Girl

Abilene is a rarely used place name, mentioned as such in the New Testament, that combines the cowboy spunk of the Texas city with the midwestern morality of the Kansas town where Dwight D. Eisenhower spent his boyhood. Abilene is a much more untrodden path to the nickname Abbie/Abbie than the Top 10 Abigail.

Adah is a biblical name twice over—one was the mother of Jabal and Jubal, the other was a wife of Esau. The latter Adah and Esau’s descendants settled in Edom and became the Edomites. Adah is unrelated to the visually similar name Ada, which is Germanic in origin.

Adalee's rise is thanks to the current fashion for all names ada-related. It does have a sweet melodic charm.

Luxurious and distinctive, with a biblical bacground--although in the Good Book,Adalia is a male.

Adelaide is now heading straight uphill on the coattails of such newly popular sisters as Ava, Ada, and Audrey, and in the company of Adeline and Amelia. It was chosen by actress Katherine Heigl for the name of her second daughter.

Now that all names Adel- are the height of fashion, Adella is an unusual name that nevertheless sounds very trendy. Adella is one of Ariel's sisters in The Little Mermaid.

An attractive Scandinavian take on Helga, or a potential Helen nickname.

Alba is quietly making a behind-the-scenes comeback, perhaps thanks to actress turned baby-product mogul Jessica Alba. Last on the Top 1000 a century ago, the name was given to nearly 200 baby girls in the US last year. Alba might be tomorrow's successor to Ava and Ella. In Spain, Alba ranks among the Top 20 girls' names. Alba is the name of a character in The Time Traveler's Wife.

Alice is a classic literary name that's both strong and sweet, ranking in the US Top 100 and popular throughout the western world. Alice is derived from the Old French name Aalis, a diminutive of Adelais that itself came from the Germanic name Adalhaidis, which is composed of the Proto-Germanic elements aþala, meaning "noble," and haidu, "kind, appearance, type."

Aoife, pronounced EE-fa, is derived from the Irish word aoibh, meaning "beauty." Aoife was borne by several different heroines of ancient Irish legend. In one tale, she was the fiercest woman warrior in the world and enemy of her twin sister, Scathach.

Archer is an Anglo-Saxon surname that feels more modern than most because of its on-target occupational and Hunger Games associations. And it's a nice way to bypass the clunky Archibald to get to the cool nickname Archie.

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 solidly unisex, with the current gender distribution running about 60 percent girls and 40 percent boys.

Arwen is well known as princess of the Elves in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The author took inspiration from Welsh for many of his character names, and indeed Arwen and its masculine counterpart Arwyn do have a modest history of use as legitimate Welsh names, deriving from the -wyn suffix ("fair, blessed") plus an intensifying prefix.

An unusual name for a child with golden hair. Auron is a Welsh female name with the same meaning.

Bailey -- a jaunty surname -- was first used for a female TV character in 1978 in the show WKRP in Cincinnaati, then caught on big time. Bailey's still an appealing choice, though, and a celebrity fave. Parents of daughters named Bailey include Scot Baio and Stella McCartney.

Beckett is one of the big baby name hits of the decade.

A rarely used Biblical place-name with a soft and pleasant sound.

Boden is most often inspired by the clothing catalog of the same name, and it feels like an appropriate first name for boys because of its stylish two-syllable -n ending rhythm, a la Logan, Mason, Owen, and other trendy choices. While Boden or Bowden is a fairly common English surname, in German it is the everyday name for "floor". Boden entered the US Top 1000 in 2014. You might also consider Bowen, Bode, Bodhi, and Bowie.