Lovely Little Girls

Attractive and equally intriguing alternative to Katya.

One of the warm and earthy Russian nickname names now coming into style. Denzel Washington gave his daughter the Katia spelling.

Lavender lags far behind sweet-smelling purple-hued sister names Violet and Lila, but is starting to get some enthusiastic attention from cutting-edge namers along with other adventurous nature names like Clementine and Marigold.

A "modernization" of Leonora that has suddenly come back on the radar along with the many other Leo names--both male and female. With literary cred via a famous eponymous poem by Edgar Allan Poe (and also in his even more famous The Raven,) Lenore was steadily in the top half of the popularity list until the mid-fifties, falling off in 1973. Cameron Diaz played a Lenore in The Green Hornet.

Leonie is a chic French and German form of a name that exists in a range of variations from Leona to Leonia to Leon to Leo to Lionel, all newly fashionable after a couple of generations in style limbo.

Like Lottie, Letty is a nickname name not heard in over a century, giving it the patina of a treasured antique.

Lex is still used mostly for boys, but like Alex, may cross over with the rising popularity of all long forms of the name. Lexi is another, more feminine option.

Leya is a simple, attractive multicultural choice, but with some teasing peril. The "Star Wars" princess spelled her name Leia.

While we long dismissed Liesl as being stuck in the Alps with Heidi, the Nameberry community has forced us to reconsider. Yes, like Heidi, Liesl is an old German nickname-name that has never quite moved beyond its Alpine image. But the same thing might have been said of Elsa a few years ago, and many other names that once seemed inextricably tied to their countries of origin: think Enzo and Saoirse and Freya and Soren.

Liliosa, one of the most extravagant forms of the ever-more-popular and varied Lily family, is an ancient saint's name that's a perfect candidate for revival by parents who love the double-L flower name trend but want a distinctive variation. Saint Liliosa was one of the martyrs of 9th century Cordoba, along with her husband Felix and cousins Aurelius and Natalia — all names newly fashionable in the modern world.

Linnea is an attractive Scandinavian name that derives from the renowned 18th century Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who developed the Linnean system of classifying plants and animals.

Lior connects with several factors stylish for Israeli names: It's short, it's unisex, and it has an uplifting nature theme. Lior might make a more modern spin on Leah.

Lou is usually a short form of Louise, Louisa, or Lucy in English-speaking countries, when Lou is used for girls at all. But in France and Germany, it's a fashionable choice all on its own, sure to gain even more widespread style credibility since Heidi Klum and Seal chose it for their daughter.

Celebrated in song—the rock 'n' roll classic "Louie, Louie"—this is a gregarious, friendly spelling of Louis not often used as a full first name. It reentered the US Top 1000 in 2015. It's a highly popular choice in England and Wales.

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 the fastest-rising names of the year. Other love-related alternatives include Juliet, Valentina, and Amor.