my favorite girl names

Lucy

English variation of Lucia, Latin

"light"

A versatile classic, Lucy is both sweet and solid, a saint's name, and the heroine of several great novels. First fashionable in England and Wales, Lucy is now a popular choice in the US, The…

Grace

English, virtue name

Grace, a simple and pure virtue name which originally referred to divine grace, is a fashionable classic. In the early 2000s, it seemed headed for the Top 10 but pulled back from the upward…

Maeve

Irish

"she who intoxicates"

Maeve is a short and sweet name that has become one of the most stylish Irish names for girls in the modern US. It joined the Top 100 for the first time in 2023 and now ranks at Number 75. Maeve…

Hadley

English

"heather field"

Hadley, most famous as the name of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, is more sophisticated, professional, and modern than cousins Harley, Haley, or Hayden. The hit book The Paris Wife , a novel by Paula…

Lennon

Irish

"lover"

A growing number of high-profile (and other) parents are choosing to honor their musical idols, such as Hendrix, Presley, Jagger, and now Lennon, an Irish name for girls as well as boys with a…

Ada

German or Turkish

"noble, nobility, or island"

Ada is one of the classic baby names for girls that is suddenly super stylish again. A favorite at the end of the nineteenth century, Ada is an alternative to the over-popular Ava. Ada is also part…

Marlowe

Variation of Marlow, English

"driftwood"

Marlowe is very much in the air, with its lovely -o ending and the modern twist it offers on the likes of Margaret, Margot, Martha, and Marlene. But is it Marlowe, Marlow, or Marlo? Well, for a girl…

Alabama

Place-name; Choctaw

"vegetation gatherers"

Alabama is a hot southern place-name, picking up from Georgia and Savannah. This is not a geographical name come lately, though--there have been girls named Alabama dating back well over a century.…

Rhiannon

Welsh

"divine queen"

Most of us had never heard this lovely Welsh name with links to the moon until we heard the 1976 smash hit Fleetwood Mac song of that name, with lyrics by Stevie Nicks. That same year it popped onto…

Dara

Hebrew, Slavic or Irish

"pearl of wisdom; gift; or oak tree"

Though Dara was an (extremely wise) male figure in the Bible, this name feels mostly feminine to modern Americans. The Irish Gaelic version, Darragh, is well-used in contemporary times for boys.…

Alba

Latin, Germanic, Spanish , Italian., "white, light; elf; dawn"

"white, light; elf; dawn"

Bright, lively, and multicultural, Alba has the vintage mellowness of Alma but spirited feel of Ebba, Phoebe, and Pippa too. Derived from multiple different sources, a recent year saw it appear as a…

Ever

English word name

"always, eternally, constantly"

A simple, unusual word name with an evocative meaning, Ever feels similar enough to Eva, Evelyn, and Everly that it shifts easily into name territory. Actor Robert Carradine was ahead of the trends…

Arden

English

"valley of the eagle; high"

Arden, the name of the magical forest in Shakespeare's As You Like It , is a stylish A name with a strong, straightforward image. Another reason to love Arden: its similarity to "ardent." Arden is…

Ireland

Place name

Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin put Ireland on the map when they chose it as a first for their daughter, saying that geographic names were a family tradition. And it seems they were a bit ahead of the…

Marnie

English

"of the sea"

Retro short form of Marina, now dated to the era of the Hitchcock movie that made it famous. In the UK, it's one of the hottest vintage names of the moment, perhaps inspired by British singer Lily…

Calla

Greek

"beautiful"

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.…

Abra

Feminine variation of Abraham, Hebrew

"father of multitudes"

Abra is soft, sensitive feminine form of Abraham that was the name of a soft, sensitive character in the John Steinbeck book and movie, "East of Eden." In the bible, Abra was a favorite of King…

Talitha

Aramaic

"little girl"

Talitha appears in the Bible as words Jesus says to awaken a young girl whose parents feared she was dead. It has been used in the US since colonial times. Talitha is also the name of two stars in…

Memphis

Greek and Coptic place-name

"Enduring and beautiful"

Tied to the bluesy southern city and to the world heritage cite in Egypt after which it was named, Memphis is a modern choice with ancient history. Currently significantly more popular for boys in…