Colonial Names for Girls

Edwina may still be taking tea in the parlor, but we can see her joining friends like Matilda and Josephine for a comeback, especially if pronounced like Edwin rather than Edween.

Has a pure, clean aura, but is also evocative.

Aphra would make an interesting choice-- especially since it's the name of the first professional female writer in English, the seventeenth century's Aphra Behn. Born in 1640, she was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration, and a spy.

You may never have known a Nettie personally, but there well might be one hidden in your family history, considering that she was a Top 100 name until 1901 and stayed on the Social Security list until 1962.

The quality of mercy makes this lovely Puritan virtue name a quiet favorite today. Although it was most popular in the late nineteenth century, Mercy is on its way to a comeback -- it rose 143 spots between 2012 and 2013, making it one of the year's fastest-rising names. Right now, it's still stylish and distinctive, a rare and wonderful combination.

This sassy, spunky name was used for the mostly Irish jump-roping pigtailed girls of the thirties and forties -- and some Irish and Italian boys as well. Its most noted bearer was iconic country music singer Patsy Cline (born Virginia), and was sighted most recently in the Ab Fab movie. After reaching Number 52 in the late thirties, it dropped off the list completely in 1970--and we're not anticipating a return.

A name some people first encountered in the old children's book series The Five Little Peppers, in which Sophronia, the youngest of the Peppers is nicknamed Phronsie.`It was also used by Dickens in two of his novels: The Old Curiosity Shop and Our Mutual Friend.

Not too long ago, Temperance was found only on lists of Puritan baby names.

Rose lovers today would probably prefer Rosemary, Rosamund, or even Rose itself, all more stylish variations of the name. Some may associate this form of the name with actress Rosanna Arquette and your mom may think of SNL's Rosanne Rosanna-Danna, though that reference is lost on millennials.

After a century of association with horses and cows, this name just could be ready for revival by a fearless baby namer -- after all, it did happen to Jessie and Becky.

There are many variations of this name, with or without the initial T and the final h, with one p or two. In the Bible she was the wife of Moses.

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.

This simplified spelling is a bit too polyester, though this is also the authentic Slavic version of an Old Testament name that's being rediscovered.

Atalanta was a beautiful mythological maiden who refused to marry any man who couldn't beat her in a footrace -- quite a role model. This myth is found in Ovid's Metamorphoses and later in Swinburne's Atalantis in Calydon.

Many parents prefer this spelling of Rebecca, used in some versions of the Bible. Still, it's slipped considerably since its heyday in the eighties and nineties and fell off the US Top 1000 completely in 2023.

An old name, with a history separate from Emily and Emma and a different kind of vintage feel, that's a possible alternative to top-of-the-pops names. More common spelling is Emmeline.

You can't get much more feminine, sweet, and ladylike than Lady. Would make a cute nickname for up-and-coming Adelaide. Lady will also bring to mind the canine lover of the Tramp.

So sweet it makes our teeth hurt. It has appeared in the US Top 1000 every year since 2006, though it dropped a significant 136 places from 2014 to 2015, and kept dropping to Number 974 in 2016.

Biblical name from the New Testament.

A sweet (literally) and rare nickname for Charlotte. Lollie would also work as a short form of other names with a strong L sound, such as Elizabeth, Lauren, Lola, Lorelei, and Louisa.