The Names of Elfane

Alouette is a sweet Gallic twist in the stylish bird name genre made familiar via the charming French children's song, Alouette, gentile alouette.

This name woould be hard to picture in a contemporary kindergarten, though it does have some cultural cred via Finnish architect and furniture designer Alvar Aalto. Aalto would actually make a more interesting choice.

This Italian word with a positive meaning makes a pretty, unusual girl's name

Strong, attractive, and stylish, Amara is a true multicultural choice enjoying some popularity in both the US and the UK. In the US Top 1000 since the turn of this century, Amara has been holding steady in the rankings between overly popular and obscure.

If you love both unique baby names and flower names for girls, Amaryllis might be a perfect choice for you.

This feminine form of Ambrose has not seem much use in the United States, but it does sometimes appear on the birth certificates of those from Cajun or Creole backgrounds.

As flower names become more unique, so can gem names move beyond Ruby and Pearl to names like Topaz, Sapphire, and Peridot. Amethyst, the purple birthstone for February, has never been in the Top 1000, but could have some appeal, joining similarly-hued Violet and Lilac, all of which make great names for Aquarius babies or names for February babies.

Amias or Amyas is a unique name with an attractive sound and feel and a lovely meaning. Though it might sound like a Biblical name, it is not, but is a surname that may be related to Amadeus or even be a male version of Amy--which would make it one of the few boys' names to be derived from a girls'.

One of the romantic names favored by British pastoral poets, more appealing in its longer form, Araminta.

Is Amora a real name? It made a strong entrance to the US Top 1000 in 2017 so it's one of the Spanish names for girls that is obviously catching on, perhaps thanks to its similarity to Amara, a multicultural name that's achieving widespread popularity here and abroad. Amora sounds like the Latinate amore and is one of the romantic names that mean love, familiar via the classic Dean Martin song That's Amore ("When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie...). Amora also borrows something from Amanda, something from Maura, and makes an attractive choice no matter what its pedigree.

This airy Welsh name, which has only been in use since the early 20th century, is formed of the intensifying prefix an- plus eira ("snow"), making it a wintry nature name.

Anemone is a floral name that relates to the ancient Greek myth of the famous love story of Aphrodite and Adonis, in which Aphrodite transforms her wounded lover's blood into a flower, the crimson anemone, whose blossoms are opened by the wind — accounting for its other name, windflower.

This name dates back to Arthurian legend, in which Angharad was the lover of Percival, one of the Knights of the Round Table, and was used more recently for the name of the favorite wife of the warlord in Mad Max: Fury Road. It was quite popular in the Middle Ages and is still heard in Wales, but we doubt that even the glamorous Rosie Huntington-Whiteley could propel it to wider popularity.

A sweet and frilly Ann name, much more unusual than Anita.