The name Nevaeh, which is the word Heaven spelled backwards, has skyrocketed in popularity over the last several years. It first appeared among the top thousand U.S. baby names in 2001, impressively debuting at 266th place, and has only continued to gain steam since then. (In 2008 it was up to 34th place.)

Semaj, which is the name James spelled backwards, has ranked among the top 1,000 even longer -- though it hasn't become as popular as Neveah. In 2008, Semaj was the 696th most popular baby boy name. (Some of the Semajs out there are named in honor of Rastafarian Leachim Semaj, whose birth name was Michael James.)

There's also Nomar, which is Ramon spelled backwards. It has become widely known thanks to baseball player Nomar Garciaparra.

These three names have got me thinking about 'backwards' baby names. Could Nevaeh, Semaj and Nomar be the harbingers of a name-flipping trend?

Probably not -- only because most names simply aren't flippable.

Names like Wyatt, Joaquin and Phoebe become unpronounceable (Ttayw, Niuqaoj, Ebeohp). Names like Liam, Damon and Tessa turn into non-name words (Mail, Nomad, Asset). Names like Noel, Aidan and Flor serendipitously turn into unrelated names that already exist (Leon, Nadia, Rolf).

But that doesn't mean that all names aren't flippable. A few dozen, like the ones below, do seem to work.

Arik, from Kira
Caasi, from Isaac
Deraj, from Jared
Derfla, from Alfred
Hacim, from Micah
Hairam, from Mariah
Haron, from Norah
Kaasi, from Isaak
Leira, from Ariel
Lexa, from Axel
Nala, from Alan
Nalla, from Allan
Nedaj, from Jaden
Neelia, from Aileen
Nelaj, from Jalen
Nivek from Kevin
Orimar from Ramiro
Ramaj, from Jamar
Selim, from Miles
Siri, from Iris
Sivart, from Travis
Vanra, from Arnav