Girl Names - Middle Names to go with Zoe/Zoë

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…

Blaire

English variation of Blair, Scottish

"dweller on the plain"

Blair with a little something extra, which some parents may feel feminizes the name. The Blaire spelling was given to a surprising number of baby girls, with about a third of baby girls with the name…

Kate

English, diminutive of Katherine

"pure"

Kate, in the headlines via Catherine Middleton aka the Princess of Wales, has been as pervasive as Kathy was in the 1950s and 1960s, both as a nickname for Katherine and Kaitlyn and as a strong,…

Kyle

Scottish

"narrow spit of land"

Not as popular for girls as Kylie or Kyla, but we prefer its simplicity.

Jo

Diminutive of Joanna or Josephine, Hebrew

"Jehovah increases"

The name Jo still evokes the spunky image of the character in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women . Its literary status makes Jo one of the OG boyish nicknames for girls, ala Frankie, Billie, and…

Clare

Latin

"bright, clear"

This is the original, more prosaic spelling, but the airier Claire now dominates. If you're seeking a literary connection, look no further than Nella Larsen's 1929 novel Passing , which stars Clare…

Lynn

Diminutive of Linda or Welsh

"lake"

Lynn arrived in the 1940s, spinning off from the wildly popular Linda, to become a top midcentury middle name. Now, Lynn's in limbo.

Rae

English, diminutive of Rachel, Hebrew

"ewe"

All the old ae/ay middle names for girls are back — Kay, Fay, Mae/May — and Rae is one of the coolest, used as such by celebrities as Mark Wahlberg and Daniel Baldwin. Even more popular in the…

Love

English word name

"love"

Love makes an endearing middle name, as in Jennifer Love Hewitt. However, more parents are considering Love as a first name — enough for it to enter the charts for the first time in 2022 as one of…

Jeanne

French variation of Jean

"God is gracious"

Pronounced just like Jean in the English-speaking world, but as the more unusual zhahn in France, this has sailed away with the first wave of French favorites: Denise, Michelle, et soeurs.

Bryn

Welsh

"hill"

Bryn is an up-and-coming gentle, yet substantial, Welsh name that would also be effective in the middle spot. In Wales it's a traditional boys' name, but it's far more popular for girls now in the…

Brice

Scottish surname

"speckled, freckled"

Among the more masculine of the short unisex B names, Brice is less popular than Bryce for both sexes. There were 240 boys named Brice in the US in one recent year, versus only five girls -- and more…