Gary

Gary has several origins, which mostly all reach back to the same base origin, which is the Germanic element gar, which means "spear." Many names, such as Gareth, Garret, Garland, and Garfield, begin with this element, and Gary was originally a nickname or short form for those names. Widely used nicknames often become given names in their own right, and they also often spawned surnames. Both of these happened with Gary, so today, Gary can be a nickname, a name in its own right, or a transferred use of the surname as a given name. Gary was a very popular name in the U.S. from the 1930's through the 1960's, probably largely because of the fame of actor Gary Cooper. The name is still used, and is still in the U.S. top 500, but has been steadily dropping since the 1970's. Other famous, or at least well-known, Garys include Gary the snail, from the popular Spongebob Squarepants cartoon; actor Gary Dourdan, who plays Warrick Brown on television's CSI; Gary Levox, the lead singer for the country group Rascal Flatts; actor Gary Oldman; and the town, Gary, Indiana. Although this name is still suffering somewhat from its extreme popularity in the 20th century, and not being helped by having a famous snail using the name, Gary will most likely make a comeback and return to popular use eventually.

Jocelyn

Jocelyn comes from the Old French name Joscelin, which was introduced to Britain by the Normans around the time of the Norman Conquest and was ultimately derived from the name of a Germanic tribe, the Gauts. In the days of the Conquest the name was masculine. The name fell out of use as a given name, but it had by that time spawned the surname Jocelyn, which eventually itself began to be used as a given name. This time around though, the name is nearly always feminine rather than masculine, probably because of the lyn which is equated with the feminine Lynn. In its new feminine capacity, Jocelyn began appearing in the U.S. top 1000 in the 1930's, but didn't begin to really gain popularity until the 1980's. In 2002, Jocelyn cracked the top 100, and continues to rise in popularity.

Walter

Walter comes from the Germanic name Waldhari, which meant, essentially, "ruling warriors." The form Walter was brought to England by the Normans. The English already had their own form of this name, Wealdhere, but since the two names apparently meant the same thing, came from the same original source, and sounded much the same, Walter eventually became the version that was used. Walter was quite popular with the Normans, and then with the English in Medieval days. It has been in constant use ever since and was a top 20 name in the U.S. in the first few decades of the 20th century. Its popularity has dropped since then, but since this name has been around for so long, it will probably continue to be used, and will probably see other peaks in popularity as time goes on. Walter is a relatively common surname, but in this case, the first name came first and the surname came last. Famous Walters include Walter Cronkite, Walter Brennan, and Walter Pidgeon. Incidentally, Walter is wonderful name for a dog.

Emma

Emma is derived from the Germanic ermen meaning "all-embracing," "whole," "entire,"...you get the picture. Originally, we are told, it wasn't a name on its own at all, it was used as the first element for Old French names such as Ermengarde. How they made the leap from Ermen to Emma is just one of those little mysteries. The name was introduced to England by the Normans, but before the Norman Conquest: Emma of Normandy was twice the Queen of England, first marrying Ethelred the Unready, and after his death, marrying Canute, who was also king of Norway and Denmark. She was then mother of two kings of England, one of whom was Edward the Confessor, and William the Conqueror was her grandnephew. Possibly because of her, Emma was quite popular in the Middle Ages. One fascinating Emma was Lady Emma Hamilton, who was actually originally named Emily, but "became" an Emma. Her story is definitely worth reading. In addition to its historic and royal connections, Emma is a name with literary and popular entertainment connections as well: The book Emma by Jane Austen is a classic, which was made into a wonderful movie starring Gwyneth Paltrow in 1996. It would seem that a baby girl named Emma would have some pretty large--though ladylike--shoes to fill. One can only hope there are enough shoes to go around, since Emma has continued to be popular through the ages, and is currently enjoying a peak of popularity in many countries including the U.S, Scotland, Sweden, Ireland, Canada, and others. This is one of those names that seems old-fashioned in the good way, and always benefits from trend towards traditional names. Because of Emma's extreme popularity at the moment, I'd actually recommend against giving it to a baby girl right now--it certainly would not be unique. Emma is always a wonderful name for a fictional character, and it's also always a great name for a cat, particularly a tabby with the classic "M" on her forehead.

