Latin Names for Girls

Accalia was the human foster-mother of twins Romulus and Remus.  Her name is even more obscure than theirs.

Accalia

Domitilla is the name of the wife of the Roman emperor Vespasianus and the mother of the emperors Titus and Domitianus. There is a Santa Domitilla with catacombs in Rome named after her.

The variation Domitille has been heard in modern day France. Domitila is the Spanish and Portuguese version.

Domitilla

Senta is a lovely name, but if you name your daughter Senta, will the kids call her Santa? Maybe, but this obscure yet simple <a href="https://nameberry.com/baby-names/493/german-names-for-girls">German name for girls</a>.may appeal to parents searching the untraveled name routes.

There is an unrelated Italian name for girls Santa, the feminine of Santo, meaning saint. Senta Berger is an Austrian actress most famous in the 1960s and 1970s.

Senta

Veruca is a name Roald Dahl made up for the horrid little girl Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A modern rock band adopted the name, though few parents familiar with the original namesake and meaning would choose to pass it on to an innocent child. Verruca is another spelling, but don't use that one either.

Veruca

This Latin word for love is not traditionally used as a name, but why not?  It's got a pretty sound and some distinctive flair.  Variants Amori or Amorie can also be thought of as different spellings of Amory, which has a very different meaning and roots.  Only downside: Sounds almost exactly like "amorous," meaning in the mood for love, which could provoke some adolescent teasing.

Amoris

This ancient feminine form is the kind of name your child will grow into...at least by her fiftieth birthday. 

Clemencia

The obscure yet not unappealing name of a legendary heroine of Rome, likely derived from the Roman family name, Cloelius. It is believed to come from the Latin word cluere, meaning "to have renowned fame". 
 
The ancient Clelia escaped an Etruscan invader by swimming across the Tiber River.

Clelia

This spelling variation of the Biblical place-name Sela is found on early American census roles, but Sela is more usual today.  Cela is another early variation.  Cella may also be a variation of Cilla, short for Priscilla, or Celia.

Cella

Yes, we tend to think of Claude as a male name and Claudia and Claudette as the female, but this ancient clan name is used in France for girls as well as boys, and could make a distinctively chic <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/79/boy-names-for-girls">boy name for girls</a> here too. You may be surprised to know that Claude was in fairly regular use for American girls in the 1880's and nineties, reaching as high as 553 in 1880.

 In her native country, there have been some famous female Claudes, including Queen Claude of France (1499 to 1524), daughter of Louis XII, and another sixteenth century Claude de France, daughter of Henri II.

 Later Claudes include the daughter of Claude Debussy, Claude-Emma (called Chouchou), the leading female character in Tracy Chevalier's novel Lady and the Unicorn, French actress Claude Jade and photographer Claude Cahun, and the widow of French Prime Minister Georges Pompidou.

 While the "lame" meaning is the most widely acknowledged, some etymologists theorize that the name may relate to the word for enclosure or clause, an alternate meaning that may appeal to a child with a form of this otherwise-appealing name.

Claude

Cesaria, a modern feminine form of Caesar or the Latinate Cesar, has been obscure in the Western World but may stir to life along with other names that have their roots in ancient Rome. Cesarina, Cesarie, and Cesarea are other options.

Cesaria

Tulia, rhyming with Julia, is one of several offshoots of the noble Roman family name Tullius, best known as the middle name of the philosopher Cicero. While the single L is considered the Spanish and Polish form, Tullia may be used in Italy. There's also Túlia, a Hungarian form of Finnish Tuuli, meaning "wind". 
 The whole clan of Tul- names are relatively unknown but may be rediscovered thanks to the fashion for ancient Roman choices, and to its similarity to Tallulah or aforementioned Julia. In fact, 6 girls were called Tulia in the US in a recent year, while variant Tully was chosen nearly 40 times.

Tulia

A poetic name first used in Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" in 1596, it had a literary vogue in the 18th century, especially favored by Robert Burns.  "inda" names--Melinda, Belinda, Linda" are not particularly in right now.

Clarinda

Clorinda is a romantic name invented by a sixteenth-century poet, but has a synthetic sound today. 

Clorinda

Altalune is an invention used by Uma Thurman and Arpad Busson as one of several <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/673/middle-names">middle names</a> for their daughter. It's evocative Latin meaning roughly translates to "over the moon." Celebrity baby Altalune will be called the more familiar Luna for short.

Altalune

Ovidia is the unusual feminine form of the ancient Roman Ovidius, most famous as the name of the exiled 1st century Roman poet Ovid.  Modern male form Ovidio is known in Spain and Portugal.  Ovida is another variation.

Ovidia

This Top 100 <a href="https://nameberry.com/girls-names">girls' name</a> in The Netherlands is unlikely to translate to the U.S., where it would undoubtedly pronounced fee-line and mistaken for the adjective that means cat-like. While the name Feline -- and Felina and Felinus -- do have the same root, the considerably more charming pronunciation in modern-day Europe is fee-LEEN-ah. Some websites mistakenly relate it to Felix and give its meaning as happy or fortunate.

Feline

Dulcibella is an old name that's fallen into disuse but may rise again with the new wave of fashionable names that end in -bel, -belle, and -bella.  Behind the Name says that the medieval form of the name was the Dowsabel, which we definitely do not see making a comeback.  But Dulcibel or Dulcibelle could work.

Dulcibella

Cilla

Semiramis/Semiramide was the most important Queen of Assyria, who conquered much of Asia. Semiramis restored ancient Babylon and protected it with a high brick wall that completely surrounded the city. Then she built several palaces in Persia, reigned much of Asia Minor effectively and conquered  Libya and Ethiopia.

The version Semiramide was used by Giacomo Rossini in his opera of the same name.

Semiramide

Calpurnia is a name with a massive history. As the third and final wife of Julius Caesar, Calpurnia has been forever depicted in literature (Shakespeare) and film (Cleopatra; Rome) as a modest and sweet woman, utterly devoted to Caesar. She is said to have foretold his death and to have tried (and failed) to have warned him of the treachery of his trusted allies. Following Caesar's assassination, Calpurnia never remarried.
 Calpurnia is also familiar to us from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird as the housekeeper at the Finch household.

Calpurnia

Latin names for girls derive, ultimately, from ancient Rome, which stretched from Spain to Iraq at its height. Latin girls’ names, for that reason, reflect a multitude of cultures and languages. Current favorites in the US include Olivia and Ava.

Along with Olivia and Ava, other

 include Camila, Clara, Eliana, Lillian, Lucy, Ruby, Stella, and Valentina.

Baby girl names popular in Rome include Viola — the

 in Italy — Cecilia, Gloria, and Celeste.

Some Latin names for girls have been altered somewhat from their original form by the passage of time. But other Latin girls’ names can be found carved into rocks from thousands of years ago. 

Popular modern girls’ names with Latin roots

 include Beatrice, Cecilia, Felicity, Hillary, Julia, Laura, Patricia, Violet, and Vivian, but there are dozens of other Latin girls’ names worth exploring for your baby girl.

Below, our full menu of Latin names for girls, ordered by popularity on Nameberry.

Latin names for baby girls, including top girl names and unique girl names of Latin origin, with meanings and popularity. (Page 18)