The "Short" List - Girls

An attempt to narrow down my favorite girls names.
  1. Addison
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "son of Adam"
    • Description:

      Newly fashioned but familiar and with an on trend, unisex feel, Addison seems like the perfect solution for anyone who can’t decide between Madison, Adeline, and Alison.
  2. Anniston
    • Origin:

      English surname and American place name
    • Meaning:

      "Anis' town"
    • Description:

      Actor couple Chyler Leigh and Nathan West added this one to the lexicon when they adapted the surname of actress Jennifer Aniston as their daughter's first name. Aniston, which theoretically might mean "Anis' town," (Anis is a medieval form of Agnes) was actually Anglicized from the Greek Anastasopoulos. With its similarity to both Addison and Anna and its relationship to the attractive star, Anniston is taking off a la Jolie.
  3. Ashlyn
    • Origin:

      Variation of Aislinn, Irish
    • Meaning:

      "dream"
    • Description:

      Though it relates to the Irish original, Ashlyn and its next most popular form, Ashlynn, owe more of their popularity as baby names in the US to the megastar Ashley, though all three have been dropping on the charts lately.
  4. Ashton
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "ash tree place"
    • Description:

      Hot star Ashton Kutcher is pushing this unisex choice toward the boys' camp, but its variation Ashtyn is on the rise.
  5. Audrina
    • Origin:

      Variation of Audrey
    • Meaning:

      "noble strength"
    • Description:

      Audrina is a name that owes its fame to overnight reality TV sensation Audrina Partridge, one of the original cast of the MTV reality series The Hills.
  6. Avery
    • Origin:

      English
    • Meaning:

      "ruler of the elves"
    • Description:

      Avery is a hugely popular name in the US, especially for girls. But while nearly four times as many girls as boys are named Avery today Avery's popularity is starting to soften for girls while it continues to strengthen for boys.
  7. Declyn
    • Ember
      • Origin:

        French variation of Amber
      • Description:

        Unlike Amber, which is in decline, this name still has a bit of a glow left -- though confusions between the two will inevitably arise.
    • Everleigh
      • Keagan
        • Origin:

          Irish, spelling variation of Keegan
        • Description:

          Right in step with the two-syllable irish surname-names now on the rise.
      • Kinsley
        • Origin:

          English
        • Meaning:

          "king's meadow"
        • Description:

          Light and glittery, but with plenty of spirit, Kinsley has risen quickly into the US Top 100. Balanced between preppy and cutesy, it feels like a fresh alternative to Kelly, Kaitlyn, or Kimberly.
      • Lorelei
        • Origin:

          German
        • Meaning:

          "alluring, temptress"
        • Description:

          The lovely Lorelei, a name from old German legend, was a beautiful Rhine River seductress whose haunting voice led sailors to hazardous rocks that would cause them to be shipwrecked. And this siren image clung to the name for ages.
      • Lux
        • Origin:

          Latin
        • Meaning:

          "light"
        • Description:

          This name of a character played by Kirsten Dunst in the movie Virgin Suicides, originally a novel by Jeffrey Eugenides, is gaining attention, also thanks to the heroine Lux, Lady of Luminosity in the League of Legends games. Luz is the Spanish version.
      • Presley
        • Origin:

          English
        • Meaning:

          "priest's meadow"
        • Description:

          Presley is a much more popular name for little girls than you might think, entering the charts as a girls' name in 1998 and hovering around Number 200 for the last decade.

          Presley is one of a large cohort of surnames ending in -ley that are now trending as girl names, from Paisley to Hadley to Finley.

          Country singer Tanya Tucker started the Presley-for-girls trend when she chose the name for her now-grown daughter, Presley Tanita.
      • Quinn
        • Origin:

          Irish
        • Meaning:

          "descendant of Conn, chief leader, intelligence"
        • Description:

          Quinn is one of the first popular Irish unisex surnames, a strong and attractive choice on the rise for girls but still popular for boys. Quinn was used for about 3000 baby girls and 700 boys in the US last year.
      • Reagan
        • Origin:

          Irish
        • Meaning:

          "little king"
        • Description:

          A strong, straightforward Irish unisex surname, with a merry glint in its eye, Reagan has been leaping up the popularity lists, to become one of the top girl names starting with R. Some will inevitably link it to President Ronald, but spell it Regan and it's a Shakespearean name: a daughter of King Lear.
      • Rosalie
        • Origin:

          French variation of Latin Rosalia
        • Meaning:

          "rose"
        • Description:

          Rosalie hit its apex in 1938 and then slid straight downhill until it fell off the U.S. Top 1000 completely in the 1980s, only to spring back to life in 2009 as the name of a character in the Twilight series. The beautiful vampire Rosalie Hale has breathed fresh life back into this mid-century name, and the fact that the character is both sympathetic and relatively minor means Rosalie has the chance to thrive again as a baby name without feeling unduly tied to Twilight.
      • Sutton