Two Syllable Names for Girls

An emerging unisex surname name. Radley is more common for boys — it could be seen as an updated version of Bradley — but for girls, it's a rare alternative to Hadley and Adley.

Part Verna, part Bernice, Vernice saw use as a girls' name during the heyday of both those names. Both entered the Top 200 in the 1880s, where Verna lasted until 1940 and Bernice a decade longer.

Alternate spelling of Kira

This common variation of Tanya makes it less international and more ordinary.

Leyre (or in Basque, Leire) is the name of a mountain and monastery in northern Spain. Both are in the Top 100 girl names in Spain. English-speaking parents may prefer this phonetic spelling variation. Bonus: it's also Ariel spelled backwards.

Lenia is part Lena and part Leni, a full name that started life as a short form of most any name ending or beginning with a Len sound. While Lena was used for more than 1000 baby girls in the US last year and Leni was used for nearly 100, Lenia was given to fewer than five. But Lenia is one of the most popular baby girl names in Switzerland.

Greek variation of Candace used in the Bible.

Charly is one of the least popular nicknames for Charles for either gender. For girls, it ranks far behind Charlie, Charlee, Charli, and Charley.

Is there a more fitting choice for your unique and well, special little girl? For six sets of parents one recent year, the answer was no.

An intriguing choice from the African country Eritrea. Sources say Betiel means "house of God." Betiel first appeared on the US charts in 2021, when it was given to five baby girls.