Birthday Names
By Sophie Kihm · Updated September 2026
Across 9 pages
of 9
Hawaiian
"wind"
The sources that do list this name give it as a boys' name, but Woody Harrelson chose it for his daughter, and it does have a feminine lilt.
Tamil, Akan
"mother, or born on a Saturday"
An anagram of Mama, in tune with its Tamil meaning. Amma is also a Ghanaian name. The Akan people of Ghana and the Ivory Coast frequently name their children after the day of the week they were born…
Spelling variation of Shoshana, Hebrew
"lily"
Shoshanna is a variation of one of the best-known original Hebrew baby names for girls , the original of Susanna. This is the spelling used by Shoshanna Lonstein, a designer who creates the Shoshanna…
Scottish
"windy place"
Guthrie, one of the most attractive Scottish names that's also a surname, has a particularly romantic, windswept aura, with a touch of the buckaroo thrown in. Guthrie's folkie quality is tied to the…
Tree name
Birch is a rarely used nature name that calls to mind the lovely image of the tall, strong but graceful white-barked tree. The best known bearer of the name is former high-ranking Democratic Senator…
Greek
"mother's gift"
Medora is a Greek name much less common here than, say, Melanie or Melissa. It has some literary references, including as the beautiful and passionate heroine of Lord Byron's poem The Corsair, and in…
"green bough"
Phyllis has been used by classical poets for the idealized pastoral maiden. A Greek mythological name of a woman who was turned into an almond tree, Phyllis was in the Top 100 from 1916 to 1958,…
Latin
"eagle"
An evocative ancient word that's used as a first name in the New Testament, among other places. It's also the name of an eagle-shaped constellation. That said, contemporary interest in the name…
"very sweet"
Made cool by that final X (as seen in Felix, Lennox, and Rex), Pollux is the Romanized form of Polydeukes, the half-twin of Castor, and the son of Zeus and Leda. Associated with the Gemini…
Irish
"from the mother's side"
The spoiled only son of the richest family in town in a fifties movie.
Botanical name or variation of Clare, Latin
"bright, clear"
There are many variations of Clare and Clara, but this might be one of the simplest and most surprising. Clary can be a diminutive of the Latin name Clara, meaning 'bright' or 'clear,' or it might…
"twins"
Astrological sign with enough rhythm to make a plausible astral name.
Swedish
"mother"
Moa was among the Top 100 Swedish baby names throughout the 2000s and 2010s, though it has since declined in use. Pronounced as MOO-ah in Sweden, it is virtually unknown in the US. Could Moa make an…
French, English
"to stay a while"
African-American and women's rights activist Sojourner Truth was born as Isabelle into enslavement. She adopted her new name when she began traveling and preaching abolition in 1843. Sojourner is a…
Albanian
"Mary's valley, marigold valley"
A poetic feeling name of Albanian origin, Mariglen is possibly associated with the Virgin Mary or with marigold flowers, however other sources suggest it could also mean "pleasant valley". Used…
Egyptian
"divine mother"
One of the more unusual mythology names for girls , Neith is the name of the Egyptian goddess of home and femininity.
Bird name from German
"night singer"
Charming nature name made even more appealing by the connection to iconic nurse and statistician Florence Nightingale.
Greek, English
"pale yellow"
Ochre is an exceedingly rare name, found only a few times since the nineteenth century, and not showing up in any current data. Yet it means much the same thing as popular Sienna (another clay…
Esan
"first born of twins"
Strong name from the Esan language of Nigeria, with a satisfyingly specific meaning for a child's place in the family.
"little pale green one"
This Irish saint's name sounds like a lopped-off Lorna.