Best Girl Names That Mean God

The sweetest and most sensitive of the pet names for Elizabeth, now also one of the most dated.

Eilish is one of those Irish names that, thanks to a celebrity, has suddenly become much more familiar to English speakers. Irish-American singer Billie Eilish (Eilish is actually one of her middle names) introduced the wider world to this Irish name as actress Saoirse Ronan did with hers.

Athalia was an Old Testament daughter of Jezebel and a king's powerful wife with a gory history. You don't wanna know -- and you probably don't wanna name your kid after her either. Pretty name, though, and one that's in step with the current fashions for A beginnings and endings as well as for distinctive names with deep roots. Atalia is a simplified spelling..

Lisette, also spelled Lizette, is a dainty,, if somewhat dated, Gallic offshoot of Elizabeth. It reached its U.S. peak of popularity in 1999, then fell off the list in 2001.

Joel is one of those boys’ names that's never been super-popular yet has never been UNpopular either -- it's been in the Top 400 in the US since we started keeping statistics in 1880. So it's inevitable that its female form Joelle would gain visibility too, and indeed Joelle was used most widely during Joel's reign in the Top 100, from the late 1960s through the early 1990s.

This spelling of the classic name is found in France, Germany, Greece, and other cultures, and is worn by such notables as Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Elisabeth Shue, Elisabeth Moss, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. The name's pronunciation is usually just like the Z version, but some parents choose this because they want to discourage the Liz or Lizzie short forms and so pronounce it as if it has Lisa in the middle.

This most proper form of the name shot up the charts in the nineties, only to sink just as precipitously, supplanted by upstarts Makayla and McKayla ad infinitum.

Ilsa is remembered as the radiant but tragic heroine of "Casablanca," and it's having something of a European resurgence.

Spell it Rafaela (Spanish), Raffaella (Italian), Rafaela (German), or Raphaela (Hebrew), this is a euphonious and lovely name with a dark-eyed, long-flowing-haired image, which is, like Gabriella and Isabella, beginning to be drawn into the American mainstream.

Had a surge of popularity in the Dynasty days, now has subsided in the wake of fresher French choices like Destry and Delphine, though it retains its sense of sophistication. It's one of the most truly gender-neutral baby names right now.

An uncommon Irish-accented surname that seems particularly well suited to a girl. Tierney Sutton is a well-known jazz singer. Tierney, in its original Tiarnach form, was the name of several saints. It can also join the ranks of Old Hollywood names, via the haunting actress Gene Tierney. ER actress Maura Tierney is a current surname bearer. 

This pretty, international feminization of Matthew was chosen by Mira Sorvino for her daughter, Mattea Angel. As the Spanish Mateo and the Italian Matteo become more popular for baby boys throughout Europe, the English-speaking world, and the Americas, Mattea is sure to get wider recognition. And as Theo and Thea have become fashionable names, Teo and Tea are rising too.

One of those ultimate cool-girl names, played by Keira Knightley in a movie about a supermodel-turned-bounty hunter, but kids might associate it with the game. High profile British designer India Hicks used it for her daughter. As a girls' nameit's still very rare, used in 2015 in the US for only seven baby girls.

A Top 100 name from the 1930s all the way through the 1950s, it's now firmly in Mom -- or Grandma -- land and supplanted for babies by Joanna.....or even great-grandmother Josephine. In its heyday, it had a host of variations, including JoAnn and Jo-Anne.

Pronounced just like Jean in the English-speaking world, but as the more unusual zhahn in France, this has sailed away with the first wave of French favorites: Denise, Michelle, et soeurs.

The female version of Emanuel could become more prominent, though for some it still carries a steamy image dating back to a then sensationally erotic French film. Singer and Shameless star Emmy Rossum's full name is Emmanuelle.

Marcy is about as hip as bobby sox and saddle shoes – which is to say, it's probably due a revival in the not-too-distant future! It was a typical Peanuts character name, which peaked in the seventies, but is starting to attract attention again across the pond, where soundalikes like Macy, Marnie, Maisy, Darcy and Lacey are already popular.

Fashionably Continental and much fresher than Dominique, though it's been used since the Middle Ages. Dominica can be spelled any number of ways, from Dominika to Domenica, but we prefer this version.

Thanks to two cultural influences, January has joined March, April, June and August as a plausible month name.

This Latinate feminine form of Daniel has ranked among the Top 300 girls' names in the US for more than 30 years.