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Baby Names You Never Thought Of

8 Current Baby Naming Trends of the Times

By Melinda Copp

One of the hottest trends in naming is places. Geography offers a wealth of name options, allowing parents to choose a baby name for a place that is significant to them, reflecting family heritage, where the parents met, a childhood home or even just a favorite location. For example, you could go with a city, like Dallas, Paris, Vienna, Rome, Houston, Brooklyn, Cleveland or Sydney. You could choose a country, like Ireland, Italy or China; or a state, like Carolina, Utah, Dakota or Georgia. According to Corder, India is one of the most popular geographic names she's seen lately.

Decisions are difficult – especially big ones, like naming Baby. So why not combine your top two favorites? For example, if you like Mary and Beth, you can combine the two as Marybeth or Mary-Beth. The options for combinations are endless, from using two names as one, such as Sue Ann and Mary Kate for girls and Owen Andrew and John David for boys. Or you can merge the two together, such as Ashlynn (Ashley and Lynn) for girls and Brendon (Brent and Brandon) for boys. You can use this strategy when you can't decide between two names, or even to honor two relatives, such as both grandmas or grandpas.

For strong, classic-sounding names, many parents opt for last names as their child's first name. This strategy opens up a whole host of options for parents looking for unique and beautiful names for their little ones. Michelle Maidenberg, a mom from White Plains, N.Y., who follows the family trend, insists on last names first for her kids. "My sons' names are Addison, Foster and Wyatt," Maidenberg says. "Our rule of thumb is last names as first names, and no nicknames."