faerie_king's list "fantastical feels" of 3 great name ideas: Daphne - Carlisle!

fantastical feels

this is a list of names that give me the fantasy feels; contains boy & girl names, also unisex.

In Greek mythology, Daphne was the nymph daughter of Peneus, a river god. Peneus saved Daphne from Apollo’s romantic obsessions by transforming her into a laurel tree. It is from this myth that the plant genus daphne, which contains the laurel species, gets its name.
 
Daphne's origins may be Greek, but it's seen by Americans as quintessentially British—as in the Daphne Moon character on Frasier and the heroine of the romantic drama Bridgerton. The shrub inspired the popularity of the name in England, where it became part of the British vogue for plant names at the end of the nineteenth century. 

Though we don't see it becoming a Top 100 name in the US, Daphne is obviously finding more widespread acceptance—and for a distinctive, deeply-rooted, attractive girls' name, that's a positive thing. In fact, Daphne has been in the US Top 1000 for every year but two -- 1913 and 1938. And it's now at its highest point ever in the US and is also one of the most popular girls' names on Nameberry.
 Its most famous bearer is Daphne du Maurier, author of such suspense novels as Rebecca. Fictional Daphnes have appeared in Some Like It Hot (Jack Lemmon as a woman), The Jewel in the Crown, Scooby-Doo, Harry Potter, and Heroes.

Daphne

Estella is a pretty Latin name, most notably associated with the character in Dickens's Great Expectations, adopted and raised to reek Miss Haversham's revenge on men. With the popularity of Stella, Ella, Esther, and Esme, however, the elaborate Estella has also been making moves up the US charts in recent years.
 
With its appealing meaning "star", Estella ranked as high as Number 110 in the 1880s, though it slipped out of style in the 1970s. After nearly 40 years out of charts, it re-appeared in the 2010s, and a recent count saw it place just outside the Top 500, when it was given to more than 600 girls. French form Estelle is also on the rise, given to 462 girls. 
 Ali Landry used the Portuguese and Spanish spelling Estela for her daughter's name back in 2007, while other forms include Estrella (ehs-TREH-uh), Estel, and Essie.

Estella

This stuffy English surname and hotel name took on Twilight cool when attached to vampire Carlisle Cullen.  Inspired by the character, it's more popular in this spelling than as Carlyle and more widely used for boys than for girls.

fantastical feels

About this list

The names

Daphne

Estella

Carlisle