Joyce

According to the authoritative sources, Joyce became a name this way: First there was the Breton name Iodoc, which meant "lord." The Latinized form of that name was Jodocus. From Jodocus came the Norman name Josce and the Middle English Josse. These were all male names, apparently, as well. None of the forms survived the Middle Ages as given names, but they did survive as surnames, including Joyce. Joyce began to gain some popularity for girls in the U.S. in the late 19th century, and became truly popular in the early decades of the 20th century. It remained in the top 100 names for girls in the U.S. from 1924 until 1966. Joyce also appeared as a name for boys during the first half of the 20th century, possibly often as a transferred use of the surname. Joyce is currently still a top 1000 name in the U.S., and may eventually regain at least some of its former popularity, once it is no longer perceived as being outdated. The original meaning of the name that Joyce is derived from is mostly irrelevant to the name as it is used these days, but it is worth noting that part of the popularity of the name is due to the fact that it contains the word "joy," also used as a name in its own right. For this reason, I think it's fair to consider "joy" as an implied meaning of the name Joyce when it's used as a given name.

Wesley

Wesley comes from the combination of the directional word west, and the word lea, which means "meadow," "field," or "clearing." So Wesley can mean the clearing to the west, or the western field, etc. Wesley is a surname which signified someone who lived in such a place, or who was from one of the places in England which were given the name Westley. Many surnames have been transferred to use as given names, and the use often began as a means of naming a child for his mother's family, with her maiden name used as her son's given name. Wesley is one of these, but also received a boost in use from the founder of the Methodist Church, John Wesley, with many Methodists choosing name their sons Wesley in his honor. Interestingly, Wesley has been a top 200 name in the U.S. for well over 100 years, with very little real variation--it has never been used enough to become over-used and too common, yet has never been rare. This may be partly due to the Methodist factor, but is probably also due to the fact that Wesley is a reasonably masculine and distinguished sounding name, common enough to not be "outlandish," yet it doesn't really invite nicknames or familiar forms that would bring it into more common use. Consequently, it's often used as a middle name. Famous Wesleys include Wesley Snipes, and the character Wesley from television's Star Trek: The Next Generation. (Before someone yells at me for forgetting him, the character played by Cary Elwes in the movie The Princess Bride was named Westley, which is a simple spelling variation that makes sense for the setting of the book and movie.)

Elmer

Elmer comes from an Old English name which was comprised of the elements ædhel ("noble") and maer ("famous.") Although Elmer was not used much as a given name after the Norman Conquest, but it did survive as a surname. When Elmer is used as a given name today it represents an instance of a surname being used as given name. The practice of using surnames as given names, particularly for boys, and especially the use of the mother's maiden name as a son's given name, was particularly popular in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and Elmer's popularity coicides with this practice. Elmer seems to be a rare name today, but in the first two decades of the 20th century, Elmer was a top 50 name for boys in the U.S. From the 1920's onward, Elmer's popularity steadily declined until the 1980's, when it more or less stabilized without ever dropping out of the top 1000. Elmer is still given to newborn baby boys enough today that it remains in the top 1000, but it shows no signs of regaining popularity. Elmer's early popularity could have led to its decline in use, due to overuse, and the eventual perception of the name as old-fashioned, but Elmer has more working against it than that. The popularity of Warner Brothers cartoon character Elmer Fudd keeps the name in the public conciousness, while also discouraging its use for babies. Elmer Fudd is so famous and so beloved that Google even has a feature that sort of allows you to search the internet like Elmer Fudd would. Famous and beloved, yes, but still not a character most people would choose to name their sons for. In addition to reminding everyone who hears his name of Elmer Fudd, a child named Elmer might also have to contend with another famous close association with his name, Elmer's Glue. Although Elmer is unlikely to regain much popularity as a name for a child as long as Elmer Fudd is well-known (which we can hope is always,) its still a great name for a pet, particularly for a dog, (or maybe a snake or hamster.)

