my fav girl names and middle names

Daniella, Daniela, and Danielle were among the hottest names for twenty years, but now, though still popular, they can no longer be considered stylish options, lagging behind the newer Ella, Stella, Bella, Gabriella, and Isabella.

Along with Daniela, Michelle, Nicole, and Denise, Danielle was a big hit from the 1960s to the nineties, sitting comfortably in the Top 20 for several years. Parents then responded to its chic, sophisticated Gallic image, and though it has lost some of its sheen, it's still a widely used choice. Novelist Danielle Steele is its most well-known bearer; it's also the name of Elvis's granddaughter.

Like many passé boys' names, this one sounds fresh again for girls.

Denise was a French favorite of the fifties and sixties but is less chic now. In 2020 it broke back into the Top 1000 after a five-year hiatus, catapulted into style by reality TV star Denisse Novoa — but it dropped out again the following year.

One of the new bird names, like Lark and Wren, this one's associated with the billing and cooing sounds of love. Soft and gentle, Dove also has the admirable association with peace.

This name may be beautiful, and mean beautiful, but is more likely to feel odd and frumpy in an English-speaking country due to the spelling (which connotes an eider-down quilt). If looking for a feminine variation of Eder, we recommend Ederne instead.

A common choice in Greece, Eleni is starting to rise in the US thanks to its bouncy rhythm and trendy I ending.

Ella is a sweet, simple name that owes much of its current popularity to the popularity of other names, from Emma to Bella to Emily to Ellie.

The combination of Emily and Emma's popularity -- and the fact that Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher's daughter is named Emerson -- have put this formerly strictly boys’ name, embodying the gravitas of Ralph Waldo Emerson, in the limelight for girls.

Fien is a popular enough girls' name to make the Top 100 in The Netherlands. Dutch parents love nickname-names taken from the last vs. the first syllable of a name, like Sanne for Susanne or Lotte for Charlotte.

Finlay is a Scottish royal name (it belonged to Macbeth"s father) that was revived by several celebrity parents. Angie Harmon and Jason Sehorn, Daniel Baldwin and Lisa Marie Presley all did a gender switch on Finlay when they named their daughters Finley.

Florence is back, returning to the US Top 1000 girl names in 2017 after a nearly 40 year absence. Other English-speaking countries have been quicker to welcome Florence back into fashion.

Hadley, an old surname-name best known as the name of author Ernest Hemingway's "Paris Wife," only recently broke onto the scene in a big way. While Hadley has considerable appeal, spelling variations such as Hadleigh—and onward to Hadleah, Hadleah, Hadli and so on—only emphasize its trendiness. Hadleigh made its first appearance on the US Top 1000 in 2014.

Another culture's take on the Hailey/Halle phenomenon.

Once a macho biker name, Harley is now showing its softer side. In the UK, Harley is predominantly masculine, but it's currently more popular for girls than boys in the US.

Holland is one of the coolest geographical names, unadorned and elegant, evocative of fine Rembrandt portraits and fields of pink and yellow tulips. It first entered the US Top 1000 in 2014.

Jamie is typical of the relaxed unisex names starting with J that seemed so cool in the sixties after decades of Jeans and Joans, though now pretty tepid. Jaime and even Jamey and Jayme are alternate spellings.