Two Syllable Names for Girls

Chani, which rhymes with Johnny, is famous as the name of the character played by Zendaya in the Dune books, video games, and movies. Another force driving the name's use is Canadian astrologer Chani Nicholas.

The name of a famous valley in ancient Greece, with ties to the historic Nemean Games.

The Italian form of Hilda is rarer but sweeter than its mother name, which still isn't ready for revival in the US.

Despite sounding feminine to English speakers, Shaya is a unisex name more common among baby boys — the male version also has roots in Arabic.

Form of Brunhild

If you can see past its violent first syllable, Killa actually has a sweet sound and lovely meaning.

A pretty and wearable option with traditional Choctaw roots.

Popular in Israel, sounds a lot more current than Doris.Brings to mind Dickens' Little Dorrit, though Dorrit was the surname of its heroine Amy.

Whiskey was the name of the badass girlfriend character in Glass Onion, played by Madelyn Cline. Naming your child after any kind of alcoholic drink is not recommended.

This modern Finnish word name is a fashionable choice in its home country, having entered into wide usage only since the turn of the 21st century.

A Top 50 pick in its native Armenia, this pretty moon name would make for a sophisticated alternative to mega-popular Luna, or an unexpected route to Lucy (or Lusie).

Indu is truly unusual, but shares sounds with more popular choices like Indie and Indigo. Other moon names to consider: Luna, Serena, Io.

This Dutch name stems from the Greek root word "philos" meaning "love". It is relatively common in the Netherlands.

Riko is a hugely popular name for baby girls in contemporary Japan, and one that easily translates to the West.

This variant of the more-difficult Afua, from the Akan language of what is now Ghana in West Africa, is a traditional "day name" that can make a perfectly pretty modern choice.

There are not one but two notable modern women with this name: journalist Christiane Amanpour and physician/author Christiane Northrup. In Germany, the pronunciation is kris-tee-AH-na while in France, it's kris-tee-AHN — and in the U.S., there's sure to be confusion. While Christiane is not stylish, it's a strong, attractive, unusual-though-familiar name.

Queen has seen a revival in recent times, reaching its record high in 2018 with 280 births — it has remained steady since then. Previously, Queen saw a peak in the 1920s, but its origins go back even further than that. Queen was a noted name among enslaved people in America, along with other royal choices such as Duke, Squire, and Prince.

Well-used in Japan, this name refers to the suzu, a tiny metal bell often placed in a silk charm bag and attached to a girl's undergarment so that a lovely tinkling sound is heard as she moves, and originally thought to frighten demons.

Kaitlin is a variation of Caitlin that's on a steep decline; it dropped out of the Top 1000 in 2013, after more than three decades on the list.