jhwhelohim's list "Girl names I love" of 3 great name ideas: Claire - Elowen!

Girl names I love

Claire, luminous, simple, and strong, is one of those special names that is familiar yet distinctive, feminine but not frilly, combining historical depth with a modern edge. And though Claire is enjoying revived popularity, it will never be seen as trendy. Claire is also a great middle name choice. 
 
Claire is the French form of Clara, a feminine derivation of the Latin masculine name Clarus. The French word for "clear," Claire's meaning, is clair, and was traditionally a male name. Now, the spelling is used mainly for girls, along with Clare, and occasionally Klaire or Klare.
 
Claire is usually seen as the French spelling of the name, while the equally appropriate Clare is English and Clair is French too. Clara, once seen as a stuffier version, has lately gained some fashion edge, primarily because it has more vintage charm and is somewhat more unusual. The Italian Chiara is another recommended choice.
 
Famous women named Claire include the medieval Saint Clare of Assisi (who was made the patron saint of television in 1958 because of her reputed power to see events at a distance), writer Clare Booth Luce, silent screen siren Clara Bow, and actresses Claire Bloom and Claire Danes.
 
There have been countless fictional Claires as well, including ideal mom Clair Huxtable, Molly Ringwald's character in The Breakfast Club, Clare Kendry in Nella Larsen's novel Passing, and characters in House of Cards, Lost, Six Feet Under, Modern Family, and the Outlander series.

Claire

While Leyla is one of the rarer variations of Layla, only entering the US Top 1000 in the early 2000s, it holds a sweet spot in popularity now that we predict it will maintain into the future. But there are so many variations of this name that are so popular, no spelling or variation is really going to feel different.

Bottom line: Leyla (and Layla and Leila and Lyla and Lila) is a beautiful name, but if you want something unique, keep looking.

Leyla

A beautiful modern Cornish nature name that is rapidly picking up steam in the States: even spawning variant spellings like Elowyn and Elowynn. In its native region, it wasn't widely used as a name before the twentieth century, when the Cornish language was revived. A fresh and magical member of the fashionable El- family of names, it has a pleasant, evocative sound.

The traditional Cornish pronunciation is with stress on the middle syllable: eh-LOW-en. But most English speakers seem to pronounce it with first-syllable stress, perhaps on the example of more familiar names like Eleanor and Elodie.

 
Elowen has been in the Top 1000 in the UK since 2017 and is the preferred spelling there, while in the US, Elowyn is the favorite, currently in the Top 500. Elowen is also gaining attention however, and entered the Top 1000 in 2024 when it was chosen for 294 babies.

Girl names I love

The names

Claire

Leyla

Elowen