Unusual But Beautiful Girls' Names

Elodie

French, variation of Alodia, German

"foreign riches"

The lyrical and melodious Elodie, a Nameberry favorite, is starting to rise through the US popularity charts for the first time since the 1880s. This once uncommon member of the El- family is a Top…

Elowen

Cornish

"elm"

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…

Cadence

Latin

"rhythm, beat"

The musical word name Cadence, seemed to come out of nowhere to zoom up the charts; it rose over 700 spots between 2002 and 2004, and showed up in the Top 200 in 2007. It's gone down in the popular…

Callia

Callia is a feminine name with Greek origins, derived from 'kallos' meaning 'beauty.' It can be considered a variation of Calliope (one of the Muses in Greek mythology) or related to Calla (as in the…

Caralie

Caralie is a feminine name with French influences, possibly derived from combining 'cara' (dear or beloved in Latin) with the French suffix '-lie.' The name has a graceful, melodic quality with its…

Ciara

Irish

"little dark one"

Ciara is very popular in Ireland, more familiar here as the Anglicized Kiera or Keira. The uninitiated will tend to pronounce Ciara as the Italian Chiara, a form of Claire—kee-AHR-a or even…

Kateri

Mohawk variation of Katherine

"pure"

St. Kateri Teckakwitha is the first Native American saint, canonized in 2012. St. Kateri was the daughter of a Mohawk warrior, born in 1656 in upstate New York. She converted to Christianity at age…

Kezia

Hebrew

"cassia tree"

This lively Old Testament nature name (belonging to one of the three beautiful daughters of Job) may be missing from the current US Top 1000 list, but it ranks highly here on Nameberry — making it…

Saoirse

Irish

"liberty"

Before the young Irish actress Saoirse Ronan made her mark in the films Ladybird and The Lovely Bones , few of us had heard this name, let alone known how to pronounce it. But now it is slowly way…