Wilbur

Wilbur comes from the Old English will ("will, desire") and burh ("fortress.") Wilbur is a surname which in the U.S. is sometimes used as a given name. The name was popular enough to be in the top 100 in the U.S. in the second decade of the 1900's, but fell steadily in popularity after that, dropping out of the top 1000 entirely after the 1970's. Wilbur as a given name is famous/notorious in at least two instances, one of which might account for its complete disappearance as a given name for baby boys. First, there was Wilbur Wright, who along with his brother Orville, became famous for inventing the first airplane that worked. Second, Wilbur was one of the main characters in E.B. White's famous children's book Charlotte's Web. For those few people out there who have never read the book, or seen the movie, or at least heard of Charlotte's Web, the Wilbur in the book is a pig who befriends a very resourceful and intelligent spider named Charlotte. Parents are probably wise to avoid naming their boys Wilbur, because sooner or later nearly every child is required to read this book for school, and while Wilbur is indeed one terrific pig, he's a pig, nonetheless.

Éabha

Éabha is from the Old Irish name Eva, who was the wife of an early invader of Ireland in Irish legend. Éabha has become quite popular in Ireland in recent years. It is pronounced like Ay-va or Eh-va, usually. Irrelevant opinion of mine: I like this name a lot, and would love to see it used outside of Ireland as well, but many people, particularly here in the U.S. would have no idea how to pronounce it and would probably mostly come out with something like "Ebba."

Barbara

Barbara is the Latin form of the Greek barbarus. The Greek word comes from bar-bar, which was sort of a Greek version of "blah blah" and referred to the language of foreigners which sounded like no more than "bar-bar" (or blah blah) to them. Therefore, barbarus came to mean "foreign," and Barbara means "foreign woman." The word barbarian comes from the same source. Other meanings related to the word are sometimes given for Barbara, including "strange," "exotic," and "untamed." Barbara is a saint's name: Saint Barbara is the patron saint of stonemasons, architects, and artillerymen, among other things. Barbara is currently somewhat out-of-fashion as a name for baby girls. It was extremely popular during the first half of the 20th century, and was a top ten name in the U.S. for most of the three decades (the 1930's, 1940's, and 1950's.) Because of this, many many people have mothers, grandmothers, and even great-grandmothers named Barbara. Often when this happens a name starts to be associated with the "older generations" and goes out of fashion until the older generation has passed. Barbara has not fallen completely out of use, but its popularity has been on a steady decline since the 1960's, and it currently isn't even quite in the top 500. Barbara is a classic name, however, plus a saint's name, so it is doubtful that it will become obssolete. The name can be expected to eventually experience a resurgence in popularity. Barbara is a versatile name, but its versatility is another reason for its decline in popularity; one of the main nicknames for Barbara is Barbie and that name has been virtually taken over by its association with Barbie Dolls. Other nicknames for Barbara are Babs, Babette, and Barb, and Bobbie. The variant spelling Barbra is sometimes used, but I'll deal with that as a name in its own right at some point.

Cade

Cade is a surname that is now being used as a given name for boys. The origin of the surname is less than romantic though; it was originally a nickname that came from a word that meant "round" or "lump-like." (Rather in the same way that "Shorty" is a modern nickname that comes from a word that means "not tall.") According to Ask Oxford the use of Cade as a given name is due to "Cade Calvert," a character from the Margaret Mitchell book Gone With The Wind. That may be so, but personally I think that Cade would have probably found its way into use as a given name anyway--it just has that "sound" and that "look" that many parents in recent years have seemed to gravitate toward when naming their babies. The name is far from overused at this point, not quite even in the top 200 in the U.S., and it is a good-looking and good-sounding name, so I'd definitely put it in the recommended list. The only real downside is that original meaning of the name, but with any luck, by the time other kids are old enough to look up a name meaning they will also be too old to tease based on the information. Cade is also a wonderful name for a big dog.

Dodie

Dodie is a nickname for Dorothy. How in the world did we get Dodie from Dorothy? According to Ask Oxford, Dodie is the result of a small child trying to pronounce "Dorothy" and failing miserably. That's good, because that's about what I had guessed--although how in the world Oxford knows this to be true is beyond me. The author of 101 Dalmatians (the original novel,) was Dodie Smith. Television experts--and people even older than I am--might remember that there was a Dodie on My Three Sons for a while. She was played by Dawn Lyn. Dodie is a good name for a cat, or perhaps a small dog.

Philip

Philip means comes from the Greek philein which means "to love," and hippos which means horse, therefore, Philip means "lover of horses." Philip is a saint name, and has been a royal name in Spain and France. Philip was the name of Alexander the Great's father, and although it is less popular now than it was in the early to mid 1900's, it is still given to baby boys reasonably often. The name is reasonably versatile; nicknames include Phil, Philo, and Pip, though the latter two are not often heard today.

Velia

Velia is an Italian name which may mean "concealed," "hidden," or "veiled." This is an extremely rare name in English-speaking countries. The fact that the first syllable might sound like "veal" may make some wise parents hesitate to use it. For someone who is looking for a name for a fictional fantasy character or an rpg character however, Velia is probably worth keeping in mind.

Niall

Niall is the original Gaelic form of Neil. This spelling of the name is now quite popular in Ireland, and could possibly spread to other English-speaking countries. Niall also tends to appear in novels set in Ireland or fantasy novels with Irish themes.

