User-created list
Safe girl names and guilty pleasures
Across 9 pages
of 9
Solita
Variation of Soledad
This lace-hankie version was chosen for his daughter by Geraldo Rivera.
Sonata
Music name
Undiscovered musical form melodious enough to be a hit on the name charts.
Sonnet
English from Italian
"little song"
Could there be a more poetic name than Sonnet? Actor Forest Whitaker was inspired to choose it for his daughter. The word sonnet derives from the Italian sonetto , meaning 'little song.' And although…
Sunniva
Scandinavian
"sun gift"
Sunniva was an Irish-born saint who fled to Norway, where she hid in an island cave with her followers and eventually died. After miracles were reported on the island, the cave was excavated and…
Vala
German
"singled out"
Mystical overtones.
Valen
Latin, feminine variation of Valentine; "strength, health"
"strength, health"
Variation of Valentina with the same pared-down appeal as Maren.
Valencia
Spanish
"brave, strong"
This lovely orange-scented Spanish place-name would make an inventive namesake for an Aunt Valerie. Last on the popularity list in 1994, Valencia reached a high of Number 633 in 1969-70. The…
Valentine
French variation of Valentina
"strength, health"
For a girl, we'd say Val-en-teen, though many would insist on pronouncing it like the holiday.
Vida
Spanish, Slovene, Lithuanian, Persian, Swedish, Serbian,"life, visible, willow, to see"
"life, visible, willow, to see"
Vida is a multicultural gem, familiar in a number of languages by not overly popular. It featured in the US Top 1000 in the first half of the 20th century, and in recent years, it has seen renewed…
Zita
Italian or Persian; Greek
"little girl; seeker"
A thirteenth-century Tuscan saint, patron of homemakers, Zita is the kind of name that sounded really creative in an earlier era.
Lovina
Lovina is a feminine name with several possible origins. It may be derived from Latin 'lovina' relating to love, or could be a variant of Lavinia, an ancient Roman name associated with Latin…
Lulu
Diminutive of Louise or Lucy, or Arabic
"pearl"
Lula has a firecracker personality, a singing and dancing extrovert. Interesting that Lulu was a Top 100 name when the Social Security list was born in 1880, but it's been sliding ever since and has…
Queenie
English
"queen"
Wisecracking waitress name stuck in the luncheonette. Started as nickname for girls named Regina -- queen in Latin -- now mostly a canine choice.
Gladys
Possibly a form or Claudia or Welsh
"land, nation"
Hard as it might be to believe, Gladys was the Harper of 1900, emerging almost out of nowhere to take the naming world by storm. It became a favorite among parents — and writers of romantic Edwardian…
Martina
Latin
"warlike"
A feminine form of Martin, this strong and zestful sounding name is popular in Argentina, Chile, Spain, and Italy, where it ranks in the Top 30. Also familiar in Czechia, the UK, Slovakia, and…
Sonoma
Place-name
Sonoma, the name of a beautiful northern California wine-growing region, might inspire some parents. Other California place names beyond Sonoma: Marin, Berkeley, Sierra.
Holiday
English word name
"holy day"
A fun and confident choice, Holiday is a celebratory name, particularly associated with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, and New Year, and with rest, leisure, and vacations more generally. Fitting…
Matita
Latin
"pencil"
An delicate and unusual name that might appeal to a family of artists or writers.
Solstice
English from Latin
"when the sun stands still"
Solstice graduated from word to official first name when author Lionel Shriver used it for a character in her novel Big Brother . But of course, there were people named Solstice before: 16 baby girls…
Hera
Greek
"protectress"
She was queen of the Greek gods, both sister and wife to Zeus, but the name of her Roman counterpart Juno has become much more fashionable these days. That said, we think Hera has possibilities today…