Drew

Drew used to be thought of mainly a nickname for the masculine name Andrew, but, largely due to the fame of actress Drew Barrymore, it's also being thought of, and sometimes used as, a name for girls. Drew is also a surname, and I've mentioned many times before the tradition of using a female relative's maiden name as the given name for a child. Drew Barrymore is an example of this tradition; she was given the maiden name of her great-grandmother. In its normal masculine form, Drew is given as a name in its own right (not as a short form of Andrew) often enough in the U.S. to remain in the top 300, and sometimes the top 200, names for baby boys. And, the masculine form doesn't seem to have lost any popularity as a result of the name being associated more often with a woman. Drew as a given name for a girl has been appearing in the U.S. top 1000 for girls, but so far it has never made it into the top 500, and it doesn't seem to be gaining any popularity. For girls, this is a very rare name. Whether it will remain so is anyone's guess.

Seth

The name Seth is an Old Testament name; Seth was the third son of Adam and Eve. It comes from a Hebrew word that means "placed" or "appointed." Seth was a popular name among Puritans, especially if the baby had had an older sibling who had died (in such a case, Seth was a reference to the fact that the Seth of the Old Testament who was born after Abel died at the hands of Cain.) After the Puritan days the name slipped in popularity quite a bit, but never fell completely out of use. Seth is currently enjoying a major popularity revival, having spent a large part of the last two decades in the top 100 names for baby boys in the U.S. If you are expecting a baby boy I definitely recommend this name. It's common and known enough to not be considered "odd," but not overused enough that your child would be in a classroom with several other Seths (well, probably not, anyway.) Besides, I really like it, and that ought to be reason enough.

Jayda

Jayda is another way to spell Jada. Both names come from the gem name Jade. This particular spelling appeared in the U.S. in the mid-to-late 1990's and has been working its way up the popularity charts ever since.

Denise

Denise is a French name; it's the feminine form of Denis/Dennis. Dennis comes from Dionysius, which was originally a word for a follower or devotee of the Greek god Dionysos. So, if you want to take the attitude that a name retains the meaning of its original form, then Denise means "follower of Dionysos." Denise is a saint name; Saint Denise lived in the 3rd century You can read her story at Wikipedia. Denise began to be used in the U.S. in the 1920's and grew quickly in popularity through the 30's and 40's. Extremely popular in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, the name is now well past its popularity peak, but is still fairly common as a name for new baby girls today.

Janessa

Janessa can be considered a more fancy version of Jane or Janet, or it can be considered a respelling of Vanessa. Either way, Janessa is a fairly rare name. It has been used some since the late 1980's, and has gained some popularity, but many many people aren't even aware this name exists yet. Will it gain more popularity and become common? It could. It's a pretty name, and it is potentially very versatile, as a girl named Janessa could choose to be called Jan or Jane or Nessie or Essie or even Jessie. It's a little like Vanessa and a little like Jessica, and really all this name needs is one super-famous bearer to push it into the spotlight and it could easily take off. If your name is already Janessa, there's a website, Janessa.com, just for you and the other Janessas of the world.

Susan

Susan is a short form of the name Susanna, which comes from the Hebrew name Shoshana, and means "lily," or "rose." This sort of qualifies it as a plant or flower name (such as Rose or Lily or Heather, but it's not really considered in that group, normally.) From the 1940's through the 1970's, Susan was a ridiculously popular name. Its popularity finally started to wane in the 1980's, and has been declining steadily ever since, mainly because people simply grew tired of the name. Susan is still used, but not nearly as much--it has even fallen out of the top 500 in the U.S. Famous Susans include Susan B. Anthony, actressess Susan Sarandon, Susan Lucci, and Susan Hayward, and in fiction, Susan is one of the children in the Narnia series, and Suellen O'Hara, Scarlett's sister from Gone With the Wind is actually named Susan Eleanor--Suellen is her nickname. Usual nicknames for Susan include Sue, Suzie, and Susie, which makes it a quite versatile name, but those nicknames are in the same boat as Susan--they are considered a little overused and old-fashioned at this point. Susan is a name that has been around for a long time though, and probably should be considered a classic. It is more than likely that in future generations it will regain its popularity once again.

