Women in Science

A pretty name heard in the Louisiana Cajun community, Abella would fit right in with all the other, more familiar, bella names.

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 of the trend toward simple, old-fashioned names beginning with a vowel, like Ivy and Ella.

Aemilia is the Ancient Roman spelling of the popular Emilia and family. With Emilia and Amelia so popular, this version, while authentic and attractive, will only create confusion without adding real distinction.

This softened version is even prettier than the original.

In European countries where it's regularly used as a form of the Amelia family of names, the pronunciation is very similar to the a-ending form, Amalia.

Derived from Artemis, the name of the Greek mythological goddess of the moon and hunting, Artemesia has a couple of notable associations, among them a fourth century Queen of Caria who was responsible for the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World..

Beatrix has a solid history of its own apart from Beatrice, with that final x adding a playful, animated note to the name's imposing history.

Caroline is a perennial classic, one of the elite group of girls' names that's ALWAYS ranked among the Top 1000 and that's been in the Top 100 since 1994. Elegant yet strong, Caroline calls to mind the Kennedy Camelot years and Princess Caroline of Monaco.

This form of Charlotte, long obscure, is sure to grow in popularity along with the explosion of Charlotte. It's pretty and feminine and a nice spin on the more familiar version. In Germany, short form Lotta is popular.

Florence is back, returning to the US Top 1000 girl names in 2017 after a nearly 40 year absence. Other English-speaking countries have been quicker to welcome Florence back into fashion.

Gaeta is a southern Italian region; this makes a sunny first name.

Hildegard is an ancient name that sounds it, but it does have sweet short forms Hildie and Hilda to recommend it, as well as several illustrious historical bearers.

Hypatia, an ancient Greek name, has a distinguished namesake: Hypatia of Alexandria was an early philosopher and scholar of mathematics and astronomy--as well as inventor of several scientific instruments.

Jacqueline originated as a feminine form of Jacques, the French variation of James, and therefore Jacob. Jacob was ultimately derived from the Hebrew name Ya’aqov, and gets its meaning, "supplanter" from the story of Jacob supplanting his brother Esau as the first-born son in the Bible. Jacqueline was first used in France in the Middle Ages.

Laura is a hauntingly evocative perennial, never trendy, never dated, feminine without being fussy, with literary links stretching back to Dante. All this makes Laura a more solid choice than any of its more decorative counterparts and one of the most classic girl names starting with L.

Margaret is derived from the French Marguerite, which in turn came from Margarita, the Latin form of the Greek Margarites. Margarites was based on the Old Persian word margārīta, meaning "pearl."

As a highly popular girls’ name in all Spanish-speaking countries, this saintly Latin variation of Mary retains a timeless beauty. Through the centuries, Maria remains one of the most widely-used girl names starting with M.