Saturday, January 7, 2017

"Modern Classics"

Some names are pretty easy to categorize. Elizabeth is a classic. Harper is modern. Most names are somewhere in between, though--"vintage comeback", "mom/dad name", "trending traditional", etc. For this post, I decided to try and find what I define as "modern classic"--names that didn't really exist in the American naming pool pre-1960ish, but which don't instantly date you to a specific decade (either because they shot up suddenly but remained stable, or because they enjoyed a steady increase over decades).
Modern, but not trendy.

Boys:
  • Beau (BOH)--from French "beautiful" [not used as a name in French]
  • Brice / Bryce (BRICE)
  • Carter (KAR-ter)
  • Chase (CHAYS)
  • Connor / Conor (KAHN-er)
  • Corbin (KOR-bin)--from French "raven"
  • Damian (DAY-mee-an)--from Ancient Greek "tame"
  • Dorian (DOR-ee-an)
  • Drake (DRAYK)--from Old English "male duck" or "dragon"
  • Dylan (DIL-an)
  • Ezekiel (ee-ZEEK-ee-el)--from Biblical Hebrew "God strengthens"
  • Holden (HOHL-den)
  • Ian (EE-an)--Scottish form of John
  • Jonah (JOH-nah)--from Biblical Hebrew "dove"
  • Kendrick (KEN-drik)
  • Lucas (LOO-kas)
  • Maximilian / Maximillian (maks-eh-MIL-yan)
  • Maxwell (MAKS-wel)
  • Micah (MYE-kah)
  • Pierce (PEERS)--surname form of Peter
  • Quinn (KWIN)--from the Irish surname "son of the chief" [yes, more common for girls in the US, but undoubtedly trendy as a girls' name!]
  • Tristan (TRIS-tan)--prob. from Pictish "little riot"
  • Xavier (ZAYV-yer, ex-AYV-yer)

Girls:
  • Alana (ah-LAH-nah, ah-LAN-ah)--feminine of Alan
  • Alexa (ah-LEKS-ah)--short form of Alexandra or feminine of Alexis
  • Alexia (ah-LEKS-ee-ah)--feminine of Alexis, "defender"
  • Anastasia (an-ah-STAYZH-yah)--from Greek "resurrection"
  • Ariana / Arianna (ahr-ee-AH-nah, ehr-ee-AN-nah, ah-ree-AN-nah)--from the Italian form of Greek Ariadne, "most holy"
  • Brynn (BRIN)--from Welsh "hill" [masculine in Welsh, and more commonly spelled Bryn]
  • Delaney (deh-LAY-nee)
  • Fiona (fee-OH-nah)
  • Jade (JAYD)
  • Janessa (jan-ES-sah)--form of Janice/Jane
  • Kira (KEER-ah)--from Irish Ciara, "dark", or the Russian feminine of Cyrus, "lord"
  • Kyla (KYE-lah)
  • Liana (lee-AH-nah)
  • Liliana (lil-ee-AH-nah)
  • Maya / Maia (MYE-ah, MAH-yah)
  • Melina (mel-EE-nah)--prob. from Greek "honey"
  • Noelle (no-EL)
  • Savannah (sah-VAN-nah)
  • Summer (SUM-er)
  • Tessa (TES-ah)

Unisex:
  • Cameron (KAM-er-on) [leans more "classic" for boys and "modern" for girls]
  • Eden (EE-den)
  • Justice (JUS-tis)
  • Kendall (KEN-dal) [also leans more "classic" for boys and "modern" for girls]

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