From the time we wrote our very first name book, we’ve both been totally charmed by the unique verve and spirit of  names ending in the letter ‘o’.  And, over time, our love for them has only increased.  We’re glad to see that more and more people seem to be agreeing with us; lately there’s been an infusion of newly popular choices–and, surprisingly, this is beginning to be true for girls as well as boys.

　　Here are some of the currently coolest boys’  names, many of then reflecting the ever-growing globalization of baby names:

　　ALDO, ARLO & ARNO

　　BRUNO

　　COSMO & COSIMO

　　ENZO

　　HORATIO

　　HUGO

　　INDIO & INDIGO & INIGO

　　LASZLO

　　LEO

　　MATEO /MATTEO

　　MILO

　　ORLANDO

　　OTTO

　　RIO

　　ROCCO

　　ROMEO & VALENTINO — two choices previously considered uberly-romantic, now sudden celebrity faves

　　THEO

　　VIGGO

　　Of course a large proportion of the male names in the Italian and Spanish name lexicons have ‘o’ endings.  Here are a few that seem most ripe for cultural crossover:

　　ADRIANO

　　ALESSIO & ALESSANDRO

　　ALONZO

　　AMEDEO

　　AURELIO

　　DARIO

　　DIEGO

　　EMILIO

　　LAZARO

　　LORENZO, RENZO & ENZO

　　LUCIO & LUCIANO

　　MASSIMO

　　NICOLO

　　OCTAVIO & OTTAVIO

　　PAOLO

　　SANTINO

　　SERGIO

　　VITTORIO & VITO

　　An interesting recent development is the rise of girls names ending with the o-sound, though some are  spelled with the addition of a ‘t’ or a ‘w‘.  These include:

　　BARDOT — the latest movie glamour girl surname, added to the mix by David Boreanaz

　　CLEO/CLIO

　　COCO

　　DOMINO

　　ECHO  —  “Doll” name for the leading charater in “Dollhouse”; also recently used by rocker Nick Hexum for his daughter

　　HARLOW –Another old-star-to- new-starbaby name

　　JUNO —  Goddess name hot since the eponymous movie

　　LILO

　　MARGO/MARGOT

　　MARLOW/MARLOWE

　　NICO

　　WILLOW — zooming up the popularity list