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Tricky Pronunciations
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Tertia
Latin
"third"
Tertia—which is occasionally used in the UK, but rarely in the US, would make an unconventional but interesting possibility for the third child in a family. Terza and Terzo are lively Italian…
Caoimhe
Irish, Scottish
"beautiful"
Caoimhe, pronounced (more properly) kwee-va or kee-va, is a pretty and distinctive Gaelic name but one that could well lead to no end of confusion outside the Irish community. Even in its native…
Daenerys
Literary name
Daenerys is yet another girls' name invented by "Game of Thrones" author George R. R. Martin that is beginning to gain some traction in real life. Daenerys was used for 67 baby girls in 2013 while…
Moira
Irish, variation of Mary
"bitter; beloved; drop of the sea"
Well-established Irish and Scottish name that has never really caught on across the pond. Remembered by an older generation as the beautiful red-haired ballerina in the film The Red Shoes , Moira…
Grainne
Irish
"grain or love"
Grainne is the Irish form of the name often Anglicized as Grania. It was the name of the ancient grain goddess and also of the fiancee of mythological hero Finn McCool and lover of Dermot, who was a…
Ariadne
Greek
"most holy"
This name of the Cretan goddess of fertility is most popular now as the more melodic Ariana, but Ariadne has possibilities of its own. It first entered the US Top 1000 in 2014. The renewed interest…
Heber
Hebrew
"partner, togetherness"
Biblical name -- he was an ancestor of Abraham's -- rarely used today but registered on the U.S. popularity list at the end of the 19th century. With the rise of other obscure Old Testament names,…
Ngaio
Maori
"reflections on the water"
New Zealand writer Ngaio (born Edith Ngaio) Marsh is the best-known bearer of this Maori nature name, properly pronounced ng (like the end of sing) -EYE-oh. It is the name of a tree indigenous to New…
Eithne
Gaelic
"nut kernel"
Pretty and soulful name of a goddess from Irish mythology and several Irish saints. Singer Enya, born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin, has made the Anglicized spelling familiar. Eithne comes from the vocabulary…
Aislinn
Irish
"dream"
Old Irish name that's taken off in its Anglicized forms, mainly Ashlyn or Ashlynn. Nonetheless, this more traditional version debuted in the US Top 1000 in 2015. Aislinn Paul is a Canadian actress…
Jelena
Russian, Serbian, Croatian, Estonian
"light"
A pretty international form of Helena used in many Slavic languages, also sometimes spelled Yelena.
Hebe
Greek
"youth"
The name of the Greek goddess of youth, daughter of Zeus and Hera, is rarely used today but may be ripe for revival considering the popularity of rhyming Phoebe. Sweet as Bebe but with the…
Ciaran
Irish
"little black-haired one"
Extremely popular in Ireland, Ciaran is also well used in England and is beginning to be adopted by parents in the U.S., though usually via the more American-friendly Kieran spelling. The Irish…
Scirocco
Italian, from Arabic
"warm wind"
A cool and breezy nature name with a stylish sound, used by Volkswagen for one of its cars.
Iolanthe
Greek
"violet flower"
Iolanthe is known primarily through the 1882 Gilbert & Sullivan operetta of that name, in which the title character is a fairy. Iolanthe is a softer version of Yolanda, and is the kind of…
Delja
Polish, diminutive of Kordelja
"daughter of the sea"
Pretty in a polka-dancing way.
Beathag
Gaelic
"life"
Pronounced BEH-ak, this Scottish name is also seen as Bethoc. In that form it was the mother of Duncan, the monarch slain by Macbeth in Shakespeare's play. In later years, it was sometimes Latinized…
Fionnuala
Irish Gaelic
"white shoulders"
This lovely Gaelic name, very popular in the Emerald Isle, has inspired a whole host of diminutives (including Nuala and Nola) and variant spellings, from Finola to Finula to the Scottish and English…
Mareike
German variation of Mary
"bitter"
Mary has hundreds of variations around the world, and this German form, pronounced Ma-RYE-keh, is virtually unknown in English-speaking lands. A possible alternative to Mariah?
Evadne
Greek
"pleasing one"
In Greek mythology, Evadne was the daughter of Poseidon. Evadne also appears in literature (Mary Shelley's "The Last Man") and has a pop culture reference as the cousin of Wonder Woman. A more…