The early 2000s were a strange but amazing time, and parents know what I mean. The fashion was wild, between skirts over jeans to all-black baggy everything, and there were labels for everything. Preppy, jock and of course, emo. Emo is short for "emotional" (not emoji!), which became a whole persona for tweens and teens and even a genre of music in some cases.
We do lots of baby name lists and with spooky season around the corner and 2020 just a depressing year, we figured there's no better time to break out the emo baby names (we also have goth ones and goth baby clothes, too, for the parents into that.) We got lots of our inspo from that wild decade called the aughts and the artists and people that symbolize what it means to be emo.
Flip those long bangs back and take a look at the names.
EMO
Emo is one of those words that everyone knows the meaning of. For people who lived through the early 2000s, it means black hair, side-swept bangs, Warped tour, and depressing, emotional music. If Elmo is a name, then Emo can be, too. It is said to mean "serious" in German.
GERARD
Gerard Way is the frontman and singer for the 2000s emo band My Chemical Romance known for singles like "Black Parade" and "Helena" (more on that later.) He was the king of the emo look often wearing all-black everything with heavy black guy-liner. Gerard also means "spear strength."
WENTZ
Speaking of 2000s pop punk emo kings, it wouldn't be an emo list of any kind without paying homage to Pete Wentz somehow, which is where the name Wentz comes from. It would make a great boy or gender neutral name after the Fall Out Boy member who also loved his shaggy emo hair and black eyeliner.
AVRIL
It wasn't just men who ruled the emo scene. Pop punk princess Avril Lavigne also made her mark as a "sk8er girl" artist. She had more pop ballads, but her heavy makeup and grungy outfits could definitely qualify as having the "look." Avril is the French word for "April."
TRAVIS
Travis Barker is one of the best drummers in recent history. We may be biased, though, as Blink 182 fans. But he is super good. He also rocked that punk, emo look back in the 90s and early 2000s which is where the name inspiration comes into play.
HELENA
OK, back to My Chemical Romance. We would be remiss not to include Helena on our emo name list as the name is not only one of MCR's most popular and emo/eerie songs (which is a dance funeral in the video) it's also about the death of Gerard Way's grandmother, Elena Lee. Weirdly, it means "bright, shining light."
ANNABEL LEE
Annabel Lee may sound familiar and that's because it's the name of a poem by dreary, dark writer Edgar Allan Poe. It's kind of a love story, but like the rest of Poe's work, it doesn't have a great ending — spoiler, she is dead and in a "tomb by the sea." Annabel means "loving", so it is a sweet name for a little girl!
HYDE
It can't get more emo than a man who has two infamously and drastically different personalities and one of them is basically a monster. That's the story of Jekyll and Hyde and we think this name pays homage to the dark side. It's a gothic novel that has become a lexicon term for someone with dual personalities or behaviors, but as far as a baby name goes, we just think it sounds cool and mysterious.
HAYLEY
Hayley Williams was the rock queen from Paramore that everyone just loved. Little girls wanted to be her and boys admired her. One could say she was part of the emo era of the times. While the name Hayley itself isn't emo by nature (although the meaning "hay field" is pretty bleak, it would make a great reference to a woman who was part of the era.
ORCHID
To most people, orchids are beautiful flowers. But to some, it's the name of an emo band or as some say "hardcore punk, heavy metal band." The band started in San Francisco in 2007 and according to Nuclear Blast have Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd vibes. As a name, Orchid means the exotic orchid flower.
EILISH
Billie Eilish is the newest artist on the emo list, and may not even be considered emo these days, just edgy. But if the young star had been around in the early aughts, she would have definitely qualified as a fashionable emo talent. Eilish is her last name but it is quirky and cute.
COHEED
Coheed and Cambria is a rock/emo band also from our parents' youth or younger years and has a super unusual band name that we felt makes for excellent baby names. First up, Coheed. The name as a whole comes from two characters in the science fiction comics written by band frontrunner Claudio Sanchez. The Hollywood Reporter explains the band chose the name while on a trip to Paris.
CAMBRIA
Then there is Cambria, which was the name of the second protagonist in bandmember Claudio Sanchez' science fiction comics. Nameberry describes "Cambria" as a "place name" as it is a village in California. The baby with this quirky name could also go by "Cam" for short to be even more HxC (hardcore.)
CARRABBA
Carrabba is the last name of Dashboard Confessional singer Chris Carrabba. We thought it was fun and unusual and a great way to pay tribute to the emo vibe of the band. Dashboard, as it was affectionally referred to, wasn't loud-and-scream type of emo. It was more sit-and-feel-all-the-feelings type of music.
RAINER
Rainer is a gender neutral name that is a nod to the band Rainer Maria, which features two female musicians (yay girl, power.) It is said to mean "warrior" or "wise army," but the band likely got the name inspo from the German poet, Rainer Maria.
CLARITY
Clarity is a beautiful baby girl name that means exactly what one would think: clearness. According to Nameberry it's also a virtue name. The emo DJ Zedd named one of their songs Clarity as well for even more reason to use it. Its lyrics are as emo as they could be: "'Cause you are the piece of me I wish I didn't need/Chasing relentlessly, still fight and I don't know why."
ASHLEE
Ashlee could be a reference to ashes and dust, meaning the "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" prayer often used at funerals, which means we all die and go back to being dust (very emo). But the name is also said to mean "meadow of ash trees."
IMOGENE
When one thinks of emo, electric music that just cuts to the core, one would definitely think of Imogene Heap. It's a Celtic name that means "maiden," but if naming baby after the artist, it definitely has an emo vibe. Her song "Hide and Seek" is iconic and was recently used as a somber but beautiful song in the Hulu show Normal People.
EVANESCENCE
Evanescence is another one of those bands from the aughts that immediately comes to mind when looking for "emo inspo." The band's iconic song "Bring Me to Life" was a teenage, angsty ballad of sadness and emotions. It also literally means "slowly disappearing,", which could hardly be a more emo expression. Parents can totally sub in the nickname Evan for a boy and Evy for a girl.
XANGA
Now, stay with us here. This name idea is for the parents who came into their youth in the early days of the internet when blogs like Live Journal and Xanga were all the rage. Tumblr isn't exactly baby name material, but Xanga could be for the adventurous moms out there who want to pay tribute to their days spent writing emo poems on the site.
