Cressida

Cressida is a golden, mythological, and Shakespearean name, much better known in Britain than it is in the US. Given to just 11 American girls in a recent year — though still the highest number on record — it shares the cool golden meaning of Aurelia, Orla, and Goldie, and offers cute Cassie- alternative nickname Cressie, along with Ida and Sid too.

Ultimately derived from the Greek name Chryses, first via its patronymic Chryseis, then through Criseida, the Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio's spin on it, Cressida is the form that finally appears in Shakespeare's Cressida and Troilus. While she doesn't have the best of literary reputations — in the works by Boccaccio, Shakespeare and Chaucer, she is faithless to her Trojan lover Troilus and breaks his heart — the name remains a fresh, crisp, and arty feeling option today.

In Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Cressida is a film director character; while in the "real world", Cressida Cowell is the author of the popular novel series How to Train Your Dragon and Cressida Bonas is an actress and model.

Pronounced KRES-i-duh.

As of October 2026, Cressida ranked #8987 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #6075 in 1969, Nameberry popularity #541.