Frozen Fairytale

Primrose

English flower name

"first rose"

A quaint and quirky flower name, until recently considered a bit too prim for most American classrooms but brought back to life in recent years by the attractive character of Primrose "Prim" Everdeen…

Proserpina

Variation of Proserpine, Latin

"bringer of destruction"

The Roman equivalent of Persephone, making her a goddess of spring, and queen of the underworld. Also spelled Proserpine.

Raisa

Russian; Yiddish; Arabic

"easygoing; rose; leader"

Known in America via the wife of Soviet head Mikhail Gorbachev; a possibility for parents of Eastern-European descent wanting to move beyond Natasha and Nadia or for parents from the Middle East…

Rapunzel

German flower name

"rampion; lamb's lettuce"

Rapunzel is famous as the long-haired heroine of the fairy tale, locked in a tower only to fall in love with a handsome prince who climbed to her side via her hair. Rapunzel has never been widely…

Ravenna

Italian place-name

Ravenna is a lovely, untouristed Italian place-name just waiting to be discovered. Renowned for its fantastic Byzantine mosaics, it's a city that has a rich historic and artistic heritage. Part of…

Rhoswen

Welsh

"white rose"

If you're looking for an unusual alternative to all those Rose names, Rhoswen might be a good choice. This name has the soft sounds we've come to love from the Welsh language but is still not as…

Ronja

Swedish literary name

Pippi Longstocking author Astrid Lindgren invented the name Ronja for her book Ronja, the Robber's Daughter . She was inspired by the lake Juronjaure, located in Norrbotten, Sweden. Lindgren's…

Rosalba

Latin, from the phrase rosa alba

"white rose"

One of many Spanish elaborations of Rosa.

Rosalind

Latin

"soft horse or pretty rose"

Rosalind has a distinguished literary history – used and popularized by Edmund Spenser and Shakespeare via one of his most charming heroines, in As You Like It . Along with a bouquet of other Rose…

Rosaline

Medieval variation of Rosalind

Rosaline, which can be pronounced to rhyme with mine or mean in its final syllable, has a deeper, richer pedigree than it might seem. Rosaline was used twice by Shakespeare and was also used in the…

Rosamond

German

"horse protection"

The kind of serious old-school name that sounds appealing again; perfect for the intrepid baby namer. More commonly spelled Rosamund but highly unusual these days in either version, with fewer than…

Rosamund

German

"horse protection"

This lovely, quintessentially British appellation, also spelled Rosamond, is the name of a legendary twelfth-century beauty. Rare on these shores, it is more than worthy of importation. There was a…

Rosella

Rosella can be seen as a nature name (a rosella is the name of a variety of beautiful Australian cockatoos and an Australian flower) or a diminutive version of Rose.

Rosetta

Persian

"splendid"

Associated with the ancient Rosetta stone, this is also the pretty Italian pet form of Rosa.

Roux

French From Latin

"russet"

Roux, a color name meaning russet or reddish brown, is a possible middle name for your little auburn-haired babe, though a post-Hunger Games child would more likely be called Rue. Roux is also a…

Rowena

Welsh

"white spear; famous friend; fame and joy"

A fabled storybook name via the heroine of Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe (1819), which featured a heroine called Rowena of Hargottstanstede, and also a Harry Potter name, as Rowena Ravenclaw,…

Runa

Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Japanese

"secret lore; moon"

A strong and stylish alternative to the super-fashionable Luna, with a double background as a Scandinavian and Japanese name. It's the female form of the Nordic male name Rune, meaning "secret lore",…