Mix and match favorites

Ione

Greek

"violet flower"

This unusual Greek flower and color name has gained considerable recent attention via actress Ione Skye, who is the daughter of sixties folksinger Donovan. Ione was one of the fifty sea nymphs —…

Isidora

Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian variation of Isadora, Greek

"gift of Isis"

The Isidora spelling, though equally legitimate, is about 90 percent less common than Isadora.

Jana

International feminine variation of Jan

A sweet name with many cross-cultural ties: it's an equivalent of Jane in languages including Czech, Slovak, Dutch, German, Slovene, Catalan, Estonian, and Latvian.

Justine

French feminine variation of Justin

"fair, righteous"

Justine is a French name that's never reached the popularity we think it deserves. Like its far-more-common brother Justin, Justine is sleek, and sophisticated, but still user-friendly. Justine has…

Kamaria

Swahili

"moonlight"

Lush and unusual.

Karin

Danish variation of Katherine or Karen

"pure"

Karin was a fairly popular spelling variation of Karen in the US but fell off the Top 1000 in the late 80s, as Karen's popularity wained. Today, the Karen meme interferes with the otherwise appealing…

Kelda

Norse

"spring, fountain"

One of the few K names that sounds middle-aged.

Khione

Greek mythology

"Snow"

Khione was the name of several minor figures in Greek mythology, of which the most notable is the nymph who Hermes turned into a snow cloud. Khione works as both a high-brow mythological name and a…

Kona

Hawaiian or Norse

"leeward or woman, wife"

Kona is strongly associated with the Kona coffee of Hawaii. The Hawaiian word kona means "leeward" or "dry side of the island," and Kona districts are where Kona coffee is grown. It's a unisex name…

Laguna

Italian place-name

"pond, lake"

Laguna Beach is a famous California spot -- though there's "goonie" teasing potential.

Larissa

English, German, and Portuguese variation of Larisa, Greek and Russian

"citadel"

Daintily pretty without being frilly, Larissa is familiar but more quietly used than its sound-alikes Melissa and Alyssa. Though this is the more common variation in the Western World, the original…

Lilit

Armenian

"lily"

Lilit in the Top 20 girls names is Armenia. Outside of Armenia, Lilit might be confused with Lilith, but is worth considering as a name in its own right.

Lise

Diminutive of Elisabeth, Hebrew

"pledged to God"

Lise is most often found in the U.S. as the second half of the hybrid name Annalise. Canadian journalist Lyse Doucet bears a pretty alternative spelling, pronounced LEESE.

Lolita

Spanish, diminutive of Lola and Dolores, Spanish

"lady of sorrows"

In Nabokov's notorious novel, Lolita is the pet name given by the pedophilic narrator, Humbert Humbert, to his victim: a young girl called Dolores and nicknamed Lola or Lo by her mother. Still, it…

Lucinda

English, Spanish, and Portuguese variation of Lucia

"light"

Lucinda, an elaboration of Lucia created by Cervantes for his 1605 novel Don Quixote , is a pleasingly pretty alternative to Lucy. It was subsequently used by Moliere in his play The Doctor in Spite…

Magdala

Magdala is a feminine name with profound historical and biblical connections. It derives from the ancient town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, most famously known as the home of Mary Magdalene, an…

Malva

Greek

"slender, delicate"

Your zany neighbor, the one who's a potter and has five cats.

Margolette

Literary invention

Fanciful feminissima name created by L. Frank Baum for a character in The Patchwork Girl of Oz .

Marion

English and French diminutive of Marie

"drop of the sea, bitter, or beloved"

An underused classic that has proved surprisingly unisex over the last few decades, being given to roughly the same number of baby girls and boys in the US from the 1970s to the 2000s. For a girl,…

May

Diminutive of Margaret and Mary; month name

May is a sweet old-fashioned name that hasn't been on the national charts in several decades, but is definitely sounding fresh and springlike. Parents are beginning to see it once more as one of the…