Invented Baby Names

If you're tired of Kevin and Devin, you might consider the newly coined Brevin. 

Brevin

"May" is a hot sound in girl names — just look at the rise of Maeve — which makes it ripe for creative new inventions. This cheerful, breezy number has been low-key on the US charts since 2011.

Maybrie

Australian opera singer Nellie Melba—self-named for her hometown of Melbourne—inspired this now-dated name more associated today with a peach dessert and dietetic toast. 

Melba

A modern creation — likely a hybrid of James and the on-trend -iah suffix.

Jamiah

Neah

Shanice

Sypha Belnades is a witch in the Castlevania franchise, which includes video games and a Netflix TV series. Her name debuted on the charts in 2021, during the show's fourth season, when it was given to five baby girls. Sypha was inspired by the word "cipher."

Sypha

Timberly emerged on the charts in 1960 as an alternative to Kimberly. It never caught on and has been given to no more than 25 baby girls each year since. These days it may also be seen as an elaboration of Timber, an up-and-coming gender-neutral nature name.
 
If you happen to be looking for a way to honor both a Kim and a Tim at once, Timberly could be the answer.

Timberly

Timberlyn is a unique invention that is given to a small number of baby girls each year. It doesn't have an official meaning, however, taken together, the elements "timber" and "lyn" would mean "wooded lake."
 
Timberlyn first appeared on the Social Security extended list, which records only names given to five or more babies, as a baby name in 1995. But we've heard from one Timberlyn born before that so the name existed pre-1995, even if it didn't hit the five-baby minimum.

Timberlyn

Invented in 1939 as the name of Marvel Comics character Namor the Sub-Mariner. Bill Everett, the creator, decided on Namor after writing noble, dignified names in reverse—Namor is Roman spelled backwards.

Namor

A pretty name with echoes of Ana, Ava and Olivia — and the option of Navy as a middle name — brought to public attention by Olympic sprinter Anavia Battle. Her siblings have equally cool names: Mintoria, Antoine and Montel.

Anavia

Along with Brenley, a rising surname-style name for girls.

Brennley

Cersei Lannister is one of the most villainous -- and, in a certain light, glamorous -- characters in HBO's Game of Thrones, played by beautiful actress Lena Headey.Though we can't say for sure how author George R.R. Martin came up with the character's name, it is a near-homophone with Circe, a seductive witch in Greek mythology.

Cersei

Soan is a variation of Sohan, an invented French name that may be related to the masculine Jean. Both names rank in France’s Top 100, with the original Sohan pulling slightly ahead. The Soan version was popularized by a French singer Julien Decroix, who performs by the name Soan. He won the 2009 season of a music competition called Nouvelle Star.
 
Soan is also a geographical name in Punjab, Pakistan, as the name of a river and a valley in the region.

Soan

A seldom-used Game of Thrones name, perhaps because its main originator, Tywin Lannister, is as ruthless as any character in the show. Yet the "ty-" beginning is so ubiquitous and popular that Tywin may have some potential... the fact that it's less well-known than Tyrion probably works in its favor.

Tywin

Florinda may be taking a good thing, the name of the Roman goddess of flowers and springtime, and making it too elaborate. 

Florinda

The beauty brand name L’Oréal is rumored to derive from L’Auréale (literally translating to "the halo"), a popular hairstyle in France in the early 1900s. The first product created by Eugène Schueller, who would eventually go on to found L’Oréal, was a hair dye called Oréal. It is related to the French word for gold, or.
 
L'Oreal has been used as a girl name since 1970 and peaked in 1989 when it was given to 83 baby girls.

Loreal

One of the many faux-Medieval names invented by George R.R. Martin for his A Song of Ice and Fire series of books, the source of HBO's Game of Thrones. Princess Myrcella Baratheon is the daughter of Cersei Lannister and (secretly) her brother Jaime. Their younger brother Tyrion sends her to Dorne to be married to the Dornish prince Trystane Martell to seal an alliance between the two houses.

Myrcella

Like many a popular name, Ornella is a theatrical creation. Italian playwright Gabriele d'Annunzio created this name for his dramatic heroine in the 1904 play La Figlia di Iorio. Ornella is a feminization of the orno or ornello, which is the Italian word for the Fraxinus Ornus, a type of tree which produces such sweet sap that it was compared to biblical manna. 


Ornella

Aibileen

 are the most creative around. Some parents attempt to come up with a cool name by inventing one of their own. They may alter a too-ordinary name, vary a spelling or pronunciation, or cobble together several euphonic but previously unrelated syllables.

This quest to be unique can sometimes backfire — create too cool of a made-up baby name and it might catch on (we're talking to you, Miley, Meilani, and Maxon).

 include Aubrielle, Brylee, Cason, Dalary, Jaxon, Kyler, Nevaeh, and Oaklynn. Names you may not realize were invented include Elianna, Melba, Tevin, and Yalitza.

 feature on-trend prefixes and suffixes, such as Bray- and Ren-, -ley and -son. The following invented baby names hold some appeal, but fair warning — some of these made-up names have already become mainstream.

Invented and made up modern baby names for girls and boys, including history, origin, and popularity. (Page 32)

Invented Baby Names (with Meanings & Popularity)