Girls Names Beginning With B

You can call your baby "babe," but don't name her that.

A less common relic of the Claudette-Paulette-Annette era.

Bailey -- a jaunty surname -- was first used for a female TV character in 1978 in the show WKRP in Cincinnaati, then caught on big time. Bailey's still an appealing choice, though, and a celebrity fave. Parents of daughters named Bailey include Scot Baio and Stella McCartney.

This fabric word name would be a one-of-a-kind.

Unusual surname with rowdy quality.

Rare French option for girls, but feels familiar thanks to the popularity of Sebastian.

The Spanish word for "berry" makes a deliciously intriguing word name possibility.

Bea is a former old lady name that's cute again as a short form -- and is now beginning to stand on its own. Bee is a variation that, like Bea, can work as a diminutive for any name that starts with the letter B, or in the middle. Bea actually stood alone on the popularity lists for four years at the beginning of the twentieth century--and it could happen again.

Bean is a unisex word name with a cute and quirky feel. Early reader series Ivy and Bean features a young girl named Bean, short for Bernice Blue. It has appeal as a casual nickname or middle name, but it's harder to imagine as a given name.

Up-and-coming actress Beanie Feldstein is attracting attention toward her unusual — but rather cute — nickname. She was born Elizabeth Greer Feldstein but nicknamed "Elizabeanie" by her childhood nanny. It was later simplified to Beanie by her older brothers.

Beatrix has a solid history of its own apart from Beatrice, with that final x adding a playful, animated note to the name's imposing history and stately vibe.

High-kicking cohort of Coco, Gigi, Fifi, Kiki, et al.

Naming babies for personal heroes is the cool contemporary trend followed by Woody Allen when he honored New Orleans jazz clarinetist Sidney Bechet in his daughter's name--adding the middle name Dumaine after a cornet player who was another of his musical heroes. Bechet has a nice, catchy Gallic feel.

Pronounced Beshette, this unfamiliar French appellation sounds fresh and feminine.

This fanciful Irish extension of Bridget is known here through the wacky Amelia Bedelia books for kids -- an association your child may or may not like.

We've seen Beatrice and Beatrix climb in popularity, along with traditional nickname Bea. And now there's Bee, giving it a buzzy nature world spin, plus a tie to popular late night TV''s Samantha Bee, not to mention Aunt Bee on the old The Andy Griffith Show TV show. Bee can theoretically be short for any girl names starting with B.