Anja is one of the most internatioanl of several versions of Ann/Anna now being imported, also including Anya and Annika.
 Anja is heard in several European cultures, including Germany, Holland, and the Scandinavian countries--and it has a variety of pronunciations.
 Supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio has a daughter called Anja, as does former Bachelor Andrew Firestone.

Anja

Alona

This possible word name, which rhymes with Maia, makes an even more distinctive alternative.

Baia

One of the most usable of the pleasant, newly adopted nature/water names (like Lake and Ocean), especially in middle position. 
 There was a character named Bay Kennish on the show Switched at Birth; conservative political commentator Bay Buchanan was born Angela Marie.
 Other associations with bay are the bay laurel tree, prized since ancient times for its medicinal and culinary (bay leaves!) properties, and the reddish-brown color usually applied to horses.

Trapped somewhere in the nether region between Haddie and Catie, with the added confusion of sounding like someone who works on a golf course. Caddie Woodlawn was a TV heroine of the Old West in the 1980s. Caddie had its moment, but we don't see it becoming one of the more popular <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/girls-names/c">girl names starting with C</a>.
 
In Colonial times, Caddie was a nickname for Caroline.

Caddie

Calla is a lily name that is much more distinctive and delicate than Lily. Rarely heard today, it did appear in the popularity lists in the last decades of the nineteenth century.
 Calla is the eponymous heroine of the Rebecca Wells novel The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder, and there's an English rock band called Her Name is Calla.
 Actress Mare Winningham named her daughter Calla way back in 1987.
Sound-alike Cala is an Arabic name meaning fortress.

Calla

This simple yet evocative French word name was chosen for her daughter by model Niki Taylor.  While Ciel may be pronounced in French with two syllables, many will pronounce it as "seal" and there may be confusion with Celia and sister Ceil.

Ciel

Photographer Diane Arbus named her daughter Doon, inspired by the sand dunes she walked among when pregnant. Used this way, Doon might be considered a nature name, a refashioning of the word dune. 

But Doon might also stem from the familiar Scottish surname Dunn or Dunne, which means brown or dark, originally used for a dark-haired person.

Doon

Dune is a haunting and evocative sandy-beach name, which also has sci-fi connections. Dune is a science fiction franchise that was launched by Frank Herbert's 1965 novel. Some interesting Dune character names include Alia, Leto, Siona, Bellonda,and Tamalane.
 An alternate spelling is Doon, created by photographer Diane Arbus for her daughter; it came to her as she walked along the beach.

Dune

Eila is a Hebrew name heard in Israel, due for wider consideration thanks to sound-alike sister Isla, as in actress Fisher. Either way you spell it, the name is simpler than it looks: Pronunciation is I, as in the letter, followed by la. 
 
An unlikely contemporary name star? Absolutely. But along with other simple names like Ava, Eve, and Ivy, a star nonetheless.

Eila

Of all the botanicals, Fern has been one of the slowest to move back from the front parlor into the nursery, despite the appealing girl character in the children's classic Charlotte's Web. Fern was most popular from the turn of the last century through the 1940s, reaching a high of #152 in 1916. We can certainly see her rejoining the long list of popular greenery names.
 
Reality TV stars Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald recently named a daughter Fern, which could easily give it a boost.

Fern

Grove

This name projects a sense of well-being - hale and hearty - is unusual but accessible, with a clear simple sound, and a worthy namesake, Revolutionary War hero Nathan Hale, as an added bonus. 

Hale

Isa is a name unto itself but might also be a short form of Isabel or Isadora.  With the new popularity of Isabel and Isabella and even Bella, Isa may become more familiar. 

Isla is a hit name throughout the English-speaking world but hasn't found the same popularity in other western countries, perhaps because its spelling and pronunciation don't make sense for those whose native language is not English. Think island without the final two letters.

Adding to the confusion, the name is a twin of the Spanish word for island, which is pronounced EES-la. Isla is part of a trend for simple, old-fashioned <a href="https://nameberry.com/girls-names">girls’ names</a> that start and end with a vowel: Ava, Ada, Ella, Emma, Eva, Ida, Ivy. 
 
Red-haired actress Isla Fisher, married to Sacha Baron Cohen, propelled the name to stardom. Isla Black Hitchens is a Harry Potter character; Queen Elizabeth has a great-granddaughter named Isla Elizabeth Phillips. 
Some other similar names that are not as trendy as Isla: Islay and Ailsa.

