The parent in search of truly distinctive<a href="https://nameberry.com/baby-names/161/Spanish-Names">Spanish baby names</a> has to move farther than ever away from the established roster. One new direction — or is it two? — for the intrepid baby namer is toward foreign-word names, which combine two of today's coolest trends. A handful of Spanish word names are already hot in the US, such as Luna, meaning "moon," and Cruz, the word for "cross."
 
Along with Luna and Cruz, other Spanish word names in the US Top 1000 include Alma, Dulce, Esmeralda, Julio, Leon, Luz, Maximo, Paloma, and Salvador. In Spain, word names such as Alba, Vega, Candela, and Mar are popular for girls.
 
We combed our own diccionarios for French, Italian, and Spanish words that could make perfectly appropriate, attractive baby names, and here are some Spanish ideas. But no reason to stop here — consider words from the language of your own ethnic background, be it Czech or Chinese, and add them to the list of your personal possibilities.

Spanish Word Names

Linda will live forever in baby name history for toppling Mary from its four hundred year reign as Number 1. Queen of Names in 1947, Linda has fallen even further in favor than Mary today. 

Linda

Cielo

An appellation for the Virgin Mary, "Queen of the apostles." After three years off the US popularity charts, Reina rejoined the list in 2014, though it lags behind alternate spellings Raina, Rayna, and Reyna. It is also used in Yiddish and in Japanese.

Reina

Monte, pronounced with two syllables as brother Monty, is an old-fashioned nickname-name that's reclaiming a certain amount of dash and charm. It was recently chosen by actor Guy Pearce--which may signal a comeback.

Monte

Like Vita and Viva, one of several similar life-affirming names, this one was chosen by Matthew McConaughey and his Portuguese-born wife Camila.  

Vida may also be a diminutive of Davida. Australian suffragette and human rights campainer Vida Goldstein is an notable bearer of this name.

Vida

Rising star among Hispanic families that would make a good cross-cultural choice. A more<a href="https://nameberry.com/popular_names">popular name</a> with the same stellar meaning is Esther

Estrella

Pronounced LOOSE, this name that refers to the Virgin Mary—"Our Lady of Light"—is one of the most widely used <a href="https://nameberry.com/baby-names/495/spanish-names-for-girls">Spanish name for girls</a>. Its sleekness and stylish final z gives it a modern appeal, like sister name Lux. Nicknames and variations include Chitta, Lucecita, Lucelida, Lucelita, Lucha, Lucida, Lucila, Lusa, and Luzana.

Mariposa is a rare, romantic choice with an intriguing meaning.

Mariposa

The fact that this Spanish classic, which honors the Virgin Mary, does not end in the conventional letter 'a' gives it a special sense of strength, elegance, and style, making it a worthy choice.
 The name originated in the legend of the miracle of the Virgin Mary's appearance over a marble pillar. It also is an allusion to her as a pillar of the church.
 Pilar is remembered as the valiant heroine of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Pilar

A sweet and simple multicultural choice which has several different meanings and origins.

 Widely used in Africa, it means "love" in Lembaama.

 It's a variant spelling of Diya, an Arabic, Hindi and Sanskrit name meaning "lamp, light". 

 Dia is also a variant spelling of Dea, from the Latin dea "goddess".

 It also coincides with the Spanish word for "day".

Esperanza is a Spanish classic that's found its way onto the national popularity list in recent years. It came into the spotlight not long ago when jazz singer Esperanza Spalding "stole" the Best New Artist Grammy from favorite Justin Bieber. It's also the name of the main character in the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, about a young Latina growing up in Chicago.

Esperanza

A common epithet of Christ, frequently heard in the Hispanic community, Salvador could also be a great choice for artistic parents, given the continuing popularity of Dada and Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí. (If Monet and Raphael get a look in, why not Salvador?)

Salvador

Canyon is a <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/317/Unique-Baby-Names">unique baby name</a> evocative of natural splendor and the old Steve Canyon comic-strip heroism, making it an intriguing new word-name possibility. 
 Similar but less word-like: Kenyon.

Canyon

Simple, friendly, distinctive name heard in several cultures.  The a ending may feel more feminine in the US than Ole, though both variations are acceptable in Scandinavia.

Margarita is an international form of Margaret that shares its meaning of "pearl", but also directly translates to "daisy" in Spanish. Despite being widely associated with the alcoholic beverage in English, it has a long history of use in Spanish, Greek and several Slavic languages – most notably being the name of the heroine of Mikhail Bulgakov's 1966 novel Master and Margarita. It currently ranks in the Top 30 girl names in Russia.

Margarita

Short and feminine, Ria has a rhythmic flow. 

This <a href="https://nameberry.com/baby-names/161/Spanish-Names">Spanish name</a> has a lot going for it: it's a self-confident Spanish surname, it identifies one of the most brilliant stars in the sky, and it has a musical reference to singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega.

Vega

Vela is one of those rare names that is at once simple, straightforward, authentic, and unusual, at least in the Western World. Besides being an Indian girls' name, Vela is a Southern sky constellation whose name is Latin for sail – originally part of the Argo Navis constellation.

Vela

This strong Spanish name that refers to the Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Solitude) has been made accessible by broadcaster Soledad O'Brien -- who shows how well it combines with an Anglo surname. Her birth name was Maria de la Soledad Teresa O'Brien.
 Ava Gardner portrayed a character named Soledad in the film The Angel Wore Red.

Soledad

About 100 baby boys were named Lucio in the US last year, a number we expect to increase with the growing popularity of all names in the Lu family. It's a family united by sound, with three main branches. 

Lucio belongs with the light-meaning names such as Lucius, Lucy, Lucia, and Lux. Then there is the Luke, Lucas, and Luca names that mean "man from Lucanus." Both these branches are rooted in the Latin.

Louis, Louise, Luis, and Louisa have French and German roots and mean "renowned warrior".

Pronunciation of Lucio differs according to country. Spanish and Portuguese speakers pronounce the c like an s and may emphasize the first or the second syllable, depending on country. So the options are LOO-see-oh or loo-SEE-oh.

Italians pronounce the c like the English ch and pronounce the name with only two syllables: LOO-cho.

Lucio

The parent in search of truly distinctiveSpanish baby names has to move farther than ever away from the established roster. One new direction — or is it two? — for the intrepid baby namer is toward foreign-word names, which combine two of today's coolest trends. A handful of Spanish word names are already hot in the US, such as Luna, meaning "moon," and Cruz, the word for "cross."

Along with Luna and Cruz, other Spanish word names in the US Top 1000 include Alma, Dulce, Esmeralda, Julio, Leon, Luz, Maximo, Paloma, and Salvador. In Spain, word names such as Alba, Vega, Candela, and Mar are popular for girls.

We combed our own diccionarios for French, Italian, and Spanish words that could make perfectly appropriate, attractive baby names, and here are some Spanish ideas. But no reason to stop here — consider words from the language of your own ethnic background, be it Czech or Chinese, and add them to the list of your personal possibilities.