By Pamela Redmond · Updated September 2026
Across 5 pages
of 5
English
"queen"
Wisecracking waitress name stuck in the luncheonette. Started as nickname for girls named Regina -- queen in Latin -- now mostly a canine choice.
Latin
"my lady"
There's only one. Okay, two.
Word name
For a boy, Dash is usually short for Dashiell, but as a girl's name it just stands for energetic--and also the stores run by the Kardashian sisters..
Word name, English from Tupi
"pepper"
Spicy.
English word name
Although this name literally means disaster, the use of Calamity as a descriptor of Martha Jane Cannery, aka Calamity Jane, was meant to signal that she was a good person to have in troubled times.…
If you live in a state where marijuana is legal (or maybe even if you don't), you might know that Sativa is one of the major strains of weed. And yes, 10 baby girls were named Sativa in the US in one…
Flower name, from English
"yellow wildflower"
Though Buttercup is most often reserved for cows (and pets of other kinds), this humble flower name was given to the princess in "The Princess Bride" and to one of The Power Puff Girls . Yet to rank…
Spanish place name, English word name
"Boii home"
More a concept than a place — or a name. The place name Bohemia ultimately derives from the tribe name Boii with the German heim , meaning "home".
Hebrew, short variation of Bathsheba
"daughter of an oath"
This biblical place-name for the region now known as Yemen started to feel fresh again as the name of the heroine of Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal , played on screen by Cate Blanchett. Sheba is…
Spanish
"devil"
Diablo Cody, self-named (she's really Brook Busey) screenwriter of Juno, singlehandedly helped popularize not just her heroine's name and her own but all o-ending names for girls. You don't need us…
English fruit name
Unlike the other fruit names that are just coming onto the baby name menu, Peaches is an old-timey nickname previously reserved for spangled showgirls, and now would be considered an outrageous --…
French diminutive of Josephine, Hebrew
"Jehovah increases"
Fifi is a perfect name -- for a French poodle. But Fifi may seem more child-friendly as names like Coco and Lulu rise. Fifi in its fluffiness also balances the seriousness of such full names as…
Greek
"middle"
Mythological princess who killed her kids. Eternal no-no.
Hebrew
Popular with the Puritans, this name of the shrewd and beautiful wife of King David and mother of King Solomon could be a bit of a load for a modern girl to carry. Bathsheba is the name of the…
Beware: extremely high pressure, high-expectation name.
Word name or diminutive of Barbara
You can call your baby "babe," but don't name her that.
Beware: Flame is the kind of name used by women named Fran when engaging in endeavors they'd just as soon their parents weren't aware of.
Plant and color name
"vivid purplish-red; tubular flower"
A plausible color name, it was chosen by the singer Sting as a middle name for his daughter, after a character in the Gormenghast fantasy trilogy, of which he's a big fan. Another bearer is Fuchsia…
"firearm"
While Pistol might be more positively spun as a word name for an enterprising and spirited person, it's the small, handheld firearm that most people will think of first. As such, it joins the ranks…
"ill-starred"
Desdemona is as Shakespearean as a name can be, but because the beautiful and innocent wife of Othello came to such a tragic end, her name has been avoided for centuries. But at this point in time,…
