Has a legitimate first name history in its native land and an appealing meaning, but pronunciation is far from obvious.

A classic name with regal elegance--Queen Victoria, like other queens, had Regina appended to her name. She was a Top 100 name in the 1960s.

The least used of the Three Wise Men's names, but a strong option for bold namers to consider.

Wisecracking waitress name stuck in the luncheonette. Started as nickname for girls named Regina -- queen in Latin -- now mostly a canine choice.

The traditional name of the brightest star in the constellation Leo and a minor character in the "Harry Potter" series might be a good pick for parents interested in a regal name but turned off by the blatancy of Royalty and King. The nickname Reggie is all but inevitable, for better or worse.

Actress Sigourney -- born Susan -- Weaver made this unusual name (which she found in The Great Gatsby) famous, if not popular.

Sharp but sweet, ancient but with a contemporary sound, Sarai has been rising steadily up the US charts since the 90s and now sits comfortably in the Top 1000. In the Old Testament, God changed Sarai's name to Sara, so this would make a clever and legitimate honor name for an ancestral Sarah.

This punchy surname has some favor in the last couple of decades—potentially due to rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was one of the quickest rising boy names in 2013 when it reached its high point at #318. It has since declined in popularity, but as of 2024, it remains in the US Top 500 and in the UK Top 1000.

Gurnawab combines the element guru, meaning "teacher" or "spiritual guide", with Nawab, a royal title used in South Asian states, indicating a leader. A literal meaning of the name would be "teacher and leader", however, it could also be interpreted more figuratively as "wise leader" or " noble spiritual guide".

Landry is one rising surname name, often after legendary Dallas Cowboys football coach Tom Landry, that is given to boys and girls. But the y ending does give it a feminine sound (as opposed to the more boyish and more popular Landon). Land is a Landry nickname that might work for boys or girls.

Balthasar was one of the biblical Three Kings who visited the infant Jesus, also used by Shakespeare and in the oil-rich Getty family; offbeat and intriguing. Balthazar is another, equally appropriate spelling.

Sera is a truly international variation heard in Hebrew-speaking, Spanish and Italian cultures. Sera can also spelled Serah. Sera might also be a short form of Seraphina.

This feminine form of Mael has the distinctive "aelle" ending found in Brittany. In the French spelling Maëlle, it is a Top 100 girls' name in France.

A pretty princess-connected choice, with a compact, no-frills appearance, Tiana's debut in the US charts was likely thanks to actress Tiana Alexandra-Silliphant making her own debut in the 1975 movie The Killer Elite. Given to just 50 girls in 1974, but the following year, 247 babies received the name.
Familiarly used in the 80s and 90s, it was boosted up the charts again in 2010, after Disney bestowed the pretty name upon its first African-American princess in The Princess and the Frog. It nearly doubled in use in the US, while in France, Slovenia, England and Wales, New Zealand, and Australia it also saw a surge in popularity.

In mythology, Iphigenia was sacrificed by her father, Agamemnon -- a difficult legacy to pass on to a daughter, and only one reason the name is hardly ever used.

Clad in armor. But while this name may have been forbiddingly antiquated not that long ago, the connection to the trendy nickname Os or Oz makes it a real possibility.

The French Miley? This trendy choice from Brittany, which is pronounced either as Miley or May-lee, is related to the traditional (male) saint's name Mael, traditionally feminized as Maelle.

Although Kenton has the trendy K beginning and on ending, and a jazz reference to Stan Kenton, it still manages to sound stiff and old-fashioned.

Historically, Sire was a formal term for addressing male royalty, particularly a king. Sire can also mean "father" or "senior" as both a noun and a verb. Now, like Prince, Sir, Messiah, and Saint, this title is now a name on the rise.

The modern name Till is in the German Top 100. Used in contemporary terms on its own, it's traditionally a short form of names beginning with Diet such as Deitrich, which is itself a form of Theodoric. Because of its English word equivalent, it's a bit slight to ever make it as a standalone name in the English-speaking world.