Robert

Robert is considered to be one of the names brought to England with the Norman Conquest. The English were, however, already using the name Hreodbeorht, and I have also seen one source report that the name the Normans brought was not Robert, but another similar name, in which case perhaps Robert represents a melding of the two names. In any case, whether the name comes from the Old English Hreodbeorht or the Germanic hrod 'fame' + berht 'bright,' the meaning is the same and comes down to "famous." And regardless of where they got it, the English of the Middle Ages loved the name Robert, and gave it to their children often, leading to the necessity for plenty of nicknames to differentiate between all those Roberts: Rob, Robbie, Bob, Bobby, Robin, and even nicknames such as Nob, Dob, Hob, and Dobbin. Of course, most of those nicknames have fallen out of use today, and few people would automatically associate "Dobbin" with "Robert," but the use of those nicknames gave us surnames such as Hopkins, Hobbs, and Dobson. Robert remains now as popular as it was in the Middle Ages, and has never really been out of use in the years in between. Famous Roberts are simply too many to name, but include three kings of Scotland, Scottish poet Robert Burns, U.S. Civil War General Robert E. Lee, one of my favorite actors of all time-- Robert Mitchum, and Robert F. Kennedy. Robert is one of the true classic names of all time, and is always an excellent choice for a baby boy.

Albert

Like William (see below,) Albert is a name that is an Old French form of name derived from Germanic, and like William, Albert was introduced to England by the Norman Conquest. Also like William, Albert is derived from two parts, adal which means "noble," and berht, which means "bright," or "famous." Albert has not had the immense popularity in English-speaking countries that William has, but then, few names have. Albert was extremely popular, especially in England from 1840 through the 1920's, in honor of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the husband of Queen Victoria. The name was also well-used in the United States through the first half of the 1900's, finally falling out of the top 100 in the tradition-rejecting 1960's. The name has declined slowly yet steadily in popularity since then, but still remains in the top 400 names for baby boys in the U.S. Albert is definitely in a popularity lull, and to many ears it now sounds hopelessly old-fashioned. Still, as a middle name, particularly given in honor of an older relative, it's a fine name. Its use as a first "main" name is not really recommended at this point however, simply because even its common nicknames, (Al, Bert, Bertie) have a definite out-of-style sound to them. Albert remains a great name for a cat with a certain aloof and dignified manner.

William

William is one of the most popular names of all time, in English speaking countries. The name is Old French, and is derived from the Germanic Wilhelm. The meaning translates to "will" or "desire" (from "wil") plus "helmet" or "protection," (from "helm".) From this combination one could come up with "I'd like a strong helmet, please," as a meaning for the name, but the intended meaning is probably more meant to indicate someone whose will, or desire, was so strong that it was a form of protection itself. William the Conqueror himself brought this name to England, and was the most common name given to boys in England up until the Middle Ages. It remained extremely popular throughout the Middle Ages. In the 20th century it became only slightly less popular, no longer automatically appearing as the first or second most popular name for boys, but has never once dropped out of the top 20 names in the U.S. It still retains huge popularity all over the world, and there is no reason for that to change in the foreseeable future. William is a wonderful name for a baby boy in part because of its versatility. Someone named William may choose whether to be William, Will, Willie or Willy, Bill, or Billy. Famous Williams throughout history are too numerous to count, but include William Shakespeare, William Faulkner, William Shatner, William J. Clinton--known to most of us as Bill Clinton, William Penn, and Prince William of England.

Charles

Charles comes from Germanic and means "man," or "free man." Charlemagne, ("Charles the Great,") was the earliest famous Charles, and the name spread with his fame. The name has since been borne by kings, holy roman emperors, and other famous or notable persons such as Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, and unfortunately for the name, Charles Manson. On a nicer note, Charles Schultz is another famous Charles, who created another more famous Charles, Charlie Brown. Charles is one of those classic names that is always popular, and although it doesn't currently have the top 10 status that it had in the early 1900's, it is still comfortably in the top 50. One reason for its continued popularity is its versatility: a child name Charles can be Charles, Chaz, Chuck, or Charlie. Incidentally, I once knew a great dane named Charles and the name fit him perfectly.