Sebastian

Sebastian comes from the Latin Sebastianus, which means "man from Sebaste." Sebaste was a town in Asia Minor, and its name came from the Greek sebastos which meant "august" or "venerable," so it is reasonable enough to give Sebastian that meaning as well, if "man from Sebaste" isn't meaningful enough for you. Sebastian was the name of a 3rd century saint. He was an officer in the Imperial Roman Army, and was tied to a tree and shot multiple times with arrows by his own fellow officers after being charged with being a Christian. More about him can be found here. Sebastian is a more popular name than you might think. In the U.S. the name has been steadily in use enough to nearly always appear in the top 1000, and since the year 2000, Sebastian has been consistently in the top 100. It is similarly popular in other English-speaking countries including Australia and Canada, and is even more popular (top 50) in Sweden and Norway. The usual popularity of the name in prior decades can be largely attributed to its status as a saint name, and as a surname but why it is currently enjoying a popularity rise, I haven't got a clue.

Randall

Randall comes from the name Randolf, a Norman given name which means "shield wolf" or possibly "raven wolf." Randall is the vernacular form of Randolf that was used in medieval times--which simply means that the spelling "Randall" represents how "Randolf" was pronounced. The surname Randall comes from the use of Randolf as a given name in medieval times, and more modern use as Randall as a given name in its own right is a result of the surname. Randall enjoyed some real popularity in the middle decades of the 20th century, but has been steadily falling in popularity since the 1960's. It is still used often enough to almost make the top 500 list in the U.S., however, and could eventually regain some popularity. The main drawback to the name is the fact that its most obvious nickname, Randy, is a slang term in England meaning "horny."

Brooke

Brooke comes from the surname (Brooke, Brook, Brooks,) and means exactly what you'd expect it to mean; the surname originally described someone who lived near a brook or a stream. It comes from the Old English word bróc. Brooke is currently an extremely popular name for girls in many English speaking countries, including the U.S., Scotland, and Australia. Part of its popularity is due to the fame of actresses Brooke Shields and Brooke Adams. In the U.S., Brooke has been a top 100 name since the 1980's. This means there are currently a lot of Brookes running around out there. This being the case, new parents might want to look for a name that is somewhat less over-used. New parents should also be aware that although most name dictionaries, etc., list Brooke as being a feminine OR masculine name, it is generally the spelling Brook that is considered more masculine (and occasionally Brooks.) Brooke has been so popular for girls that I'd hesitate to give a boy even the "masculine" versions of the name. His life will be much easier without the perception by his peers that he's got "a girl's name."

Lamont

Lamont comes from the Irish and Scottish surname, and its use as a given name has been mainly confined to the U.S. The surname is derived from Lagman which was a given name used in medieval times. Lagman comes from the Old Norse combination of log ("law") and madhr ("man"). This gives a resulting meaning for Lamont of "lawman" or "law giver." Lamont began to appear in the U.S. top 1000 names list in the 1940's, and its popularity peaked in the 1970's--though it never was a really "popular" name, at any time. Use of the name has declined steadily since the 1970's, and in 2004 the name was still in the top 1000, but barely. The first thing many of us think of when we hear the name Lamont is that it was the name of Fred Sanford's son in the Redd Foxx television show, Sanford and Son.

Drake

Drake is a surname that is also used as a given name. The surname itself comes from two possible sources; an old given name, and an old nickname. The given name was Draca, (meaning "snake" or "dragon,") which was used into the Middle Ages, and spawned some instances of the surname Drake. Drake was also a nickname which meant "duck," and of course Drake is still used as a word for a male duck today. Drake has been gaining popularity with new parents in the U.S. since the early 1990's, and is currently a top 300 name for new baby boys.

