Two Syllable Names for Girls

An unusual but beautifully simple name, possibly a variation on Aelwen, that belongs to a river in north-east Wales. It may appeal if you like similar names like Arwen, Anwen and Olwen.

Trending down, now that country music's Shania is the hot variety.

Pretty but slight.

Antares is a star in the Scorpio constellation, making it one of the perfect names for Scorpio babies . It is the fifteenth-brightest star in the night sky, appearing as a reddish star when viewed with the naked eye. This reddish tint is what lent the star its name, which means "equal to Ares". As the God of War, Ares is associated with the red planet Mars.The sky's other name is Alpha Scorpii, but Antares is a far more romantic choice.

Rigby is a rather stiff British surname, which might call to mind the Beatles "Eleanor Rigby" or, from the recent past, Cathy Rigby, the first American woman to win a medal in World Gymnastics competition. The problem with Rigby may be its similarity to the word "rigid."

A popular nature name in Turkey, where it was in the Top 10 from 2005-2013. Spelt Yağmur in Turkish.

Old Testament name of the daughter-in-law of Naomi, now eclipsed by the originally misspelled Oprah.

Despite being connected to a type of butterfly, Siphone is a name that has some elements that make it unlikely to become popular, such as containing the words siphon and iPhone. One name best left to the butterflies.

Pania is a possible alternative to Tania, if you want to go the New Zealand rather than Russian route.

Although Tegen resembles the names Teagan and Tegan, they are etymologically distinct names. Tegen, pronounced TEG-en rather than TEE-gan, is a modern Cornish word name meaning "pretty" or "ornament."

This is a short form of names like Rowena and Morwena — but like Nina and Lena, it stands up on its own, too. The spelling Wenna would make the pronunciation more clear to monolingual English speakers.