Carla

Carla is a feminine form of Carl, which itself comes from the name Charles. Since Charles means "man" or "free man," then Carla can be taken to mean "woman" or "free woman." Carla is an extremely popular name in Spain. In the U.S., Carla began to be used in the 1920's, reached a popularity peak in the 1960's, and has been declining slowly in popularity ever since. Carla wasn't used enough, even at the peak of its popularity, to be considered over-used, and its decline has been slow; people still like this name apparently. It has remained in the top 500, and could see a revival in popularity at any time--especially if it gets a push from a famous Carla, whether real or fictional.

Christian

Christian means "follower of Christ," from the Latin Christianus. Christian was used in the Middle Ages as a masculine name and as a feminine name. In modern times, Christian is usually a masculine name, but is still given to some baby girls as well. The most famous bearers of the name Christian have come from Denmark, including 10 kings of that country and Hans Christian Andersen, who wrote fairy tales such as "The Princess and the Pea," "The Ugly Duckling," and my personal favorite, "The Brave Tin Soldier."

Cian

Cian is a very popular name for baby boys in Ireland, but is rarely seen in the U.S., at least so far--probably because the U.S. hasn't figured out how to pronounce it yet. (Hint: rhymes with Ian, and the "c" is hard, like in "color," or sometimes Cian is pronounced like "keen," leading to the English version Keane.) Cian means "ancient," which is fitting, because Cian is an ancient name in Ireland, and was borne by a son-in-law of Brian Boru.

Moa

Moa is hardly ever used in English speaking countries but is currently an extremely popular name for baby girls in Sweden. It probably comes from a word that means "mother."

Reed

Reed is another surname that is sometimes used as a given name, mostly for boys, but very occasionally for girls. The surname is Scottish or English and in some cases designates a red-haired or "ruddy" ancestor, and in other cases can indicate an ancestor who lived near reeds. As a given name, Reed has never been exceedingly popular, but has been steadily used since at least the 19th century.

Clayton

Clayton is a surname which is also used as a first name. The surname comes from Old English claeg, which means "clay," and tun which means "settlement" or "enclosure." Clayton is used as a first name more often in the U.S. than anywhere else, and in the U.S., its popularity has remained impressively consistent for over a hundred years, nearly always appearing somewhere between #150 and #200--with some variation from that, but not much. The common nickname or short form for Clayton is Clay. Clay is popular enough as a name in its own right that it will get an entry here of its own eventually.

Travis

Travis is another surname that is also used as a given name. The surname is from Norman French traverser, which means "to cross." The name designated someone who made their living by collecting tolls for crossing a bridge or a particular stretch of road. Travis was especially popular in the U.S. from the 1970's through the 1990's, and is still a regularly used name, though not as popular as it was at its peak. My personal favorite famous Travis is singer Travis Tritt.

Cole

Cole is a surname that is now used as a given name for boys. The surname itself came from a given name from medieval times. The origin and meaning of the original name are not known for certain. According to Ask Oxford, "It may represent a survival into Middle English of the Old English byname Cola 'swarthy', 'coal-black', from col 'charcoal'." Cole is currently a popular name in the U.S., Canada, and Scotland. The children's nursery rhyme "Old King Cole," like many nursery rhymes, might have a factual basis. There were several rulers of ancient Britain named Coel, and one of them was probably at least the inspiration for "Old King Cole." Which one seems to be open to some debate. The most famous Cole whose existence is not in doubt, was Cole Porter. This makes a wonderful name for a black dog, such as a black lab.

Ruby

Ruby means exactly what you think it means; the red gem, ruby. The word ruby comes from the Latin word rubeus, which means "red," so by association, ruby also means "red." Gem names, such as Ruby, Pearl, and Beryl, were popular during the 19th century, and into the early years of the 20th century, after which point most of them faded in popularity considerably. Ruby fared better than some--remaining in the top 500 names for girls in the U.S. throughout the 1900's. Over the past few years it has been creeping upward slightly in popularity, possibly due to a revival in gem names in general. Ruby hasn't enjoyed the popularity that two other gem names, Amber and Jade, have enoyed, but currently both those names are sliding downward in popularity, while Ruby continues to rise slightly. The name's popularity in the U.S. may be boosted also by the fact that it is currently a very popular name in England, Australia, and Scotland. Ruby has occasionally been used as a given name for boys. These uses are probably not examples of Ruby as a gem name, but rather, Ruby as a surname being used as a given name. In any case, the use of Ruby as a masculine name has been very rare if not non-existent since the 1930's.

