Hunter

Hunter has the crunch of boots over frost, an occupational surname from Old English that named the one who tracked and provided. As a given name it boomed in the 1990s alongside other rugged, outdoorsy picks, cresting in the American top forty before settling into its current home near 128. Increasingly it travels on girls too, though it still reads most often as a boy. Two syllables with a flick of action in the middle, the short U grounding it, the R giving it forward motion. Plainspoken, capable, a little bit woodsmoke. A name that shows up with its sleeves already rolled.