Isla

Insel

Josie is jaunty and friendly: among the most winning of all nickname names. She's been on the <a href="https://nameberry.com/popular-names">social security list</a> since records began being kept.
 Josie and the Pussycats , revolving around an all-girl pop band, has been a pop culture phenomenon for decades, in comic books in the sixties, a Saturday morning animated cartoon series in the seventies, and as a live action movie in 2001. In a recent romcom, Drew Barrymore's character mentions that she was named after that Josie.
 While Josie is the most stylish short form for Josephine, Jo, Feeny, and even Fifi are other possibilities.

Josie

Name of the female lead played by charming actress Zooey Deschanel in the movie "Elf," Jovie definitely has a lively, jovial sound and makes a fresh twist on old (and new) favorites like Jody, Josie, and Jolie. May be considered a short form of Jovita, Jovena, and Jovana, all feminine forms of Jove, the Roman king of gods. If you're looking for a cute, friendly, but unusual <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/girls-names/j">girl name starting with J</a>, Jovie may be just the ticket.

Jovie

Juna, a variation of the newly stylish month name June, goddess name Juno, or literary Djuna, is among the fresher-feeling <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/girls-names/j">girl names starting with J</a>. While Juna has never been given to more than 50 baby girls per year in the US, it's a popular choice in Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Juna

Juniper is a fresh-feeling nature name -- it's a small evergreen shrub -- with lots of energy. A new favorite of fashionable parents, Juniper joins such other tree and shrub names as Hazel, Acacia, and Willow. 
 
Juniper has an interesting variety of associations -- it's mentioned in the Old Testament, was used in Renaissance paintings to represent chastity, has berries used to flavor gin, and Juniper is the Saint of Comedy. A male St. Juniper was a follower of St. Francis of Assisi. 
 Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny author Margaret Wise Brown sometimes used the pen name of Juniper Sage. And in the Junie P. Jones kids' books, Junie's full name is Juniper Beatrice. There also have been Junipers is cartoon series (The Life and Times of Juniper Lee) and comic strips as well.
 
The name got something of a hippieish vibe via the 1969 hit Donovan song, 'Jennifer Juniper.'
 
Juniper entered the U.S. Top 1000 for the first time in 2011 and has risen to the Top 150.

Juniper

Popularized in the 1940s by Lana (born Judy) Turner, today Lana is synonymous with American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey. Although it has been rising steadily since the early 2000s, Lana still sits in the popularity "sweet spot" – familiar, but not overused. Simple, sleek and seamlessly international, it makes a great choice.

Lana

Lilo is the name of the spunky little Hawaiian girl character in the Disney movie Lilo & Stitch-- and is also Lindsay Lohan's nickname. Multi-cultural, it can be found in Hawaiian, German and Hebrew nomenclature.

Lilo

Lilou is a charming, rarely heard import. Occitan is a language spoken in Provence, in the south of France, in which the suffix "ou" denotes a pet form &mdash; thus, Lilou as a short form of Liliane or its Occitan form Liliana or Liliano. Its popularity in France--where it's currently Number 12--can be traced to the 1997 film The Fifth Element. 
 Pronounced lee-loo, this is an enchanting option.

Lilou

In baby name limbo along with Ronni, Connie, and Bonnie. 

Loni

Magnolia, a sweet-smelling Southern belle of a name made famous via the iconic Edna Ferber novel and musical Showboat, is one of the latest wave of botanical names, along with unexpected blossoms Azalea and Zinnia. It is named for French botanist Pierre Magnol.
 Magnolia has been chosen for his daughter by Adrian Young of No Doubt—which happens to be a fabulous baby-naming consortium as well as a great musical group.
 In Showboat, the Magnolia character goes by nicknames Noa, Nollie, and Maggie.
 Magnolia charted on the popularity list almost every year from 1880 to 1940, topping at Number 420 in 1909—but it's now making a comeback.
 Magnolia Breeland is a character on the TV show Hart of Dixie, who happens to have a sister named Lemon and a father named Brick.
 Maminydjama Magnolia Maymuru is an Indigenous Australian model.

Magnolia

If Apple and Juniper, Oak and Pine can be baby names, why not Maple? Why not indeed. We've heard Maple starting to be used quietly, but with its lush sound and attractive image, we predict its use as a first name will grow &mdash; and its choice by the Jason Batemans &mdash; who combined it with the sweet middle name Sylvie &mdash; will only accelerate that growth.

