it—you'll want to check out our Up-and-Comers list. To pay tribute to a variety of ethnic backgrounds, go to the Crossovers list. And if you want a gender-neutral name, take a look at the Unisex list.

For more on naming by theme, hop over to How to Choose a Name by Theme


Thematic name lists: