Nivea

OK, so I'll admit that todays inspiration came from a not-quite-glamorous source. I was looking at a bottle of toner (made by Nivea) while I was in the bathroom and thought to myself "Nivea is nice, that's not one you hear often". As you do.

It's pretty easy to guess why you don't see it very often. Googling Nivea will get you two main results. One is the singer Nivea, best known for her debut 2001 single "Don't Mess With The Radio" and her Debut Album (and second single) "Don't Mess With My Man".

The other is of course the skincare company. Founded in 1911 in Germany, the name Nivea was inspired by the snowy white colour of their cosmetic skin cream. Creator Dr Troplowitz based the name on the words nix and nivis, both of which mean 'snow' in Latin.

While many may not be too keen for their name to be related to just these two things, when we consider that Nivea comes from a Latin word for snow, we can start to appreciate the potential beauty in this name. In looks it's similar to recent favourite Nevaeh, it sounds a lot like top 10 name Olivia, and is on trend with wintry names Snow, Frost and Winter (but is much subtler). It's like a more traditionally feminine sounding version of Neve, a name which also means 'snow' in Italian.

Nivea, while rare, is not a complete stranger from the US top 1000. Since entering in 1975 it has appeared in the charts more years than not. But if you're truly hesitant to use a name that was basically invented for a skincare company, maybe this one is better left as a surprising but pretty middle. Nivea is a name that is definitely worth a second look.