Forrest

Forrest smells like pine resin and damp bark. From the Old French forest, a wooded royal hunting ground, it entered English as both a common word and a surname, and became a first name most famously through Forrest Gump, whose slow Alabama drawl made the name a household sound after 1994. Ranked 407 in the U.S., it has been climbing again among parents drawn to nature-rooted names with a literary edge. Two syllables, the double R rolling softly, the st landing quiet as a footstep on moss. Outdoorsy, slightly melancholic, a name that prefers flannel to a tie.