These are quieter names we've looked at. Meadows, kitchen gardens, slow afternoons. If that sounds like your child, start here.
They belong with hedges, rain, and unhurried days. Bucolic names we keep for children growing up in the UAE.
Rowan
Irish / Scottish
Little red one, the mountain ash. Berries in autumn. Soft for a boy.
Heath
English
The open uncultivated land. Wind, gorse, a wide sky.
Silas
Latin / Biblical
Forest, or from Silvanus. Woody, gentle, a little old chapel.
Reed
English
The river plant. Tall, thin, musical in the wind.
Linden
Germanic
The lime tree. Honey-scented shade.
Pip
English
From Philip. Dickens’ boy. A pip of an apple. Small and dear.
Moss
English
The green that grows on stone. Quiet, rare, completely itself.
Wren
English
The tiny bird with a huge song. Used more and more for boys.
Meadow
English
A field in flower. Exactly what it sounds like.
Willow
English
The tree that bends and does not break.
Clementine
Latin
Merciful, and the fruit. A song, a picnic, a painted crate.
Fern
English
The woodland plant. Shade-loving, ancient, unfussy.
Hazel
English
The nut tree, and the eye colour. Nutbrown and kind.
Marigold
English
Mary’s gold. A cottage flower that insists on being cheerful.
Clover
English
The lucky field flower. Soft luck, green luck.
Posy
English
A little bunch of flowers. Vintage, tiny, impossible not to smile at.