Girl Characters

Rue has gone from Golden Girls actress to Hunger Games heroine to a fresh alternative to beloved middle name Rose. This botanical name is also a coincidental double word name, meaning "regret" in English and "street" in French. Despite these unfortunate secondary meanings, Rue has real potential to be one of the most popular new middle names for girls.

This hauntingly euphonious Choctaw name has re-entered the public domain, as memories of the outrageous actress Tallulah Bankhead have faded. For years, Tallulah was a name associated only with Bankhead, named for her paternal grandmother who was named after the Georgia town of Tallulah Falls.

Effortlessly stylish, with plenty of sweetness and strength, Valentina feels like a fresh alternative to Valerie, Victoria, or Vanessa.

Kit is a crisp, old-time nickname with plenty of spirit and style. In the UK it's a rising star for boys, while in the US, it is trending upwards for girls too.

Holland is one of the coolest geographical names, unadorned and elegant, evocative of fine Rembrandt portraits and fields of pink and yellow tulips. It first entered the US Top 1000 for girls in 2014, but fell out of the Top 1000 for boys a century earlier.

Originally a surname deriving from the Roman twin Romulus, this attractive name was introduced to the English-speaking world as a first name by painter Augustus John who used it for his son. Romilly John became Admiral of the Fleet in England.

Calla is a botanical name that is much more distinctive than popular Lily or similar Callie. Rarely heard today, it did appear in the popularity lists in the last decades of the nineteenth century.

Euphonious and long stylish in England, India was one of the fastest-rising names on the 2013 list, after jumping 240 spots back into the Top 1000.

Thora, related to Thor, is the ancient Norse thunder goddess name that's much softer and gentler than its meaning suggests. A noted bearer is actress Thora Birch.

Bellamy is emerging as an up-and-coming girls' name, an Irish surname-y riff on the super-popular Bella series of names. While the Bella connection makes Bellamy sound a little trendier and more popular than it really is, we see the name possibly rising through the ranks for both genders in the coming years.

Very much a boy's name in Italy, it's beginning to be seen as a unisex possibility here: actress Jennie Garth used it for her daughter, as did influencers Alyssa and Dallin Johnson, When spelled Lucca as in the Italian city, it can also be considered one of the place names along with Venezia, Roma, and Milana that make great Italian names for girls.

On trend for boys but with plenty of unisex appeal too, the place name Cairo was put on the map for girls when model Beverly Peele chose it for her daughter. Given to around 50 girls each year, it hasn't caught on just yet but with its similar sounds to Kaia and Skyler, it might do in the future.

This tiny but punchy name has multiple origins. It stands strong alone, but could be short for numerous names including Bonnie and Bodhi. In Mandarin Chinese, Bo means "wave".

A name used in the Caribbean, taken from the Rastafarian term that translates best to "positive and powerful." Rastas often greet each other by saying, "Are you feeling Irie today?"

Clove is a spice name that is a tad more piquant than Saffron or Cinnamon. It might get more attention now as a member of The Hunger Games family of names.

A pretty, rarely used Greek name, Thalassa is the ancient personification of the sea, particularly the Mediterranean, who is sometimes considered the mother of Aphrodite. In 1991, a newly discovered moon of Neptune was dubbed Thalassa.

Carrie lives on mainly on the screen, as the new/old antiheroine of Stephen King's classic Carrie, as turn-of-the-21st-century diva Carrie Bradshaw of Sex & The City, and as Claire Danes' Emmy-winning character Carrie Mathison of Homeland.

Less than ten percent of the babies named Rhys are girls, whereas Reese is given five times more often to girls than to boys, thanks to Ms. Witherspoon. It's a sleek and attractive name, but one that benefits from two accepted spellings that help clarify its gender identity.

This color name, spelled either Gray or Grey is rapidly catching on. Actress Jenny von Oy recently called her daughter Gray Audrey.

If your ancestry is Italian, you may want to consider this elegant twist on a classic.