Clean-sounding, strong girls' names?

[spring13]

This is an academic question (I'm not personally in need of ideas), but it's come up in a few threads about unisex names/using boys' names on girls that often the motivation for choosing a name like that is that parents are looking for something that doesn't sound "frilly" or overly feminine.

So i'm curious, what traditionally female names do you think might meet that criteria? Something distinctly female (NOT unisex, not a surname) that sounds fairly crisp, that is not at all frou-frou? Obviously there's going to be a range of responses, but i wonder if there are any patterns or most agreed on choices in this category.

i don't have time to make a whole long list right now, but things that come to my mind right away are names like Kate or Melanie or Brenna. WDYT?

[consultantmeghan]

The first thing that popped into my mind was Paige. I think Page is a surname / old boy name, but now I think Paige is decidedly feminine... pretty but strong.

Other ideas:

Bridget
Shannon
Aubrey / Audrey
Brooke
Eve
Grace
Harper
Nicole
Rachel
Meredith
Maeve
Vera
Gemma

This was pretty hard, actually! Hope this helps.

[east93]

Kate I agree with.
Melanie is very...I can't put it into an adjective, but it doesn't fit the criteria for me.
Brenna is definitely closer.

My ideas:
Alexandra
Andromeda
Emma
Harriet
Meghan
Jessica
Carmen (Not if unisex or not)
Elizabeth
Audrey / Audra
Demetra
Georgia
Vera
Veronica
Violet
Rose
Odette (Crisp sound, but has a princessy feel to it for me. but it can still meet the criteria)
Ava
Katherine
Yvette

[east93]

The first thing that popped into my mind was Paige. I think Page is a surname / old boy name, but now I think Paige is decidedly feminine... pretty but strong.

Other ideas:

Bridget
Shannon
Aubrey / Audrey
Brooke
Eve
Grace
Harper
Nicole
Rachel
Meredith
Maeve
Vera
Gemma

This was pretty hard, actually! Hope this helps.

Unfortunately, Aubrey, and Meredith were originally boys names.
I agree with Grace, Eve, Brooke, and Bridget whole-heartedly though.

[niteowl13]

Well, I think these names fit it in that category:
Eve
Maeve
Mae/May
Meg
Anne
Suzanne/Susanne
Susan
Louise
Alice
Rose
Violet
Astrid
Star
Skye
Faith
Grace
Hope
Claire
Tess
Jane
Jade
Shay/Shae - I know this is traditionally an Irish boy's name, but it feels more feminine to me. Seamus is definitely masculine, but Shea? nope

[berry2]

Hmm...
Lauren
Martha
Kristin
Nicole
Ann
Sandra
Samantha
Margaret

[sadlola]

Kate was the first name that came to my mind too.

Anne
Hannah
Elizabeth/Elisabeth
Claire/Clara
Jane
Lillian/Lily
Alice
Diane/Diana
Mary/Rosemary/Marie

[dearest]

When I think of crisp, clean, strong girls names, length is the first thing on my mind. The longer a name is, the more frilly it seems. I also think about the sounds, avoiding l and m as dominant consonants. Leah and Emma are very different from Sarah and Chloe. I also like the more straight-forward names to make them seem cleaner, Cara rather than Clio or Chloe or even Claire.
Going through the alphabet:
Alba - Briar - Cara - Delta - Etta - Franca - Greta - Honour - Isis - Juno - Kestrel - Liesel - Mirren - Nova - Opal - Petra - Quenell - Rhea - Saga - Thora - Una - Vesper - Wren - Xanthe - Yuna - Zanna

[augusta_lee]

Great topic! How about:

Linden
Neve
Zora
Selah
Pearl
Caia
Dove
Alice
Persis
Cybele
Jade
Ione
Willa
Circe
Opal
Aster
Clio
Signy
Undine
Sylvie
Portia
Ismay
Clara
Jane
Iris
Juno
Alair
Lux
Seren
Vesper
Isolde
Rowena
Fanchon
Zia
Alta
Alba
Tamsin
Dilys
Averil
Calixta
Daphne
Salome
Odile
Merle
Renate
Ursula
Odette
Anemone
Echo
Olive
Hester
Ember
Celeste
Sable
Enid
Dinah
Coral
Blanche
Vera
Pandora
Inez
Janet
Ada
Willow
Petra
Simone
Tamar
Estee
Sybil
Honor
Yvaine
Wynn
Isis
Sloane
Roma
Elke
Pilar
Orla
Una
Soleil
Ivy
Nora
Montserrate
Faye
Mara
Luna
Kelsey
Isla
Aviva
Freya
Evadne
Cora
Anais

[catreynolds]

I think the strong classic names are often the least trendy (names that don't rise and fall on the charts by the decade) and the longest enduring (present in almost all generations to some degree). I think timeless and un-fussy names like Anne/Anna, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jane, Lucy, Catherine, Mary/Marie/Maria, Eve/Eva, etc. are very clearly feminine, but not necessarily frilly. I think they could suit a grown professional woman as well as a sweet little girl. These kinds of names grow with the person, I feel.