Whitley ABC Favorite Names for Girls
- Theodora
Origin:
Femeninization of Theodore, GreekMeaning:
"gift of God"Description:
Theodora is one of the most revival-worthy of the charmingly old-fashioned Victorian valentine names, softly evocative but still substantial, as is the reversed-syllable Dorothea.
- Dorothy
Origin:
English variation of Greek DorotheaMeaning:
"gift of God"Description:
In the 1930s, Dorothy left Kansas and landed in the Land of Oz; by the '80s she had become a Golden Girl, living in Miami with roommates Blanche and Rose, giving her a decidedly older image. But parents today seeking a quiet classic are bringing Dorothy back—she reentered the Top 1000 in 2011 after almost completely disappearing.
- Ursula
Origin:
LatinMeaning:
"little female bear"Description:
A saint's name with a noteworthy literary background, including uses by Shakespeare in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Much Ado About Nothing, by Ben Johnson, Walter Scott, Longfellow, D. H. Lawrence and Neil Gaiman. In real life, her two most well known representatives are writer Ursula Le Guin and actress Ursula Andress. In literature, there is also Ursula Iguaran, a key, long-lived character in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's major work, One Hundred Years of Solitude.
- Olwen
Origin:
WelshMeaning:
"white footprint"Description:
Olwen is a Welsh favorite, the name of a legendary princess in what is believed to have been the earliest Arthurian romance, and in fact one of the first recorded examples of Welsh prose.
- Yael
Origin:
HebrewMeaning:
"ibex"Description:
Yael is an Old Testament name often heard in Israel that could work well here: just remember that it's pronounced with two syllables...it is also spelled Ya'el. In the Bible she was a Kenite woman in the time of Deborah who killed the enemy general, Sisera.
- Qiturah
Origin:
ArabicMeaning:
"incense, scent"Description:
Twist on the attractive and underused biblical name Keturah.
Introducing the Nameberry App

Find your perfect baby name together with our new mobile app.
- Swipe through thousands of names with your partner
- Names you match on are saved to your shared list
- Get personalized recommendations that learn based on your and your partner's preferences
- Partner with friends and family to find names you all love
- Backed by Nameberry's 20 years of data around name preferences.
Sign up to be notified when the app launches and to receive a discount on full access.

