Names with "an"

I recently got an email from a reader asking for some naming inspiration.

Fiona writes:

My first 2 children both have a theme of "an" - Marianne and Kassandra. It happened accidentally, but the more we think about future names, the more we seem attracted to this sound. It would be great to have some help and inspiration please! 
Our second child was only born this year, so we are jumping the gun a little but we do plan a 3rd child (hopefully, as obviously thanks to mother nature's blips, having a child is not in our complete control!) and our experience is that it is never too early to start thinking about names.

With many thanks,
Fiona 

Past the page break I have put together an exhaustive list of names with -an in them. I've italicised the ones I think work best with Marianne and Kassandra. Feel free to leave your thoughts or suggestions for Fiona in the comments. If you have a naming question that you would like me to post on the blog, feel free to email me at skihm (at) hotmail (dot) com. 

Camera Names

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I've always thought Leica was a super-rad name for a girl. She's a celebrity baby name, as well as the name of a camera brand. Inspired by this, I thought I'd take a look at other camera brand names, and see what I could come up with for the photography-inclined.

Girls:
Ebony- A very beautiful name, but doesn't have the photography vibe.
Leica- One of my guilty-pleasure names.
Mamiya- A pretty way to get to Mamie.
Sigma- So long as she's not named after your sorority.

Boys:
Canon- If Cannon works, why not Canon?
Leaf- The Leif spelling is better, but this makes a nice nature and photography name.
Olympus- Olympic sounding, akin to Olympia and Olympiada.
Ricoh- Like Rico, but for the child of photographers.

Either:
Casio- I'm going back and forth on this one for gender. The "O" makes me think boy, but the Cas- makes me think girl. Count this one as unisex.
Kodak- Another nature-photography combo.
Nikon- Probably too associated with the brand, but Nike is a name, so why not Nikon?
Sinar- A unique choice that works for girl or boy.

10 F Names You Never Thought of Using: Boys

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Like I said last week, F names are my fave. There are so many undiscovered F names for boys that would be great on modern babies. None of the names on today's list are in the top 1000, so take hold of these unknown baby names.

Fagen- A surname that would be perfect on most any baby boy. He can also be spelled Fagin.

Fairfax- A stylish, preppy name that ends in X. How has no one discovered this one yet?

Fargo- He's two syllables and ends in O. Seemingly perfect, until you take into account the crime based movie and now TV show. Had the TV show not come out this year I would have deemed this one useable, but I might give him a few years.

Fenno- A truly unusual name that would sound right at home on an American baby boy.

Field- Field makes the perfect modern word name, and would be very nice if one of the parents has a connection to sports. For a surname variation, try Fielder.

Finch- So, you're a bird lover and you want to use the nickname Finn? I'd say Finch is the name for you.

Fiske- A brisk name. The only problem I see with this name is that it might be confused with the word frisk. Use him at you're own risk.

Florian- At first glance he seems kind of feminine, but with names such as Lucian becoming trendy, why not?

Fort- Similar in style and feel to up and comers like Cannon and Gunner.

Frey- Grey is a nice name, but he's getting so popular. Use Frey instead (plus, it honors any Freyas in your life!).