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.

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.

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.

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.)

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.

Tony

Tony, as most people already know, is a short form (nickname) of Anthony, but the name Tony is used fairly often as an independent name on its own. This was done especially often in the 1970's and 1980's, leading to Tony (independently of Anthony) being a top 100 name for boys in those decades. If you really like this name, and I always have, it's still a great name to give to your baby boy--but I'd strongly recommend actually naming him Anthony and then calling him Tony. The reason for this is to give him the opportunity to choose for himself when he's older whether he wants to use the informal Tony or the more formal Anthony, which might be better for a business career. Tonys who are famous as "Tony," whether or not they are really "Anthony" include Tony Blair, Tony Bennett, Tony Danza, NASCAR driver Tony Stewart, and accoustic guitar genius Tony Rice, to name only a few. The lesson to be learned here is that despite my previous advice about naming a kid Anthony, obviously being called (or named) Tony doesn't seem to hurt a person's chances of rising to the top of the heap in politics, acting, sports, or music. Name him Anthony anyway.

Lacy, Lacey

Personally, I think this is a really interesting name, that is really two names with two different reasons for being used as a given name. Lacy is a surname that made the transition to use as a given name. It was mainly used for boys, and was reasonably common in the 19th century, and continued to be used for boys until the 1940's. In this capacity it was usually spelled Lacy. In the 1970's it began to be used more often as a girl's name--usually spelled Lacey but sometimes spelled Lacy as well. In some cases this was probably related to other surnames that were drafted into use as given names for girls, such as Ashley, Morgan, and Bailey. This brings us to the other reason for the use of Lacey as a given name. The word lace makes Lac(e)y a fairly obvious feminine name, since lace is associated with femininity. This meaning probably actually works agains the name's popularity with the same parents who choose names like Morgan and Ashley for their daughters--names that aren't traditionally considered too "girly."