I received an interesting question from a reader the other day. The reader has a son named Storm and would like to find a related nature-name for baby boy #2, due this fall. Ideally, the name should be unusual, but not too unusual.

My first thoughts were the dual-gender names Sky and Rain (and all of their various forms, including Skye and Rayne). But, unless my reader is going for a Phoenix-style family (e.g., River, Rain, Summer), these names might not work well next to Storm.

Then I looked for names with meanings that could be associated with storms. I found Barak, Hebrew for "lightning." The Biblical names Anan and Anani mean "cloud" and "my cloud." Urtzi (Basque) and Kalani (Hawaiian) are two names that mean "sky." Finally, on a more symbolic level, I thought the Slavic name Casimir, "destroyer of peace," sounded quite storm-like.

Next, since I was already thinking about grand-scale things, I turned my attention to the gods. Gods of thunder and/or lightning include Perun (Slavic), Thor (Greek), Taranis (Celtic) and Raijin (Japanese). Gods of wind and/or storms include Enlil (Sumerian), Amon (Egyptian) and Zephyr/Zephyrus (Greek).

The reader mentioned that names that were the "opposite" of storm could also work. In that vein, there are Helio/Helios and Ravi, sun gods from Greek and Hindu myth. Returning to symbolism, the names Miran, Pace, Shanti and Solomon can be traced back to words meaning "peace" in Slavic, Middle English, Sanskrit and Hebrew. Clement (Latin) and Latif (Arabic) mean "gentle," while Galen (Greek) and Placido (Latin) mean "calm." (One of the latter two would give that idiom "the calm before the storm" an interesting little twist.)

My final idea was to look at "named" storms. For instance, I've experienced hurricanes named Bob and Hugo, and I know of others with names like Andrew, Felix, Ivan, and so forth. (Typhoons are also given names, I believe.)

I hope my reader finds this helpful. If anyone else would like some thoughts or suggestions regarding baby names, please e-mail me or -- for opinions from multiple perspectives -- post a message in the baby name forum.