Two Syllable Names for Girls

A beautiful African name which can also lead to the always-wearable "Addy" nickname.

Kakia was the goddess of vice and abomination, who tempted others to evil. Basically, a female devil. As a baby name, just....no.

Leeza may feel like the flagging Lisa or Liza, but its pronunciation is a hybrid of the two and it's a name that's distinct on its own.

Paul Cézanne was a French post-Impressionist painter whose intriguing surname is of uncertain origin, although it may be related to Suzanne (from the Hebrew Shoshana, "lily"). It has been used as a girls' name in South Africa, due to its familiar -anne ending.

Your teenager will either love you or hate you for choosing this name. Better: Fox.

Itza is a rare Itzel variant that shares its colorful meaning. Itza also connects to the Itza people of Guatemala and their language of the same name. Chichen Itza was a city built by the Mayans in what is now the Yucatán of Mexico.

Brings to mind the romantic and elegant eighteenth century portraits of George Romney.

An old-fashioned Slovene nickname for Gertruda — the Jerca variation is considered more stylish.

Short for Samantha or long for Sam, Sammy is a sweet midcentury nickname name that we can see coming back.

The short O variation of Tomi (homophonous with Tommy) was used for dozens of daughters in midcentury America, putting it firmly in grandma name territory.

Poet Jorie Graham is the best-known (okay: only known) bearer of this fresh, spirited spin on the Cory-Tory-Rory group. The boys' Jory is a Cornish nickname for George.

The name recently given to their daughter by Susan and Robert Downey, Jr. is pronounced like Avery and may be seen as a kree8tiv spelling variation of that popular unisex name or a girlish short form of Avraham, the Biblical Hebrew form of Abraham.

Unlike Pamela and Melanie, Mela feels fresh and unusual.

Part of a group of similar midcentury names rarely given to babies today.

This mythological sea monster, as described in Homer's Odyssey, lives on one side of a narrow channel of water opposite her counterpart Charybdis. Scylla is described as having 12 feet and six heads on long snaky necks, each head having a triple row of sharklike teeth. She had the habit on snacking on passing sailors, including several of Odysseus's crew.