Baby Girl Names: Short and sweet

Baby Girl Names: Short and sweet

By Pamela Redmond Satran

Baby girl names have been trending toward the long and elaborate for some time now, with selections like Isabella and Elizabeth, Olivia and Sophia winning out over the kind of brisk no-nonsense names — Anne, Gail, Lynn — that dominated a couple of generations ago.

But there are some popular names that are short and sweet.  I’m thinking of Emma, Ava, Mia, Ella.  And some parents are starting to feel this simple style carries a more modern brand of femininity.

You might want a short, sweet name for your daughter’s middle.  Or maybe you want a short and sweet first name to balance a longer or more complicated last name.

How short is short?  We’re going to cap it at four letters.

Our ideas for fresh baby girl names that are both short and sweet include:

[column1]

Ada

Alma

Bay

Bea

Bess

Cara

Cleo

Coco

Dara

Edie

Elle

Esme

Eve

Fay

Gia

Gwen

Hope

Ida

Iris

Ivy

Joy

June

Juno

Lark

Lea

Lila[/column1]

[column2]Liv

Lou

Lulu

Luna

Mae

Mame

Maud

Nell

Neve

Oona

Page

Peri

Plum

Poet

Posy

Rose

Ruby

Rue

Sera

Snow

Tess

Thea

Vera

Vita

Wren

Yara

[/column2]

Do you prefer short, sweet girls’ names or more elaborate ones?  Which of the names here would you use for your daughter?

About the Author

Pamela Redmond

Pamela Redmond

Pamela Redmond is the cocreator and CEO of Nameberry and Baby Name DNA. The coauthor of ten groundbreaking books on names, Redmond is an internationally-recognized baby name expert, quoted and published widely in such media outlets as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, CNN, and the BBC. She has written about baby names for The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, and People.

Redmond is also a New York Times bestselling novelist whose books include Younger, the basis for the hit television show, and its sequel, Older. She has three new books in the works.