Updated May 2023
Across 5 pages
of 5
Greek
"supreme power"
Cyrene was a mythical nymph and huntress who was beloved by the god Apollo. He founded a city named after her in what is now Libya and made her the queen. Derived from Greek and pronounced with three…
English
"small bird"
The name of a small yellow bird that hasn't taken off in the way that some of its avian sisters – like Robin, Wren or Lark – have. Given to a small number of girls across the 20th-century, the 2020s…
Modern invented name
Cersei Lannister is one of the most villainous -- and, in a certain light, glamorous -- characters in HBO's Game of Thrones , played by beautiful actress Lena Headey. Though we can't say for sure how…
Word name, English from Hindi
"fine, downy wool"
Cashmere is soft, luxurious — and way out of the ordinary. One of the unique names found in The Hunger Games series, you might be surprised to learn that this fabric name has been appearing in the US…
Yiddish
"dark, black"
Popular name in Israel, worth considering for a dark-haired daughter with a bit of a bohemian cast.
"gold flower"
One of the rarest of the flower names, that of the blossom celebrated in Japan as a symbol of the sun and a possible object of meditation. One of the rare flower names counted among names for autumn…
Word name
"ashes, partly burnt coals"
More distinctive than Ella, if you're inspired by Cinderella, a rarer alternative to popular Ember, perhaps, or even a modern spin on Cindy. Cinder is the name given to partially burnt wood or coals…
Word name, English from French and Latin
"trumpet"
Tuneful variation on the Claire names.
English diminutive of Clementine, French
"mild, merciful"
Cutesy pet form of Clementine.
Welsh
"blessed love"
This feminine version of the Welsh name Carwyn could be a good choice for parents looking for something fresher than Bronwen.
Word name, English from Tupi
"pepper"
Spicy.
English word name
"water vapor in the atmosphere"
This kind of plainspoken nature name (think River and Sunshine) may still carry a whiff of the hippie, but this one has a nice, airy feel. It's slight similarity to Claude and Clyde helps to ground…
"cloudy"
Sunny and Stormi are shooting up the charts — why not Cloudy? Cloudy debuted on the charts in 2022.
Irish
A unisex name in the same vein as Casey, Cassidy, and Kelly, Carey and its alternative spelling Cary were familiar choices for boys in the first half of the 20th-century, and became popular in the…
Christmas is a day name long and quietly used as a name for babies born at Christmas . Prettier and more modern than Noel or Noelle.
Color and food name
Do everyone a favor and spell it Coco, an up-and-coming choice.
"songbird"
The chickadee gets its distinctive name from its distinctive call: chick-a-dee-dee-dee !
Itallian, musical term
It's usually preceded by the letter 'A'--as in 'a capella'--singing without accompaniment, and probably has never been used as a girl's name, but in this anything-goes naming climate, we're putting…
French
"song"
Vocal name seldom heard, with most elle-ending names these days dropped in favor of the more straightforward Elle and Ella.
Chia is a feminine name with diverse cultural origins. In Italian, it's a diminutive of Lucia, meaning "light." In Chinese, depending on the character used, it can mean "good" or "beautiful." The…