Bryce

Bryce is a variant of Brice. This variant is mainly used in the United States, where it has been quite popular since the 1990's. Bryce is normally a masculine name, but there is at least one case of a female named Bryce: Bryce Dallas Howard, who is the daughter of Ron Howard, and is an actress we are likely going to see a lot of in the very near future. This sort of thing is interesting, because if she becomes a major star she could singlehandedly change the way we think of the name Bryce.

Ivan

Ivan is a Russian form of John. The name is most famous for belonging to Ivan the Great, and to Ivan the Terrible, as well as Ivan Pavlov (as in "the Pavlov response.") Ivan has become a reasonably common name in the United States, having been consistently in the top 200 names for baby boys since 1990, although it should be noted that the name in Russia is pronounced a little like Yvonne, while in the U.S. it is with a long I sound (EYE-van.)

Élise, Elise

Élise comes from Elisabeth, which is a variant spelling of Elizabeth. In English speaking countries, where it has been used since the late 19th century, the name is often spelled Elise (without the accent.) The name is used some in the U.S. (enough to usually be in the top 300, if not top 500 names for baby girls.) It is much more popular in other countries, including England, France, Belgium, and Norway.

Kia

Kia can be used as a nickname for almost any name that begins with K (or even a hard C) and ends in A, such as Kristina, or Kiara. It has been used in the U.S. as a name in its own right very occasionally, but has never been really popular. Kia is, nonetheless, a good name for a pet, or for a fictional fantasy or RPG character, and has the added advantage of being quick and easy to type. Kia's popularity for baby girls will most likely suffer because of the association with car manufacturer Kia Motors.

Laban

Laban means "white," and comes from Hebrew. It is a Biblical name; Laban was the father of Rachel and Leah in the Old Testament. Laban is a very rarely used name, but the meaning can make it useful for naming a white pet.

Heath

There are two sources for the name Heath. First, Heath is a surname that has made the transition to being used as a given name. The surname comes from the Old English haedh, and designated someone who lived on a heath. (A heath, or heathland, is defined as "an area of open uncultivated land, typically on sandy soil and covered with heather, gorse, and coarse grasses.") Second, Heath is simply a short form of the name Heathcliff. I have to admit that I was surprised to see that Heath is in the top 1000 names for baby boys in the U.S. and has been every year since 1966. The reason for its appearance in 1966 was almost certainly the television show The Big Valley, which debuted in 1965 with Lee Majors as Heath Barkley. That doesn't explain why the name is still being used, and it doesn't explain why the only Heath I've ever been acquainted with is a Heath Bar.

Eva

Eva has (at least) three sources. One is as a form of the name Eve. Another other is as an English form of the Gaelic name Aoife, and another is an English form of the Irish name Éabha. Despite being a derived form of another name (in either case,) Eva has become quite popular as a name in its own right, and was particularly popular in the U.S. in the first 3 decades of the 1900's. Unlike many other names that were popular during that era, however, Eva has not become "old-fashioned" and is still in regular use. Eva is sometimes pronounced EE-vah, and sometimes pronounced AY-vah. Very occasionally Eva is pronounced EH-vah, but this is rare in English-speaking countries.

Ra

Ra was the Egyptian sun god. This is not a name that is normally used by parents for their children, but it is still a useful name for a new pet, or possibly for an rpg character.

Missy (Missie)

Missy (occasionally spelled Missie) has two sources. First, it is a simple transfer of the word missy, which comes from miss, the traditional form of address for an unmarried girl or woman in English. Second, Missy is sometimes used as a nickname or pet form of Melissa. Missy is very rare as a name in its own right. It has been used since the 1950's at least, and nearly made the top 500 in the U.S. during several years in the 1960's, but that was the peak of its popularity. Although Missy has never been a very popular name for people, it has been used quite a bit for cats and small white dogs.

Aaron

Aaron is a biblical name; Aaron was the brother of Moses. It has been said that the origin of this name is Hebrew, and that it means "high mountain" or "mountain of strength." In fact, the meaning and origin of the name are uncertain. No one really knows for sure where it came from or what it means. What we do know is that the name has nearly always been in use as a Jewish name, and has been used by Christians as well since the 17th century. Currently Aaron is a popular name in nearly all English speaking countries. In the U.S. Aaron has been a top 100 name since the 1970's, and might be due for a drop in popularity soon as parents start to consider it over-used.