Last post was the girl names, and here are the boys. As the mother of a boy I almost find the boys list more fascinating. What do you think? Position Name Change Position Name Change 1 Oliver (-) 51 Theodore (+15) 2 William (-) 52 Arlo (+43) 3 Jack (-) 53 Jordan (+14) 4 Noah (-) 54 Hugo (-4) 5 James (+1) 55 Luca (-6) 6 Thomas (-1) 56 Connor (-5) 7 Ethan (+1) 57 Kai (+12) 8 Lucas (+1) 58 Michael (-11) 9 Jackson/Jaxon/Jaxson (-2) 59 Zachary (+9) 10 Lachlan (-) 60 Austin (+2) 11 Mason (+3) 61 Angus (+3) 12 Alexander (+3) 62 Louis (+11) 13 H ..read more

There's been a lot of excitement recently about the release of the top names in America for 2016. But a couple of weeks before that the top 100 Australian names for 2016 were also revealed.  While our Aussie top 10 names closely resembles the U.S. top 10, the rest of the top 100 tends to have its' own Australian flair. Here are the girl names, with a post on the boy names to follow soon. Position Name Change Position Name Change 1 Charlotte (-) 51 Maya (+1) 2 Olivia (-) 52 Poppy (+11) 3 Mia (+2) 53 Phoebe (+2) 4 Ava (-) 54 Penelope (+8) 5 Amelia (-2) 55 Frankie ..read more

Photo Courtesy of Natalie Harris Photography I sometimes feel like I could write a book on great preppy surname names, especially for boys. There’s just something I find so attractive about them. Todays name is no different – heard on a young contestant on a kid’s cooking show J Townsend is a pretty straightforward name, meaning – and you probably guessed this – 'from the end of the town'. It’s much more popular as a last name, but quite rare as a given name. It sits well outside the US top 1,000, given to just 18 boys in 2015. Whereas I often like preppy surname names because the ..read more

I've been a regular lurker on the Baby Centre Australia forums since I was pregnant. Of course one of my favourite groups on their site is baby names because it can be a great source of inspiration. When I recently saw this little name being considered I was intrigued. I had never seen it before, and it seemed the reaction to it online was mainly positive (Plus I seem to have an interest in finding great girl's names starting with "O" that aren't super popular Olivia. Don't get me wrong, I love Olivia - it's my own middle name. I just like people to know there are other options). Barely a we ..read more

I have looked at many, many lists of Halloween and "spooky, scary" type name lists and I have to say I'm surprised I haven't come across this one on any lists! You see plenty of word names such as Shadow, Shade, Raven, Tempest, Thorn and more, but no Gore. Gore is well qualified to make it onto any list of Halloween baby names. The dictionary lists a few different definitions for the word gore, two in particular which are gruesome enough to earn Gore a place on any list of scary names. One is "blood that has been shed, especially as the result of violence", as in horror movies featuring blo ..read more

Australian Actress Sarah Snook, who plays Jessabelle in the movie 'Jessabelle' I did have a different post in mind but then I realised that - lo and behold – it’s October already! And the tradition here at Baby Name Pondering is that only names with a Halloween-ish connection be featured during the month of December, and so I bring you Jessabelle. 'Jessabelle' is a horror/thriller movie released in 2014 about a woman (named Jessabelle, of course) who, after losing her husband and unborn child in a car accident that has also left her temporarily wheelchair bound, returns to her child ..read more

This gem is partly inspired by a kick-ass Australian guitarist, and partly by my husband. In that he saw a television interview with Richie Sambora about a new project with his girlfriend Orianthi, and thought I'd really like her name but either mis-heard it or wrote it down wrong as Oriantha. To be honest, I love it whether it's Orianthi, Oriantha or even Orianthe. But since he wrote down Oriantha, let's go with that. Orianthi is actually the only version that has charted in the U.S to date, debuting in 2015 in position 14,408 after being given to just 7 girls. I'm guessing these were prob ..read more

I was recently watching 'Mary Poppins' for the first time in years, thoroughly enjoying all of the fantastic songs I loved so much as a child. My mum had a book with the music from the movie, and I remember reading it eagerly, trying to remember the words and even play some of the songs with my very limited piano skills. As a child I maybe didn't care too much about the tongue twister part of the song 'Jolly Holiday', but re-watching the movie I was intrigued. If you can't remember it, 'Jolly Holiday' is all about how much Bert and the penguins admire Mary and spending time with her, and pa ..read more

There are plenty of name lovers out there who are probably shuddering a little at this one. It looks invented; it looks like a creative spelling. And maybe it is. But I saw this one on TV recently (it was the name of a real estate agent on the show 'House Hunters') and the more I turned it over in my head, the more I liked it. So of course I thought I'd share it. The main thing I like about this name is the sound. It's kind of like a Paisley-Peyton-Kaylee smoosh. Considering how popular these three names are (in 2015 they were #45, #72 and #61 respectively in the U.S), I'm a little surprised ..read more

I found this one when watching 'Ellen' the other day. As Ellen often does, she was surprising a deserving viewer with a present after a woman's daughter - named Oviri - had written to Ellen. It struck me as an exotic sounding (pronounced oh-VEER-ee) and quite unique name, so of course it caught my attention! And rare indeed it is. It has never appeared on the United States SSA records (so hasn't been given to more than 5 children in a single year). However a quick search on Facebook shows a small number of both males and females named Oviri, so it is used but there's a good chance you've ne ..read more