A few days ago we announced that actress Cynthia Nixon had become a mom for the third time and named her son Max Ellington Nixon Marinoni. But she wasn't the only star who welcomed a new baby last week; country musician Zac Brown (lead singer of the Zac Brown Band) became a dad for the fourth time. And like Nixon, he too was inspired by music when choosing a name for his newborn.

Zac Brown's wife, Shelly, gave birth to the couple's fourth daughter, Joni Mason Brown. Joni's three big sisters are Justice, Lucy, and Georgia Sloan.

It seems likely that Brown chose the name Joni, at least in part, as homage to the singer and songwriter, Joni Mitchell. Or perhaps he was inspired by Joni James, the 1950s pop star? Although, interestingly, Joni wasn't either Mitchell or Mason's given name. Joni Mitchell was born Roberta Joan Anderson, and James' was really Giovanna Carmella Babbo.

Mason, too, has a musical history: there's Mason Williams the American guitarist and composer as well as Mason's Children, the Grateful Dead song.

We think of Max and Mason as strong names that are direct and to the point, while Ellington and Joni, with their musical connotations, strike us as more elegant and poetic.

What do you make of Max Ellington and Joni Mason? What other musicians' monikers would make good baby names?

--V.L.