The Baby Name Wizard

The baby name world can now rest easy:  the Jolie-Pitt twins have arrived.  Everyone, please welcome Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline.

As we've discussed here before, Angelina Jolie is a rare style-maker in the field of baby names.  Fashion trackers wait on her name selections the way investors used to hang on every word from Alan Greenspan.  So will Knox and Vivienne get the same boost as Maddox and Shiloh?

Let's start with the most surprising of all the Jolie-Pitt baby names: Vivienne.  Surprising because it's perfectly traditional.  Vivienne is simply the French feminine form of Vivian, modestly common in the U.S. during Vivan's heyday in the 1910's-20's.  In fact, many more Viviennes have been born in the U.S. than in France over the past century.  Vivian is already a comeback name and the Spanish/Italian Viviana is hot too, so Vivienne simply fits in comfortably.

Knox is a step apart.  Most Americans associate it first with the gold of Fort Knox, second with Knox gelatine, and third with "Mr. Knox, sir" of Fox in Sox.  (A fine character name to be sure, but it's no Sylvester McMonkey McBean.)  Knox was a natural choice for the Jolie-Pitt family, since all of their boys have -x names and Mr. Pitt has a Knox in his family tree.

Despite the fashion power of the letter x, I don't see Maddox-like popularity ahead for Knox.  If you're looking for the next great x name, then, it's time to strike out on your own.  Below are some creative x names with potential...

Calix
Fox
Hendrix
Lennox
Lomax

...and while we're at it, some o names (male and female) as alternatives to Shiloh.

Arrow
Callisto
Cielo
Clio
Harlow
Jericho
Juno
Marlowe
Shadow
Willow
Winslow