Animal Names: Doe, Tiger and Elk

Bartholomew is one vintage name with Biblical antecedents that hasn't risen again in the modern world, perhaps because short form Bart, as in Simpson, would be too difficult for a contemporary boy to bear. But antique nickname Bat might work better. Might.

Bear has suddenly lumbered onto the baby name landscape. Perhaps inspired by British adventurer Bear Grylls (born Edward Michael), first celebrity chef Jamie Oliver used it as the middle name for his boy Buddy, and more recently Alicia Silverstone called her son Bear Blu., followed by Kate Winslet's Bear Blaize. It's part of a current trend normalizing once aggressive animal names like Wolf and Fox. Bear is now Number 218 on Nameberry and in the Top 900 in England.

Comedian Roseanne Barr chose this macho nature name for her son. In the 18th century it was used to describe a dashing, fashionable dressed man. Buck fits in well alongside names like Beck, Jack and Huck.

Bunny may be adorable, but is it really enough of a name for your daughter? Plus if Buffy is fluffy, what would that make Bunny? Still, Bunny as a baby name is in the spotlight since Bryan Adams named his little girl Mirabella Bunny.

May be the most modern, stylish Catherine nickname: more unusual than Kate or Cate, with an animal and word name edge. Cat Power is a trendy folksinger.

Pronounced sham-me, this color and word name is soft and appealing.

Colt is the kind of unconventionally macho name that is so trendy right now, because of or in spite of its association with horses and guns.

Several animal names, from Fox to Wolf and even to Tiger, ccan work, but Cougar should stay in its cage. Even John Mellencamp has dropped it.