Girl Names

Alexa was a steadily popular modern classic until Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa was released in 2013. It remains relatively well used in the US despite this, though its standing keeps dropping for obvious reasons. Too bad, because it's a strong and pretty name (which is probably why Amazon used it.)

Alia is the most classic and feminine form of Ali, one of the 99 attributes of Allah within Islam. Meaning "supreme, exalted, high, sublime", it is pretty, powerful and spirited.

Ava is one of the prime examples of a modern classic name, rising thought the course of a generation into the Top 10, where it has lingered for nearly 20 years.

Spelled this way, Briana was coined by Edmund Spenser for his great literary work, The Faerie Queene, which gives the now-overexposed name a far classier pedigree than it's usually credited with.

Carina is a pretty delicately feminine name whose fall from popularity is not helped by its similarity to hurricane name Katrina or slang victim Karen.

Celia, splendidly sleek and feminine, is a name that was scattered throughout Shakespeare and other Elizabethan literature, but still manages to feel totally modern.

Chloe is a pretty springtime name symbolizing new growth. Though slightly off its peak in the Top 10 in 2010, Chloe still ranks in the Top 20 and is solidly a modern classic.

Coralie is a French name not often heard here, though she's gaining some recognition via Neil Gaiman's similar sounding spooky and lovely children's book, Coraline. Other literary appearances: Coralie is the stage name of an actress in Balzac's Lost Illusions, and a French girl in an 1850 Thackeray novel.

Coralie is currently very popular in French-speaking Quebec, and there is a contemporary French singer named Coralie Clement.

Ella is a sweet, simple name that owes much of its current popularity to the popularity of other names, from Emma to Bella to Emily to Ellie.

Iris has so much going for it. It's a fashionable flower name. It's a mythological name, from the Greek goddess of the rainbow. And it's a classic name, always ranking in the girls' Top 1000 but now at its highest point ever.

Though such cognates of Kira as Keira, Kyra, and Ciara are increasingly popular throughout Europe and in the U.S., this Cyrus relative has a different root. As with all the many variations of this appealing name, there is often confusion around spelling and pronunciation -- does the first syllable rhyme with ear or eye?

Variation of Kylie with the popular suffix -ee. Kylie was popular in Australia in the 1970s and 80s, said to come from a Noongar word for "boomerang". In the US, it has also been used as a feminization of the Scottish male name Kyle.

Kyle is a Scottish male name while Kylie is an Aboriginal name meaning boomerang. Kyleigh might be seen as a feminine spin on Kyle or a spelling update of Kylie. A trendy choice longer on style than substance.

The girls' name Kyra sounds like the also popular Keira/Kiera, but has a different root. There are twice as many baby girls named Keira as Kyra, with Kiera in third place. Kyra now ranks at #590 and is most familiar via actress Kyra Sedgwick.

More than Lily yet less than Lillian, Lillia is a fresh and undeniably pretty member of the stylish genus of double (or in this case triple) l names. You can also spell it Lilia.

Mae, a sweet and springlike old-fashioned name, hadn't been on the national charts in forty years, but finally made it back in 2010. Mae is derived from May, the month name that was chosen for its connection to Maia, the Roman goddess of growth and motherhood.

Attracted attention as the stepmother of Princess Diana.

This spelling makes a dated name slighly more modern.