User-created list
Names I Could Never Use IRL
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Olivine
Latin
"olive"
A gem named for its green hue.
Olympia
Greek
"from Mount Olympus"
With its relation to Mount Olympus, home of the Greek gods, and to the Olympic games, this name has an athletic, goddess-like aura, making it the perfect Olivia substitute. A well-known art reference…
Orchid
From Greek
"orchid flower"
Orchid is a hothouse bloom that has not been plucked by many modern baby namers — yet. In the language of flowers, orchids symbolize love, beauty, and sophistication. In a 1926 silent comedy, femme…
Pamela
English
"all honey"
Pam was a somewhat pampered prom queen of the sixties who was never called by her full name, which is a pity because Pamela is so mellifluous and rich in literary history. A Top 25 name from the late…
Reghan
Reghan is a feminine name of Irish and Gaelic origins, representing a modern variant spelling of Reagan or Regan. The traditional meaning connects to 'little ruler' or 'royal,' derived from the Irish…
Revel
English word name
"rejoice"
Revel is a joyous word name that may appeal to parents wanting a non-traditional Biblical choice or simply a name that expresses how they feel.
Rhoda
Greek
"rose"
To those who remember, Rhoda is still reminiscent of the brassy Bronx 1970s sitcom Rhoda Morgenstern. But Rhoda has a much longer history--it is a name that can be found in the New Testament as a…
Robbie
Diminutive of Roberta, English from German
"bright fame"
Roberta and Robert may be so far out they're...still out, but Robbie might make one of the trendy new boyish nicknames for girls a la Scottie and Charlie. Actress Margot Robbie gave it a surname…
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…
Scheherazade
Persian
"noble lineage"
Scheherazade -- or Sheherazade --is a legendary Persian queen immortalized as the narrator of all one thousand stories in the One Thousand and One Nights . Her story is even more remarkable than the…
Solaris
Latin
"of the Sun"
A surprisingly modern word name, only recorded since the 20th century, Solaris is also the title of a 1961 science fiction novel by Polish author Stanisław Lem, which has been adapted for the big…
Starling
Bird name
Unusual choice that was the original name of children's illustrator Tasha Tudor, but is an interesting elaboration of Star, taking it into avian territory.
Starlit
Word name
In 2014, six little girls in the US were given the name Starlit. Starlit has a sweeter meaning than the similar Starlet, and a better ring than Starlight.
Sunshine
Word name
Sunshine was seen as a quintessential hippie name of the 70s, reaching as high as Number 536 in 1975. Now such names are making a bit of a retro comeback, seen, for example, as a character on Glee .
Sweeney
Irish
"the little hero"
Friendly-sounding name with big "Sweeney Todd" downside.
Thelma
English, Literary, meaning unknown
Though modern parents seeking to honor an ancestor named Thelma might opt for the airier Thea instead, Thelma is starting to make its way back onto adventurous vintage name lovers' radars. It is…
Theone
Greek
"godly"
A solid, if somewhat serious Greek name. Theoni and Theona are variants. This might be a possibility if you're looking for an unusual route to Thea.
Tuesday
English
"Tiu's Day; Tiw's day"
When actress Susan Ker Weld changed her name to Tuesday, she opened up a whole calendar of possibilities. This was decades before the arrival of Sunday Rose Urban and years before Wednesday Addams…
Ursula
Latin
"little female bear"
A saint's name with a noteworthy literary background, including uses by Shakespeare in Two Gentlemen of Verona and Much Ado About Nothing , by Ben Johnson, Walter Scott, Longfellow, D. H. Lawrence…
Zenobia
Greek
"force of Zeus"
With historical roots as a beautiful and intelligent ancient queen and literary ties to Hawthorne and Edith Wharton novels, this rarity could appeal to adventurous parents seeking the romantically…