Two Syllable Names for Girls

Cute but slight masculine nickname.

So many short forms of Margaret, from Peggy all the way through Maggie and Megan, are outdated now that Mago has value simply by being undiscovered. But still, not very appealing.

It's hard to believe, via a 21st-century sensibility, that Fannie was ever a Top 50 name. But Fannie was even more popular than Fanny in its late 19th-century heyday, and stuck around much longer, staying on the Top 1000 until the 1960s while Fanny fell off in 1940. Today, however, Fannie sounds antiquated at best, and rude at worst.

Appealingly boyish a decade ago, less so now.

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.

A newcomer to the US popularity charts, likely influenced by the popularity of similar names Camila and Camilla.

Basha bears a family resemblance to other newly popular Slavic names Sasha and Mischa, all of them hearty, warm and welcoming.

A classic reimagined. Noemia is a very feminine elaboration of Naomi, also spelled Noémia in Portugal and Noêmia in Brazil.

The Disney surname is derived from the French d'Isigny, referring to someone from the Norman town of Isigny. Isigny may be etymologically related to the Germanic name Iso.

A sweet (literally) and rare nickname for Charlotte. Lollie would also work as a short form of other names with a strong L sound, such as Elizabeth, Lauren, Lola, Lorelei, and Louisa.

The late actress Sada Thompson introduced this obscure but usable form.

Xya first popped into the American baby name charts in 2000, and has been used used every year, though in low numbers, from 2013 onwards. Modern and almost unique — and with a high Scrabble score — Xya fits easily into the trend for mini-names with plenty of vowels, like Mia and Kaya.

The mythical daughter of Eros and Psyche becomes a modern-sounding word name. Danger: could be seen as X-rated.

Kiersten is the version of Kirsten you use if you really really really don't want anyone to mispronounce it as ker-sten or kris-ten. But they probably still will.

Eighteenth-century nickname that still appears occasionally as an alternative to Suzy.