Donovan

Donovan is a surname which is also used as a given name for boys. The surname comes from the Irish surname, the Gaelic Ó Donndubháin, which means "descendant of Donndubhán." Donndubhán comes from the combination of donn ("brown") and dubh ("dark" or "black".) Probably the most well known Donovan is the singer Donovan Leitch, famous for such songs as "Mellow Yellow," and "Sunshine Superman." Donovan's music has recently been in the American consciousness once again through the use of his song "Catch the Wind" in a Volvo television commercial, though many people probably don't realize who the singer is, or the signifcance of the song (it was Donvan's first record.) In recent years there has been a strong trend of using surnames (such as Ashley, Reagan, and Kendall,) as given names for girls. Donovan hasn't turned up in this trend so far, and I am vaguely surprised by that; to me, at least, this seems at least as good a choice as Kendall or Reagan. In any case, if you are in search of an Irish or Gaelic derived surname to use as a first name for your new daughter, and you want one that hasn't yet been overused, Donovan is certainly worth consideration.

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.

Folant

Folant is a Welsh version of the name Valentine, which means "strong, healthy." Folant is quite rare, and I haven't had much luck in finding any real history of this name, but it should be noted that it's been around and was used enough at one time that Folant is also a surname.

Fearchar

Fearchar is a Gaelic name that means "dear man," from the elements fear (man) and char (dear.) This name shows up in the early histories of Scotland and Ireland, and anyone researching their Irish or Scottish genealogy is likely to run across it. The slightly more familiar name Farquhar is the English version of Fearchar, and became a surname, so if you hit a dead end in your genealogy search with either Fearchar or Farquhar, try broadening your search to include the other.

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.

Kerry

Kerry is a name that is used for both girls and boys. According to Ask Oxford it is a recent addition to the name pool. According to the U.S. Social Security Administration's Popular Baby Names website, however, Kerry appered in the top 1000 names for boys as early as 1934 and for girls in 1943, which isn't that recent, really. Kerry is a county in Ireland, and in most instances, that is probably what inspired the use of Kerry as a first name. It is important to remember, though, that Kerry is also a surname (as in John Kerry, whose website is the first result you get currently if you simply search for "Kerry" on Google.) Although Kerry enjoyed some popularity in the U.S. in the 1950's through the 1970's, it began to lose popularity swiftly after that, and has lately been completely out of fashion for both girls and boys. Any current lack of popularity of the name may or may not be due to the fame of John Kerry.

Emerson

Emerson is a surname that is sometimes used as a given name. The surname means "son of Emery." Emerson was a reasonbly common given name for boys in the late 18th century and in the first few decades of the 19th century, sometimes givin in honor of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Instances of the name began to taper off during the 1940's, and it disappared entirely from the top 1000 after the 1960's. In the 1990's Emerson began to appear again as a name for baby boys, but was still quite rare. In 2002, Emerson appeared on the top 1000 list for names for new baby girls in the U.S. Although Emerson has been gaining some popularity for boys in the past few years, it hasn't gained much popularity for girls thus far, but that could easily change. Emma and Emily have recently been extremely popular, and Emerson has the identical first syllable, and the ability to use Emma or Emmy as a nickname. And, now the name has appeared as a name for a little girl on a popular television show, Desperate Housewives. This is a name that definitely bears watching over the next year or two.

Kendall

Kendall is a surname that is also used as a given name. There are several possible sources for the surname; the entry for Kendall at Ask Oxford does the best job of outlining those. After making the transition from surname to given name, Kendall was a name usually given to boys. Parents may have liked it somewhat because it seemed akin to Kenneth, both of which bring with them the nicknames Ken and Kenny. In the 1980's, some new parents began using Kendall as a girl's name, and in the 1990's, the popularity of Kendall as a girl's name may have been spurred a little by the character Kendall on the daytime soap All My Children. Now, the name is used much more for new baby girls than it is for boys. In either case, masculine or feminine, the name is common enough to not be unusual, but not common enough to be considered "popular." I'm assuming that while boys named Kendall can (and do) use Ken and Kenny as nicknames, I'm curious as to what, if any, nicknames for girls are used for Kendall. The only obvious one that I can see is Dollie/Dolly, and that seems too outdated for present tastes. Are we going to wind up with girls called Kenny, or Kennie? (Now that I think of it, and see it, Kennie isn't a bad name for a girl, really.)

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.

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.