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Greek names, particularly for girls, are beginning to make more of a mark on the American baby namescape.  The Greek Sophia is our Number 1 name, and Chloe and Zoe are at 10 and 31, respectively.  Tina Fey looked back to her Greek roots for the names of her second daughter Penelope Athena and Kourtney Kardashian followed with her own little Penelope a year later.  Little Greek gods and goddesses are sliding down slides in Boston and Brooklyn playgrounds, where even extreme choices like Persephone and Andromeda are becoming accepted.

But there is a wealth of baby girl names still to be imported from this ancient culture, ranging from mythological deities’ and saints’ names to botanicals to place names.  Easy to pronounce, with many bearing a strong family resemblance to familiar English names, here are  of the best underused Greek baby names.

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Sometimes we feel we’ve heard every name in the book…..until someone introduces us to a new one.

Actually, that happened just now, when our friend the wonderful photographer Fran Liscio, who took the picture of me and Linda on the home page, just wrote to say she’d heard an unusual name in a 1941 movie called Smiling Through — Moonyean.  Had we ever heard of the name Moonyean?, she wondered.

Nope, we told her: She’d stumped the masters.

Which made us think it might be fun to challenge YOU to stump the masters, i.e. tell me and Linda and the rest of the Nameberry community about an unusual name you’ve heard that you think we may not have come across.

All names already in the Nameberry database are off limits, naturally.  When you suggest a new name, all documentation — movie character lists, newspaper stories, non-U.S. baby name sites — are helpful.  Plus tell us as much as you know about the origin, meaning, and background of the name.

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Appellation Mountain’s Abby Sandel picks out the nine most noteworthy names of the week.  This time, she’s got to travel far to find them.

With new arrivals at Yahoo! HQ and in Trump Tower, I thought this week was going to be all about preppy boy names.  Yates and Bennett and company, the kind of choices that scream rep tie and polo pony.

But somehow, the rest of the world crept in and I was reminded that American celebrities aren’t the only ones welcoming new babies with lovely, intriguing appellations.  Of course, celebrity baby names that sound mainstream in Belgium or Belize might feel quite exotic in the English-speaking world, and the opposite is equally true.

Foreign language baby name blogs report that homegrown celebrities have an impact on naming trends everywhere.  While those influences are rarely felt in the US, they can capture our attention, especially should their parent strike it big in Hollywood or score an international hit single.

The nine most intriguing names this week come from all over the planet:

Spencer Frederick – Spencer is a preppy choice with ties to the golden age of Hollywood – a fitting name for a little Trump.  Donald, Jr. and wife Vanessa are also parents to Kai Madison, Donald John III, called Donnie, and Tristan Milos.  I think Spencer Frederick is my favorite of the four.

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