Boy's nature names take on a more solid feel than their dreamy, flowery girl equivalents.
But they're still exotic enough to sound interesting, and they're stylish, too - Montague or Kingsley, for example.
Fields, woods rivers and rocks seem to be popular choices for these names, and as with the girls' nature names, it can be rewarding to give your son a name from Mother Nature - as well as Mom and Dad, of course!
The colors are brown, green, blue, grey - countryside and sky. Let's take a look:
Lennox - or maybe Samson!
Boys' nature names: Aaron Cyrus Delmar Douglas Dylan Kelvin Kingsley Lawrence Lennox Montague Neil Samson Travis Trent Cliff Flint Lee Dale Forrest River
Aaron In the top 100 US rankings since 1968, Aaron has done well. A Hebrew name, meaning "mountain."
Cyrus This Persian nature name means "sun." Cyrus the Great is famed for writing what is considered to be the first ever charter of human rights.
Delmar A name of Latin origin, meaning "from the sea," Delmar hasn't been seen in the top 1000 rankings since 1975.
Douglas A Scottish name meaning "dark water," Douglas enjoyed a top 100 ranking from 1929 to 1989, and is still a popular name.
Dylan Another of the marine names, this time from Wales, meaning either "of the sea" or "of the waves." Dylan has stormed up the US rankings since 1966 - now settling in at 29th position.
Kelvin Apart from being a scale of temperature, Kelvin is a Scottish name that refers to a "small stream." Has been in the top 600 names since 1950.
Kingsley A right royal name this, of Old English origin meaning "from the king's meadow."
Lawrence Lawrence spent nearly fifty years, from 1905 to 1954, hovering between 30th and 39th rank in the US top 100. He now ranks 440 in the United States' 2008 stats. A Latin name referring to laurel, or being "crowned with laurel."
Lennox Another Scottish name, possibly referring to an area "where elm trees grow." Sources for Lennox as a surname state that the origin is a Gaelic word, levenach, meaning "smooth stream." As one of the clans of Loch Lomond, there is even a tartan associated with the name.
Montague In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo's family name is Montague. A French name, meaning "pointed hill", this name has a very noble sound, complemented by a practical short form of "Monty."
Neil The source of this name is taken to be either Gaelic, meaning "cloud" or "leader," or a Sanskrit word meaning "blue." Take your pick - as this name has featured in the top 1000 US baby names for one hundred years!
Samson This name, with its Biblical associations of strength, means "sun" in Hebrew. Samson just makes it into the current top 1000 US baby names, whereas Sam has proved much more popular despite an extremely slow decline over the last 100 years to 468th place. Is it time for Samson to show his strength again?
Travis An Old French name from the word meaning "traverse" or "cross" - referring to a bridge over a river or a crossroads, Travis is a popular name that isn't going out of fashion just yet.
Trent Yet another of the water nature names, Trent is the name of a river in England. The word means "fast flowing river" and features at 302 in the rankings.
More nature names
More literal nature names for boys include Cliff, Flint and Lee. You might also consider Dale, Forrest or River. Geographical magazines or an encyclopedia might provide some inspiration for you!