Maple

Millie is back. It's a Top 100 name throughout much of the English-speaking world, though not yet in the US. Millicent would be an appealing long form, but many people are using Millie all by its cute self -- so many, in fact, that it returned to the Top 500 in 2015 for the first time since World War 2 and continues to climb.
Millie is a winner with parents who like their girl names offbeat, frilly, and old-fashioned. Millie is one of the coolest <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/girls-names/m">girl names starting with M</a>.
 Millie was in the Top 1000 here until 1966, peaking at Number 128 way back in 1881; it made its return appearance in 2009. The name got a lot of attention via the 1967 film Thoroughly Modern Millie, set in the 1920s, but today is more closely identified with the riveting young British actress Millie Bobby Brown who plays Eleven in the television show Stranger Things.
 Fashionable relative: Milla or Mila. Milly is also sometimes used. Tillie is another old-school nickname that, like Millie, sounds modern again.

Millie

Most famous as a Dracula victim (where Mina is short for Wilhelmina), Mina is a name that can stand on its own or be a diminutive of any name ending in -mina, most usually Wilhelmina.
This Old World German nickname name was popular in the US in the 19th century, then dropped from sight after World War II along with many other German names. That's turned around in the last 20 years, and Mina is now heading up the charts again.
Mina is also a nickname name that has its own nickname, Minka, used in many European countries and occasionally in the US, though usually identified as Polish.
Mina Loy was a modernist artist and writer who associated with the likes of T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein.

Mina

This name owes its present life to actress Sorvino. Mira and Mirra have an arty aura. 
 
Mira is a true cross-cultural choice, with the literal meaning of "look" in Spanish, a peaceful meaning in several Eastern European languages, a well-used name in Arabic cultures meaning queen-like or a female ruler, and a nature name in Sanksrit. In Greek, it means "fate, destiny". 
 
Mira can also be a short form of Miryam or Miranda.

Mira

Mythological spirit of the waters; spelled Undine, she was an Edith Wharton heroine. 

Ondine

Oona is a name made famous by Eugene O'Neill's daughter, who became Charlie Chaplin's wife. One of the original Oona's granddaughters was named after her, and is now an actress famous in her own right for playing Talisa of Volantis in HBO's "Game of Thrones." The double-o beginning gives their name a lot of oomph.
 In Irish legend, Una/Oona was a daughter of a king of Lochlainn. The name was very popular in Ireland in the Middle Ages, and is currently seeing a comeback--also spelled Oonagh.

Oona

Petal is the soft and sweet-smelling name of a character in the novel and film, The Shipping News. With the rise of such flower names as Poppy and Posy, we believe Petal — down-to-earth yet romantic — has its own appealingly distinctive style. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver named his daughter Petal Blossom Rainbow in 2009.

Petal

Mia, Gia, and now Sia! 

Born Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, the Australian singer-songwriter scored a major international hit with "Chandelier" in 2014, and put her short, uncommon name on the radar. 

Sia can be a variation of the many Old Norse names derived from the element sigr, victory. But it could also be short for names like Sophia, Sienna, and Cecilia. One of those <a href="https://nameberry.com/lists/category/unusual-names">uncommon names</a> that also simple and approachable.

Selkie

Tulla

Ula is among the unusual U names that may have a range of origins and meanings, from the Celtic one given here to its possibilities as a short form of Eulalia or Ursula.  Ulla is a Scandinavian name usually an abbreviation of Ursula or Ulrika.

An ancient tree that figures in literature from Shakespeare to Harry Potter and is believed to possess magical powers, Willow is a lovely name, as graceful as its inspiration.
 Willow's use as a given name derives directly from the willow tree, whose name was derived from the Old English word welig, meaning "willow." Willow trees are associated with grace and elegance, which gave way to the adjective "willowy." Other names with meanings related to willows include Arava, Willoughby, Dozier, Wellesley, Selby, and Salton.
 
This elegant and charming nature name has been chosen for their daughters by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, Michelle Monaghan and Pink. It's been a fast riser in recent years, climbing along with other Will names Willa, William and Will, having taken off here a year after the character of Willow was introduced on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997.
 
Willow is also popular in other English-speaking countries: Australia and the UK, Canada, Ireland, and Scotland.
 
The name has transcended its one-time hippie aura to move into the realm of reappraised and appreciated <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/329/nature-baby-names">nature names</a>. The willow is believed by the Romani to possess the ability to heal the sick and rejuvenate the aged.
 
Pink was quoted as saying her choice was influenced by a willow tree she grew up near, and that it is the most flexible tree that nothing can break—no wind, no elements, it can bend and withstand anything.

Willow

washkeep's list "Inspired by all things green" of 38 great name ideas: Anja - Willow!

Inspired by all things green

A collection of girl names derived from nature and some other beautiful sounding and intereting names.  I tend to like the slightly unusual and unique.  I wouldn't necessarily want a name wildly exotic.  I'm trying to include names that hold meaning to us living in Hawaii, a beautiful culture and island.  We are inspired by nature and natural beauty.  We also have German and Italian and Irish roots which provide some interesting name choices.