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NAMEBERRY MAKEOVER: Renovating the Top Ten Girls’ Names

grace2gallery2 The brilliant visitors over on the Name Game board have done it again. The latest greatest game they’re playing is called Nameberry Makeover, in which they take the Top Ten names and come up with fresher, cooler sounding substitutes.

Some new players may have joined in by now and if so I’m sorry to leave you out of the credits, but these delicious ideas for new versions of widely used names are thanks to nameberryites olivegreen, susan, lyndsayjenness, jill, lola, alexisgracelynn123, ricamaca, and dannim26.

I especially love the way so many of these don’t just echo the name but pick up on its essence. Parents who love one of the top names but are in search of new spins will find some great ideas here.

1. EMILY — Evelyn, Cecily, Amelia, Emmeline

2. ISABELLA — Eudora, Imogen, Belle, Isadora, Isla, Maeve

3. EMMA — Gemma, Etta, Esme

4. AVA — Avalon, Eve, Evangeline, Ada

5. MADISON — Mabel, Madeleine, Millicent, Matilda, Harper

6. SOPHIA — Sylvia, Lucia, Ophelia (nice), Scarlett, Penelope

7. OLIVIA — Livia, Olena, Viviana, Odessa, Olive

8. ABIGAIL — Lydia, Esther, Jemima, Abriana, Bailey

9. HANNAH — Susannah, Anna, Dinah, Helena

10.ELIZABETH — Eleanor, Eliza, Leisel

We’d love to hear more makeover ideas, or head over to the Name Games board and join in. Thursday, we’ll feature the boys’ makeovers.

Tags: fresh names, most popular names, name games, name message boards, popular names, trendy baby names

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 at 12:08 am and is filed under baby name popularity, girls' names, name games, name ideas, name style, name trends, nameberry message boards . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

8 Responses to “NAMEBERRY MAKEOVER: Renovating the Top Ten Girls’ Names”

Julia Says:

April 21st, 2009 at 1:47 am

Lovely list! Can I suggest:
1 – Millicent, Emilia ( I know Amelia is already up there but this spelling is so much prettier)
2 – Isabeau, Isolde, Arabella
4 – Aoife, Avigail, Isla
5 – Makayla (just kidding)
6 – Fiona
7 – Octavia, Olympia, Lydia
8 – Avigail, Bridget
I am aware names my parents considered for me were Isabella and Olivia. Some other names they considered were Henrietta, Octavia, Claudia, Arabella, Amelia, Antonia and of course Julia. So perhaps some of those might appeal?

realpraise Says:

April 21st, 2009 at 8:26 am

Bailey for Abigail! Never thought of it. That’s great. Now I’m sorry I haven’t been more active lately.

pam Says:

April 21st, 2009 at 8:34 am

It’s never too late. We missed you!

Ayelet Says:

April 21st, 2009 at 10:36 am

I have two young girls, Gwendolen and Marisol, and we came so close to naming Gwen Isadora, I love the name, but it didn’t fit. Mari was almost Esme, then we officially named her Cecily, but we changed her name a few weeks later because it wasn’t her. I really love Scarlett too, it’s beautiful. It’s also my middle name though, so maybe I’m a little biased haha
Thank you so much for this list, I’m sure it will be helpful if we have another baby!

Tracey Says:

April 21st, 2009 at 2:38 pm

I used Arabella a decade ago as a sub for Isabella, because I was afraid Isabella was going to become too hot. I was right, and I get compliments on her name just about every time we meet someone new. She’s called Bella, usually–10 years ago French names were has-been. She may want to switch to Belle as “ella” names wane.

For my daughter born 4 years ago, I picked Gemma (Bella being a HARD act to follow). Emma/Emily/Amelia were so hot, and still are. Again, I get compliments all the time on her name. It’s short for “Gemelliana”, which is an old Latin surname from ancient Rome. Originally, for about 2 months, she was Jemima and we spelt Gemma “Jemma” but my husband wanted to change it so we did.

susan Says:

April 21st, 2009 at 6:08 pm

That is such a fun game! Congrats, Olivegreen! Now let’s see the boys’ version…

Emmy Jo Says:

April 23rd, 2009 at 9:27 pm

I love finding substitutes for more common names. I’ve written post on my blog on substitutes for Sophia and Isabella. Here are some of my favorites that have not yet been mentioned:

For Sophia: Serena, Seraphina, Sophronia, Sapphira, Soraya, Josephine, Fiona, Delphina, Cecilia, Sonia, Athena, Alethea

For Isabella: Arabella, Annabella, Mirabella, Rosabella, Adela, Gisella, Amabel, Belinda, Bellisant/Belissande, Belicia, Belladonna, Isabeau, Isolde, Isannah, Isaura, Anastasia, Evelina, Camilla, Magdalena, Mariana

If you’d like to see the posts:
http://muchadoaboutnaming.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/substitutes-for-sophia/
http://muchadoaboutnaming.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/substitutes-for-isabella/

I really need to visit your message boards more often. These games sound like fun!

electroniccigarettes Says:

September 17th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

First-rate Post.

Thank you for the post.