Two Syllable Names for Girls

Attractive and equally intriguing alternative to Katya.

This female form of Tristan was featured on the reality-television show The Bachelorette, and has been rocketing up the charts as a new millennium Trisha.

One art name that sounds distinctly more masculine. Unless you're a big mobile fan, keep thinking.

Zainab—the name of a flowering tree and of a granddaughter, daughter, and two wives of the Prophet Muhammed—was a newcomer to the US Top 1000 in 2013. While simplified variations Zaina or Zayna are more Western-friendly, neither makes the US list.

Reddish dye that sounds as if it could be a real name — of the outdated, Old World, Yetta-Hedda variety.

Given to around 25 girls in the US each year, this is a name that could go either way - summery and refreshing or just plain sour. You decide.

Alcie and Alsie are antiquated short forms that feel more baby-ready now that names such as Elsie, Elsa, and Isla are becoming popular again. Mother name Alcina was an operatic sorceress who turned men into trees and animals.

Leena is the form of Lena found in Finland and Estonia. It sits just outside the Top 1000 in the US, where it may be used as a Lena alternative that avoids pronunciation confusion.

We call Savvy a Modern Virtue Name, a contemporary version of the Puritan's Hope and Charity, extolling the virtue of shrewdness. And who doesn't want their daughter to grow up to be Savvy in the ways of the world? So far, this name has been used only for girls, perhaps because some parents remember the women's magazine called Savvy.

A variation made famous by Australian Aboriginal tennis champ Evonne Goolagong.

You can call your daughter Sugar, but only as a term of endearment. Her real name has to be something, almost anything, else.

Despite the voluptuous doll's various career choices, from astronaut to doctor, her name still remains a euphemism for "bimbo".

Like its single "n" sister name (Braelyn), Braelynn is currently enjoying its highest level of popularity. Unlike Braylin and Braylyn, the ‘ae’ of Braelynn gives the name a Scottish look, making it seem slightly less creative and more sturdy

A diminutive of Anxela in the Galician language of north-eastern Spain. Also used as a modern invented name in the US, for example as a backwards spelling of Alex.

More unusual than Tessa, this would make an interesting, meaningful and attractive choice for a third child.

Olea is an unusual botanical name that relates to both olive and oil, brought to public attention when it was chosen by actress Amy Adams as the middle name for her daughter Aviana. Olea is also an occasionally used Norwegian and Danish girl's name and is said to be an Old Hebrew word for night or moon.

Sema may have hit its peak in its native Turkey in the 1980s, but this simple distinctive name is new in the English-speaking world. Arabic variation Sama ranks in the British Top 1000.

Kim Basinger and Alec Baldwin's daughter Ireland opened up the map for names like Scotland, and now that it's been chosen by Kourtney Kardashian for her daughter Penelope's middle name -- in honor of daddy Scott Disick -- Scotland is sure to appear on more birth certificates. Can Scotlyn be far behind?

German feminine form of the German and Nordic male name Sven, which comes from the Old Norse byname Sveinn, meaning "boy". Svenja was particularly popular in Germany in the late 80s and early 90s, peaking at #10 in 1991.

Hilla is a rising girl name in Finland, where it is seen as both an independent name and a short form of names beginning with Hil-.