Kel- names are quite current, and today’s surname choice is no exception.

Thanks to Sarah for suggesting her son’s name – Kelson – as our Name of the Day.

Suggest calling your new baby boy Konner, Kaylob or Kristofer and you’ll set off a raging debate about kreativity in baby naming.

Some parents avoid K- names entirely, even though plenty of classics wear their Ks nicely, from the elegant Katharine to the current Kai.

Kelson would fit in on the playground with Jackson and Mason.  What’s more, he’s every bit as legitimate a surname pick as those two favorites.  There are at least three possible origins:

• The Old Norse ketill meant cauldron or helmet and led to a surname – Ketelsen.  Kelson may be a contracted form of Ketelsen, with a few spelling changes along the road to English;
• Others suggest that it relates to Jewish feminine given names, like Kelila;
• Lastly, there’s Kelso – a Scottish place name that shares roots with Chelsea.  They’re both derived from the Old English cealc – chalk.  Of course, these days Kelso conjures up Ashton Kutcher’s character on That 70s Show and a famous racehorse, as well as the ruins of a historic abbey in Scotland.

In modern usage, it is easy to imagine parents choosing Kelson to honor a parent named Kelly or Kelsey.  That’s just what country music’s Jason Albert, of Heartland, did back in 2007.  Only thing is that he named his daughter Kelson Noel – after wife Kelly.

A few other references include:

• In Katherine Kurtz’ long running series of Deryni fantasty novels, King Kelson is the 26th king of Gwynedd;
• You’ve probably heard of a ship’s keel; apparently, a keelson or kelson is a line of timber parallel to the keel.  Both Herman Melville and Robert Louis Stevenson refer to a kelson in their works;
• New Zealand actor Kelson Henderson isn’t exactly a household name, but you may have heard his voice on Power Rangers;
• Perhaps most intriguing, back in 1918, silent film actor Kelson Falkenberg appeared in Flare-Up Sal opposite Dorothy Dalton.  Ms. Dalton has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but Mr. Falkenberg is lost to obscurity.  And yet, if we go back to Katherine Kurtz, Christian Richard de Falkenberg is one of King Kelson’s rivals.

Of course, parents choosing Kelson today might simply like his sound.  He’s in good company in the upper reaches of the US Top 1000:

• Kellen ranked #444 in 2008;
• Kevin/Calvin mash-up Kelvin came in at #456 despite – or because of – the Kelvin temperature scale;
• Kelton came in at #925.

Kelson himself has never appeared in the US Top 1000.

If you’re looking for a name to promote from the last spot to the first, Kelson is a good candidate – he fits in perfectly with current trends, and while he is far from common, he’s not difficult to spell.  He’s also a safe haven for parents who love Kelly for a boy, but want something more decidedly masculine to put on the birth certificate.