Girls Names Beginning With P

Funny how one letter can turn a name from ordinary to special. Parisa is so much more distinctive than either Marisa or Paris.

Indie actress Parker Posey put a female imprint on this sophisticated surname that's still about three times as common for boys but rising for both sexes. Parker has the advantage of its nature connection, relating it to such occupational names as Gardener and Forester.

Parthenia may be a bit unwieldy, but does conjure up majestic images of the Parthenon.

Sophisticated, stylish feminine form of Pascal especially appropriate for girls born around Easter or Passover.

An early and still quintessentially gender-neutral name, now supplanted by thousands of fresher options. Hasn't been recorded as a given name since 1991.

Patience is a passive virtue turned engaging name, fresher than Hope, Faith, or even Charity. Its resemblance to the trendy Payton may be one reason that it returned to the US charts back in the 90's and 2000s, having been absent for a century.

Patrice is a more modern-sounding and polished unisex alternative to Patricia.

This sassy, spunky name was used for the mostly Irish jump-roping pigtailed girls of the thirties and forties -- and some Irish and Italian boys as well. Its most noted bearer was iconic country music singer Patsy Cline (born Virginia), and was sighted most recently in the Ab Fab movie. After reaching Number 52 in the late thirties, it dropped off the list completely in 1970--and we're not anticipating a return.

Though unrelated, this would probably be taken as a fanciful spelling of Patsy.

Paula still seems somewhat stuck in the era of duo Paul and Paula bopping out the song "Hey, Paula." Two pronunciations are possible—the English "PAW-la" and the Portuguese "POW-la."

This, the simplest French female version of Paul, was brought into the U. S. mix by novelist Paule Marshall, whose roots are in the West Indies.