Iolanthe is known primarily through the 1882 Gilbert & Sullivan operetta of that name, in which the title character is a fairy. Iolanthe is a softer version of Yolanda, and is the kind of multi-syllabic classical name once considered too weighty for a modern baby girl, but now within the realm of possibility--this one as a dramatic twist on Violet. The biggest drawback is its variety of legitimate pronunciations in English.

The French spelling of Lucy feels particularly light and shimmery.

This long-popular name in France sounds fresh, elegant and unusual here. Severine is the name of the most recent gorgeous James Bond Girl in the film Skyfall. Students of film history will associate the name with the complex character Catherine Deneuve played in the 1967 Bunuel classic, Belle de Jour..

Brittany first arrived on the US popularity list in 1971, and rapidly zoomed up the charts, in the Top 100 a decade later. By 1986 it had entered the Top 10, becoming the third most popular girls’ name in the country by 1989.

Another feminine form of the old saint's name Mael. Spelled Maëlys, it is a very popular name in France today.

While Sixtine is a name with ancient roots that's popular in modern-day France, it's hard to imagine it gaining hold in English-speaking lands, given its similarity to the number sixteen and its even-more-problematic similarity to the word "sexting." You wouldn't do that to your daughter.

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.

The name of a Christian saint and a city in Ohio, Xenia is one of the more accessible and intriguing x names. It is the name of one of the Bond Girls--played by Famke Janssen in the film "GoldenEye."

Marguerite is a classic French name with a remnant of old-fashioned Gallic charm; and is also a variety of daisy. Chic again in Paris, it's definitely ripe for revival here.

Once seen as a dated French Claudette-Colbert feminization, along with Annette and Paulette, we can see Claudette moving into a more plausible Colette-Cosette arena. While some may be put off by the common "lame" meaning, some etymologists theorize that the name may relate to the word for enclosure or clause, an alternate meaning that may appeal to a child with a form of this otherwise-appealing name.

Rosemarie had its moment in the sun back in the middle of the last century, when parents were looking for new ways to recycle traditional family names. So a child might combine her two grandma's names and become Rosemarie (or Annmarie or Maryjean), but these combination names feel dated now.

While Charlotte and Caroline are considered stylish and classic members of the Charles family, this Germanic form peaked in the US at Number 76 in 1965. It fell out of favor in the 2010s, but recent years have seen it re-enter the Top 1000.

Amy was a 1970s favorite, and French spelling Aimee peaked in the same decade. Today, about 1500 baby girls are still named Amy every year in the US, versus about 150 named Aimee.

Joel is one of those boys’ names that's never been super-popular yet has never been UNpopular either -- it's been in the Top 400 in the US since we started keeping statistics in 1880. So it's inevitable that its female form Joelle would gain visibility too, and indeed Joelle was used most widely during Joel's reign in the Top 100, from the late 1960s through the early 1990s.

An appellation for the Virgin Mary, "Queen of the apostles." After three years off the US popularity charts, Reina rejoined the list in 2014, though it lags behind alternate spellings Raina, Rayna, and Reyna. It is also used in Yiddish and in Japanese.

Frenchified name rarely used in France. And perhaps even more rarely used in the US -- there were NO baby girls given the name on the official records of 2021.

Sweet and stylish, Lucine is a versatile choice that can be used as a spelling variation of the celestial Armenian name Lusine. It is equally considered an elaboration of the classic Lucy and as a French form of Lucina, a name that means "grove", but can also be associated with light.

Corisande is a very unusual, haunting choice, with the aura of medieval romance--it is found in early Spanish romantic tales, arriving in the English-speaking world in the nineteenth century.

Satine, the name of the Nicole Kidman character in Moulin Rouge,, is, by definition satiny smooth. Jacinda Barrett named her daughter Satine Anais.

While traditionally pronounced as a homonym for Lee, Glee actress Lea Michele pronounces her name like Leah, and it may also rhyme with Freya. Regardless of your preferred pronunciation, it's interesting to note that Lea has always charted in the US Top 1000, despite coming close to the bottom a few times, making it one of the girl names starting with L that both fits in and stands out.