Baby Names from A to Z

More from BabyNameWizard.com.

Aaliyah -- This fashionable name must appeal to people who want their daughter to be first in alphabetical order (assuming they are alphabetized by first names, which they seldom are). It beats out Aaron, the old champ.

Currently, the last name in the top 1,000 is the unimpressive Zoie. In the early 20th Century, there were more formidable contenders such as Zola, Zona, Zora, Zula, and, the Grand Champion of the 20th Century, Zulma, all girl names.

You do have to wonder about a new entry to the top 1000 of boys names: Zaire. I guess since the country of Zaire doesn't exist anymore, the name has a better vibe.

When I lived in Houston in the 1970s, one of the highlights of the year was the arrival of the new white pages phonebook. We'd breathlessly flip to the back to see who was last this year. In 1976, Zukie Zzulch brought up the rear. But the next year, Zukie was bumped to second place by Choco Zzzych. Late one night, we tried to call Choco from the Rice U. pub to announce:

"This is Zyrcon Zzzzygurat. I just moved to town and your days are numbered!"

But we couldn't seem to operate the phone correctly, so I'm not sure our message ever got through.

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A suggestion for a girl's name. Personally, I would name a daughter something designed to scare boys away, like Abigail, but a lot of people, presumably mothers, seem to want to give their daughters names that make them sound alluring. They also like unusual names for girls.

So, how about one of the sexiest characters in the history of movies: Joan Greenwood'sSibella. It's an old aristocratic name, sported by one of Helena Bonham Carter's titled ancestors, but it's not in the top 1000 in any decade in the 20th Century. It's unusual, but it's easy to spell. It's probably not a good choice if you have a WASP last name, since people might guess your daughter is black. temptress in the classic 1949 black comedy "Kind Hearts and Coronets,"

UPDATE: My wife says Sibella sounds like a cross between syphilis and rubella.

Steve Sailer's homepage and blog is iSteve.com