Family Girl Names

Susannah is by far the most stylish form of the classic name now that Susan and Suzanne have retired. Susannah has biblical and musical pedigrees, is impervious to trends, and has an irresistible, flowing rhythm. It can be spelled just as properly with or without the final 'h.'

The eternal fiancee of Superman turned sweet gray-haired lady who's always available to babysit her grandkids turned....hot new baby name?

Literally meaning "lady" in Italian, Donna was the perfect ladylike housewife mom name on The Donna Reed Show in the fifties and sixties. And there were plenty of namesakes: Donna was in the Top 10 in 1964. These days we'd be more likely to associate it with the emanciatpated clothes of Donna Karen than as a baby name.

The quality of mercy makes this lovely Puritan virtue name a quiet favorite today. Although it was most popular in the late nineteenth century, Mercy is on its way to a comeback -- it rose 143 spots between 2012 and 2013, making it one of the year's fastest-rising names. Right now, it's still stylish and distinctive, a rare and wonderful combination.

A Scottish place and surname that was once adrogynous but now leans about 20 to 1 toward the girls' side, Leslie has a pleasant, heathery feel that kept it in or near the Top 100 for several decades; the Lesly and Lesley spellings are also frequently used, especially in Britain. While Leslie may not be the freshest name in the bunch, it's become a modern classic and is one of the surprising names always to have ranked among the US Top 1000 for girls.

Kay, a cigarette-smoking, nightclubbing name of the 1930's, could be ready for a comeback along with cousins May/Mae and Ray/Rae.

The phonetic Carolyn spelling, which was very popular from the 1920s to the '60s, has been steadily on the wane while Caroline herself has stayed strong.

Mercedes is one of the few names attached to luxury living that we can wholeheartedly recommend, it being a legitimate Spanish appellation stemming from one of the epithets given to the Virgin Mary--Santa Maria de las Mercedes, or Our Lady of the Mercies. The car, by the way was named after the eleven-year-old daughter of the Daimler company's French distributor in 1901.

A key cheerleader in the nickname game of the 1970s, Stacy is now the mom. Consider Stacia, or the original Anastasia.

Elzira is a feminine name with Portuguese and Brazilian roots, although it's relatively uncommon even in these cultures. It may be a variant of Alzira, which possibly derives from Arabic origins meaning 'island' or from the name of an ancient Iberian city. The name has a lyrical, flowing quality with its soft consonants and melodious vowel endings. Elzira carries an exotic, somewhat mysterious appeal that sets it apart from more common names. In Brazil, it was more popular in earlier generations but has become less common in recent decades. For parents seeking a distinctive feminine name with Latin flair and unique character, Elzira offers an uncommon choice that combines elegance with cultural depth.