Names ending in a

The Spanish version, with its -eena ending, takes the name out of the Oh My Darlin' realm, which for many American parents may be just the thing.

An archipelago near the center of the Mediterranean, the name derives from the Greek word for honey. Malta has been heard as a girl’s name in the past and was used as a character name by both Dickens and Murakami.

Popular name in Israel, worth considering for a dark-haired daughter with a bit of a bohemian cast.

Panya is a multicultural possibility with a sound that's pleasing to the English-speaking ear, though the Swahili translation, which might also be "rat," makes it less than savory as an African name.

Both Karla and Carla are sliding down the ranks, though Karla remains far more popular in the USA than Carla.

This fanciful Irish extension of Bridget is known here through the wacky Amelia Bedelia books for kids -- an association your child may or may not like.

Eula is a slightly sweeter and more compact version of Eulalia. Currently, neither name is given to more than a handful of girls each year. Eula was fairly popular in the US during the early twentieth century, and she last ranked in the Top 1000 in 1960.

Idra is one of the less obvious botanical names. In ancient times, a fig tree was a symbol of learning, peace, and prosperity.

A spin on Calia or Calla, with a lot of fashionable sounds.

As an Arabic name, the normal transcription is Na'ima, with an apostrophe. It was a Top 200 name in France in the 1970s and '80s, and ranked in the US Top 1000 from 2005 to 2008.

An epithet of the sun and the Hindu god Shiva, also borne by a 12th century Indian astronomer. Bhaskar, a common Indian surname, is related.

Nayara or Naiara is a Basque name for a Spanish city where the Virgin Mary appeared in medieval times, now a popular girls' name throughout Spain.

Rilla dropped out of the US Top 1000 in 1915, but it's starting to feel like an intriguing possibility again in this age of short, sweet, a-ending names for girls. It is traditionally a short form for names ending in -rilla, like Marilla from the Anne of Green Gables books (Anne's youngest daughter is Bertha Marilla, called Rilla for short). Rilla may also derive from the German word Rille, meaning "brook; stream".

Takes the priss out of Priscilla.

Fiery names are blazing hot right now, and this one would fit right in.

Mishka is traditionally a masculine nickname in Russia but has become unisex along with Mischa, another common short form of Mikhail.

Esha is a lovely Indian name that would work well outside the Indian sub-continent, perhaps as a substitute to the more unisex Asher.

In Germanic mythology, Ostara is the goddess of springtime, fertility, and dawn. Her existence as a mythological figure was pieced together by scholar Jacob Grimm, who used evidence such as the German word for April (ostermonat) and parallels to the Anglo-Saxon Eostre. Ostara is also the modern German name for the Easter holiday.