Heroine Baby Names

Family surname or feminist statement name? Either way, this literary surname has a cool, current sound.

Atwood

Mata is a concise feminine name with diverse cultural origins. In Sanskrit, it means 'mother' and holds sacred connotations, while in Hebrew it can mean 'gift.' The name appears in various cultures including Spanish, Polish, and Indonesian communities, each with subtle meaning variations. Historically, the name gained some recognition through Mata Hari, the famous Dutch exotic dancer and spy during World War I. Despite this historical association, Mata remains uncommon in Western countries but appears more frequently in South Asian and Eastern European regions. The name's brevity gives it strength and memorability, while its multicultural roots make it adaptable across different languages and traditions.

Mata

Similar to the floral name Aster, this spelling derives separately from Old Provençal astur "hawk") and from the Icelandic name elements as ("god") and þor ("thunder"). 
As a surname, it has several notable bearers from the world of business and politics, such as Nancy Astor: the first woman to serve as a Member of Parliament in the UK.
 
As a first name, Astor was used for a (female) character in Dexter.

Astor

What better namesake for a baby girl than Ada Lovelace (or, to use her full title: Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace), the brilliant 19th-century writer, mathematician and early computer pioneer? Not to mention, her name has a lovely, delicate, vintagesque charm.

 Surprisingly, the soft and sweet sounding surname Lovelace actually derives from an Old English word laweles, meaning "lawless, outlaw".

Lovelace

Notable Wolfs like Blitzer, Mankowitz, and Kahn give this name a masculine bent, but nature names are inherently unisex, so we see no reason why Wolf can't be used on a baby girl. Historically Wolf has been more common among German (where it's pronounced Vulf) and Jewish families, occasionally as a nickname for Wolfgang. The nickname Wolfie softens and feminizes Wolf, while Wolfe turns it into a surname.

Wolf

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.
 The spelling Aphra was probably inspired by the biblical place name Aphrah, but in medieval English records it also had spellings such as Eaffry and Affery, and is thought to derive from Anglo-Saxon names such as Aethelthryth and Aelthryth — which would make it a cousin of Audrey.
 In antiquity, Afra was also a name for a woman from Africa that eventually became a given name, and was borne by several Roman saints.

Aphra

There are many in Japan, but for most Americans there's only one Yoko.
 
Yoko Ono writes her name with characters meaning "ocean" and "child".

Yoko

March has never been popular as a month name, possibly because of its slightly abrupt sound. But with all kinds of month (and season, day, and holiday) names, from January to December, Sunday to Easter, Winter to Midnight, coming to the fore, March is beginning to seem eminently baby-ready.

 An added bonus of lovers of classic literature: March is the surname of Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.

March

If you want to move beyond Maya, you might consider this distinctive last name of poet Maya Angelou. Born Marguerite Annie Johnson, Angelou was given the nickname Maya by her brother and adopted Angelou from her first husband, whose last name was Angelos.

Angelou

Intriguing alternative that goes beyond Louisa and May, for Little Women fans.

Alcott

Novelist Djuna Barnes introduced this interesting and unusual name with an arty, Bohemian feel to the mix. She explained that it was invented by her father, saying it came about as a combination of her infant brother's pronunciation of the word moon as 'nuna' and a character in a book her father was reading, Prince Djalma, and so he "put the Dj onto the 'una'." Result: the silent-D pronunciation (as in Django) of JOON-a.
 Fellow writer Anais Nin adopted the name for a character in her 1950 novel The Four Chambered Heart, and Woody Allen had a young girl called Djuna in his 1996 film Everyone Says I Love You — nicknamed DJ.
 All in an, an attractive and intriguing possibility, that could be associated with the names Junia or Una, or to the word "moon".

Djuna

This name has a hauntingly appropriate meaning for its most famous bearer, Pakistani women and children's right activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousefzai. The name itself is derived from the more traditional Malalai, which was the name of a 19th century female Afghan freedom fighter. If you're looking for a soft sounding female name that packs a punch in history and in meaning, Malala is definitely a strong contender.

Malala

Conceivable middle name choice for admirers of flyer Amelia. 

Earhart

Great heroines of history, past or present, real or fictional, from politics or the arts, may provide the perfect inspiration If you want to give your little girl a strong name.

, it's important to choose one that strongly resonates with you. A musician may go with a heroine name such as Stevie or Simone, while an activist might strongly connect to a name like Audre or Gloria.

 include Athena, Dorothy, Frida, Harlow, Louisa, Rosie, and Zora. Distinctive names that immediately call heroines to mind include Angelou, Lovelace, Moana, and Sojourner.

A heroine name can give your daughter a figure to look up to and impart particular values and lessons. Browse our collection of heroine names below.

Heroine baby names for girls with meaning, origin, and popularity (Page 9)