Girls names as of the 12th of September 2021

Quinlan is an Irish surname name given to a few dozen baby girls in the US each year. With the success of Quinn as a girls' name, Quinlan and its variant spellings Quinlin and Quinlyn might follow behind.

The name of an affluent suburb of Columbus, Ohio and a section of Greater London, Bexley is increasingly being coopted by parents looking for a novel name in the Kinsley/AInsley/Paisley family. Bexley debuted on the US Top 1000 in 2016 and is definitely one of the trendiest girl names starting with B. Think of it as a 21st century Becky.

A sweet, uplifting and still fairly uncommon modern virtue name. Its single syllable makes it especially good as a middle name, but it would also make a big impact in the first spot; in fact, nearly 90 girls in the US were called Bliss in a recent year.

This spelling variation of Crystal rose all the way up to #53 in the US in 1985.

Y-ending color adjectives like Tawny and Rusty are nowhere near as stylish as the more sophisticated Lilacs and Violets.

Mercer is one fashionable occupational name that can work as well for girls as boys, perhaps because of the soft c or the conventionally feminine nickname Mercy.

Caprice is a word name with an appealing sound and a light-hearted meaning that may well put parents off. While it was given to just 10 girls in a recent year, the name did have a moment back in the late 60s and then again in the 90s. In England and Wales, it even made the Top 400 in 1997.

Eighties spin on megapopular Whitney that currently ranks higher than the original. Whitley fell out of the Top 1000 for several decades but resurfaced in 2018.

A softer take on Hunter. Huntley could be considered a truly neutral name in the US, where it was given to 102 girls and 98 boys in 2024, making the split 51:49. Borrowed from a place name in South West England, Huntley could be considered cool, tough, and preppy at the same time, or, it may remind some of a a high-profile English murder case.

Brisk but rather brittle. Britt Eklund was a Bond Girl in the 1974 The Man with the Golden Gun. Britt is a contracted form of Birgit, but be aware that it does come with the strong possibility of being confused with Bret/Brett—or as a shortening of Brittany.

Connelly is a rollicking and rare example of the popular surname genre that may work even better for girls. A huge update on Colleen.

Unlike many other western city names, Tulsa has not proved attractive to parents. The name derives from Tallasi, meaning "old town" in the Creek language.

Name of a town in Scotland that has a feminine strength.

Used as a masculine name in the Piedmont region of Italy, Alessi is a variation of Alessio, the Italian form of the Ancient Greek Alexius and Alexis. Meaning "defender" or "helper", in the US, Alessi leans feminine, likely owing to the familiarity of Alessia and the popularity of Alani, Elsie, and Alice. It was given to nearly 100 girls in a recent year.

This much less popular variation draws more from Karin.

Thanks to two cultural influences, January has joined March, April, June and August as a plausible month name.

Presidential name that makes a fresh substitute for MacKenzie or McKenna. Possible spelling variations include MacKinley, MacKinlee, Makinleigh ad almost infinitum. McKinley is one of the Scottish names for girls that can work equally well for boys.

A contemporary spin on Hailey, Bailey, and Kailey, using the stylish letter Z and the double -ee ending, Zaylee ticks the boxes as trendy choice for a modern baby. It joined the US Top 1000 back in 2015 and at least 350 girls received the name in a recent year.

Compact and creative, it has been associated with one-time Cagney & Lacey star Tyne Daly.

Gentry is a word name that's gaining ground for girls as a kind of updated Jennifer, especially in the Jentry (or Jentri or Jentree) spelling.