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Minna

Diminutive of Wilhelmina, German

"resolute protection; love"

One of those pan-European nickname names much more familiar in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe than in the US, though related name Mina is making a comeback here. Light and bright, it could be an…

Moxie

English slang

"aggressive energy, know-how"

Like Penn Jillette, you can have your own little brash babe.

Peaches

English fruit name

Unlike the other fruit names that are just coming onto the baby name menu, Peaches is an old-timey nickname previously reserved for spangled showgirls, and now would be considered an outrageous --…

Queenie

English

"queen"

Wisecracking waitress name stuck in the luncheonette. Started as nickname for girls named Regina -- queen in Latin -- now mostly a canine choice.

Rosalind

Latin

"soft horse or pretty rose"

Rosalind has a distinguished literary history – used and popularized by Edmund Spenser and Shakespeare via one of his most charming heroines, in As You Like It . Along with a bouquet of other Rose…

Roxie

Diminutive of Roxanne

Audacious offshoot of Roxanne, the wayward heroine of the musical Chicago.

Salome

Hebrew

"peace"

A soft and interesting Hebrew name long popular in France, where it has ranked in the Top 400 since 1986 (as Salomé). Ex- ER star Alex Kingston named her daughter Salome Violetta. Despite seeing…

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…

Vida

Spanish, Slovene, Lithuanian, Persian, Swedish, Serbian,"life, visible, willow, to see"

"life, visible, willow, to see"

Vida is a multicultural gem, familiar in a number of languages by not overly popular. It featured in the US Top 1000 in the first half of the 20th century, and in recent years, it has seen renewed…

Violetta

Italian, Russian and Hungarian variation of Violet, English

"purple"

With Violet in vogue, this vibrant international variation has been on the rise since the 2010s. Vintage and floral like its more popular sister, Violetta has a slightly softer sound and a touch of…

Zipporah

Variation of Tziporah, Hebrew

"bird"

There are many variations of this name, with or without the initial T and the final h, with one p or two. In the Bible she was the wife of Moses.

Bruna

Italian

"brown"

Possibility for a dark-haired babe.

Gaia

Greek and Latin

"earth mother; rejoicing"

Floral, bright, and subtly powerful, Gaia is a name with two separate origins. In Greek mythology, it is the name of the earth goddess and the universal mother, who takes her epithet from the Ancient…

Galatea

Greek

"she who is milk-white"

This name's meaning derives from the material from which the mythical sculptor Pygmalion chiselled his ideal woman - she was carved from ivory. Pygmalion fell in love with his creation and Aphrodite,…

Rafaela

Spanish and Portuguese version of Hebrew Raphaela

"God has healed"

This euphonious and lovely name is an internationally appealing choice, that, like Gabriela and Isabela before it, is beginning to be drawn into the American mainstream. Also spelled Raffaella…