Girls

Seraphine is the Gallic version of the angelic name Seraphina. But while Seraphina has been rising rapidly since Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck chose it for their second daughter, Seraphine has been largely ignored, though we believe the French vowel-sound ending will soon be more stylish than the a-endings that have predominated in girls' names for years.

Joel is one of those boys’ names that's never been super-popular yet has never been UNpopular either -- it's been in the Top 400 in the US since we started keeping statistics in 1880. So it's inevitable that its female form Joelle would gain visibility too, and indeed Joelle was used most widely during Joel's reign in the Top 100, from the late 1960s through the early 1990s.

Unlike its somewhat formal Swiss city namesake, this is a lively and appealing place-name that also has a real history as a female name.

Though there are a few (male) people named Havilah in the Bible, it's also a Biblical place-name that can work as an original choice for modern girls.

Ravenna is a lovely, untouristed Italian place-name just waiting to be discovered. Renowned for its fantastic Byzantine mosaics, it's a city that has a rich historic and artistic heritage.

Olwen is a Welsh favorite, the name of a legendary princess in what is believed to have been the earliest Arthurian romance, and in fact one of the first recorded examples of Welsh prose.

Abilene is a rarely used place name, mentioned as such in the New Testament, that combines the cowboy spunk of the Texas city with the midwestern morality of the Kansas town where Dwight D. Eisenhower spent his boyhood. Abilene is a much more untrodden path to the nickname Abbie/Abbie than the Top 10 Abigail.

Kerensa, forever romantic, is a rare Cornish name spelled with an 's' or 'z', the most modern of the Karen family. Kerensa (or Kerenza) has ties to the Welsh Cerys.

The delicate and haunting Welsh Rhonwen is still a rarity in the U.S., where her English version Rowena is better known, but would be a lovely choice for any parent in search of a name that was both unusual and traditional, classically feminine yet strong.

Tanwen is a far more singular and colorful alternative to Bronwen.

This 1950s Welsh bird name sounds less dated than our fifties Robin.

Calm, composed, and chic. Often seen with an accent in France, as Clémence.

This lively and appealing name originated as a short form of Cornelia, but is well able to stand on its own. Nelia is also often in the Hispanic culture, where it can be a short form of Manuela. It did have some American usage in the late nineteenth century, and with Cornelia having a comeback, Nelia could follow.