Liberty

Liberty, of course, simply means "freedom." It comes from the Latin libertas, which is derived from liber, meaning "free." Liberty has appeared on the list of top 1000 names for girls in the U.S. since 2001, and is currently in the top 500. The reasons for this are probably obvious, considering the times. Giving a baby a name that reflects the attitudes and values of the parents can be admirable, and granted, Liberty has the potential to be a very nice name. It even comes with built-in possibilities for nicknames; Lib, Libbie, and Bertie. I'd be very careful about using Liberty as a given name for a daughter, however. Be aware that she's going to hear every variation on "give me Liberty or give me death," and "taking liberties," among other phrases, often enough in her life to be sick of them early on. My advice would be to use Liberty as a middle name if you must use it at all, and if you are truly determined to use it as your daughter's first name, at least avoid any temptations to use "Belle" as her middle name.

Pocahontas

Most people have at least a passing familiarity with the legend of Pocahontas, or some version of it. Her given name was actually Matoaka; Pocahontas was a nickname given to her as a child to describe her "playful, frolicsome" ways. You can read more about her here or here if you are so inclined. I can't imagine anyone, other than perhaps a rock star or movie star, naming their daughter Pocahontas today. The meaning of Pocahontas, however, makes it perhaps a perfect name for a playful, mischievous, kitten or puppy. Later, when the critter is older and a bit more sedate, the name can be shortened to Pokey.

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.

Luna

Luna means "moon," or can mean "moon goddess." In Roman mythology, Luna was the goddess of the moon. Her Greek counterpart was Selene. Luna as a given name for girls has a certain current trendiness. It's not exactly popular, but has been used enough in the past 2 or 3 years to earn itself a place in the U.S. top 1000. Interestingly, the name is also currently very popular, as in top 10, in Belgium--or so says Behind the Name. I was mildly surprised to find that Luna was in use as a given name in the early 1900's, but I haven't yet found information about its history as a name before that--still looking. What was more surprising to me is that it didn't fade back into the top 1000 during the 1960's through the 1980's. I'd have thought that Luna would be a prime candidate for trendy popularity during those years. Go figure. I have mixed feelings about this name. On the one hand, I love the sound of it, and the meaning is good. On the other hand, as cruel as kids are, any little girl named Luna is going to be at serious risk of being called "Looney Luna." The fact that it rhymes with "tuna" probably doesn't help. So I think that even as much as I like the name, I'd have to recommend against it for a new baby. Luna is a great name for a fictional character, and I might use my newfound knowledge that the name was in use in the early 20th century myself one of these days-I love things that seem "wrong" until you find out that they aren't. I also think that Luna is a great name for a dog, but this is probably because I play The Sims and when the Unleashed expansion pack was released, it included as a character a cute little dog named Luna. That dog is now the first thing I think of when I hear or see the name. The second thing I think of is a character from the soap opera One Life To Live who was named Luna. She was cool, but she was definitely quite looney.

Kandi

Kandi is one of several variant spellings of Candy that appeared around the 1950's. This particular was used a little--unsurprisingly--in the 1960's and 1970's. Most parents today hopefully have more sense. Fiction writers might have uses for this name, and it probably wouldn't damage a cat or dog to be named Kandi, but your daughter probably wouldn't thank you for it.