English Girl Names by ViVi

Kenley is an area in the burrough of Croydon in South London, making this a place name in a couple of senses of the term. Kenley and its twin sister Kenlee may be favored by parents looking to name a daughter after dad Ken...or Lee.

The name of the mother of Aethelred the Unready was once common among the Anglo-Saxon nobility, and was briefly revived during the 19th century, only to be lost once again to history.

The modern name Dena can be considered to come from either of two Old Testament names. Adina, which means delicate, was the name of a male soldier in the Bible. Dinah, meaning judged, Dinah was the daughter of Jacob and Leah. Dena is a common name in Amish communities.

Kinsey enjoyed popularity blip thanks to similarity to Lindsay, and because of Sue Grafton's alphabet mysteries heroine, Kinsey Millhone. Now, Kinsley has become more popular than Kinsey, perhaps because it's more distinct from Mackenzie offshoot, Kenzie.

Like Verity and Amity, this inclusive virtue name used by the colorful British literary Mitford family is ready to join its more popular peers Hope, Faith, and Grace.

In 2014, fifteen newborns were named Whisper, all of them girls. We can see the attraction of the name but if you are in Australia be warned - Whisper is a well-known brand of sanitary products, so a teenaged Whisper will find life more embarrassing than usual.

Many virtue names have long been in style or have seen a resurgence in recent years. Happy, however joyous, seems unlikely to join this trend. This could be because it doesn't have a solid history of being popularly used (in comparison to Joy or Hope) and because it's such a familiarly used word in day to day life (unlike Verity or Felicity).

Whether you think of the chocolates or the naked long-haired lady on the horse, Godiva is a name with baggage no child should have to carry.

Feels like a hybrid. Better go for Edith or Evelyn.

Doe is a soft and gentle-eyed middle name possibility and, like Fawn, one of the few animal names open to girls.

While Haidee may sound like a variant of Heidi or Hailey, it's actually a separate name with a literary history. First appearing in Byron's epic poem Don Juan (1819), it was likely inspired by the Greek word aidoios meaning "modest, reserved".

One of the more unusual word names used by Plymouth pilgrims for their children. Fear Brewster is an example of the usage of this name. Definitely one of the historic pilgrim names best left in the past.

And her sisters, Stormy and Sunny.

Not time yet for Thyme.

Fluttery and flighty. But there are a couple of names that mean butterfly you might consider, such as Yara and Farasha.

In the Plymouth Colony of the seventeenth century, Thankful was the third most popular of the abstract word names. It disappeared after 1700 and has virtually no chance of returning.

Sounds elven in every sense of the word.

Pretty and distinctive choice for poetry lovers.

Latter-day Ashley that comes in a range of spelling variations. Ansley and Ainsley have both hit the Top 1000 in recent years.

Brings Jennifer into the twenty-first century.