Polly

Polly, which can also be spelled Pollie, is listed by nearly all the "authorities" as being a pet form of Molly. At least Ask Oxford mentions that they don't have a clue why the M in Molly got changed to a P to give Polly. Polly is currently considered a bit of an old-fashioned name--it was in common use in the U.S. until the 1960's when it fell completely out of fashion. The fact that it is associated with parrots (as in "Polly want a cracker?") doesn't help its popularity for human children. So here we have a name with no clear meaning, no clear origin, and associated with an animal to the point of being a cliché, that seems old-fashioned, and also seems like it ought to be a nickname for some other name--can this name ever regain popularity? Probably.

Trista

Trista is the female version of Tristan. No one is entirely sure what Tristan originally came from, or what it meant, so the same goes for Trista. Trista is a rare name, but it was used some in the mid to late 1900's, and in the past few years (since 2002) has been experiencing a small amount of popularity in the U.S. This slight new surge of popularity might be perhaps at least in part due to the popularity of television reality show star Trista Rehn.

Akram

Akram is from Arabic, and means "noble" or "generous," or, according to some sources, "excellent," or "best." It is normally given to boys, but there's some evidence on the Internet that girls in some places are sometimes named Akram. The name is found in use in widespread places such as Iran, Malaysia, and India, but is not common in English-speaking countries.

James

James is the English version of the name Iacomus, which is a Latin version of the Greek Iakobus. (The name Jacob ultimately comes from the same source, via the Hebrew name version of Iakobus, which is Yaakov.) James is a saint name; in the New Testament, two of Christ's disciples were named James. Several Kings of Scotland were named James. James is a perennial favorite in all English-speaking countries. It is normally a masculine name, but has on occasion been given to girls, as well. (Naming a girl James just isn't recommended. It's not like names for girls are rare.) Because James comes from the same source as Jacob, it also means "supplanter" or "holder of the heel." One reason for James' continued popularity is its versatility. Nicknames for James include Jim, Jimmy, and Jamie. The name is considered by many to be overused, and it probably is, but that overuse is not likely to stop--and there is a big difference between an overused "trendy" name that comes out of nowhere and is overused for a few years, and classic names like James, John, Anne, Mary, etc. James is likely to remain popular, and will also remain a good name choice for boys.

Daan

Daan is a Dutch name, and it is very popular currently in the Netherlands. It is a short form of Daniel, so the English equivelent of Daan would be Dan.

Folami

Folami is an African word and means "respect me" or "honor me" or simply "respect and honor me," and has been used in Yoruba. I've seen the name designated as masculine in some places, feminine in others, but many names in Yoruba can be given to either sex in any case. The "i" on the end causes it to lean toward being a feminine name when used in the U.S. I haven't (so far) been able to find much more information on the name other than that, but would welcome more if anyone has it.

Amable

Amable has been used for both boys and girls, in different times and places, and for different reasons. The name comes from Latin amabilis, and means "loveable." When Amable has been used for a girl it is often a re-spelling or a misspelling of Amabel. Notice that the difference here is simply the transposition of two letters, and the meaning and pronunciation are the same. Both Amabel and Amable were also sometimes given as Christian "virtue" names, and in this case were actually meant to represent the word "aimable." Amable is also a French name--same meaning, same origin-- and in this case is a masculine name. This name is one of those that have given people in the U.S. who are researching their family geneaology a few headaches. The reason for this is that names were often changed from their original French forms to English forms by census takers in the U.S., and Amable in some cases became simply Ama, and in some cases became Marble. The Marble example is known to have occurred in the U.S. 1850 census in Maine, and this might give a clue about how Amable was being pronounced. (That is simply my guess, but I'm thinking a-MAH-bul, leading to Marble. I could easily be wrong.) Amable is also a surname, though not an extremely common one, so it stands to reason that a few Amables have been given the name because it was the maiden name of their mothers. We don't see the name Amable much in the U.S., and I don't really see a rise in popularity for it in the near future. If you happen to be writing a novel that involves some French-Canadian history though, Amable is a name that might be useful.

Jewel

Jewel means, well, jewel. That is, a precious stone or gem. Back in the 1800's it was fashionable to use gem names as names for babies--mostly for girls, but in some cases for boys. Jewel is one of these names (though others were more specific, such as Ruby or Beryl.) The popularity of the name Jewel carried over from the 1800's into the 1900's, and the name was somewhat in use in the United States through the 1960's. After that, it disappeared from the U.S. top 1000 baby names until 1997, when it shot suddenly to #667. The reason for the reappearance of the name is most likely due to the popularity of the singer Jewel. The revival of the name hasn't been overwhelming, and its use has been declining steadily since 1998. Many people, rather than thinking of Jewel as a name in its own right, tend to think of it as a nickname for Julie or Julia, but by the same token, there is really no reason that a girl named Jewel could not use Julie as a nickname.

Judah

Judah is a biblical name, from a Hebrew name (Yehudah) which means "praised." Judah is known in the Old Testament as one of the sons of Jacob. It was the Tribe of Judah that led the Exodus from Egypt. Another well known Judah, Judah the Maccabi, was a Jewish warrior who led a rebellion agains the Greeks. His story is celebrated during the festival of Chanukah. Interestingly, Judah had not appeared at all in the U.S. top 1000 names for baby boys in all of the 20th century until 1998, when it was just barely enough to make the list. Since then, it has climbed steadily, and seems poised to possibly make it into the top 500. Why the sudden rise in popularity? I have no idea.