Names ending in a

Cadenza takes the popular CADENCE and gives it a more operatic flourish.

Stylish and dramatic, a la Donatella Versace.

Though often heard in the Hispanic and Italian communities, it hasn't made an impact here, perhaps because of the connection to the character of Faust and his pact with the devil. Variations: FAUSTINA, FAUSTIA, FAUSTIANA

The Narina is a type of butterfly, but the name also makes a good contribution to the rising popularity of "ina" names like Marina, Adelina, and Perlina.

Variant of Erinna

Adeliza is a unique member of the popular Adelaide-Adeline family. Different enough to distinguish it from all the others? Maybe, and it's definitely got an appealing sound that makes it sound a bit like a smoosh of Adele and Eliza.

Multicultural mini name with an intuitive pronunciation — it's a recipe for success, yet Lida remains under the radar.

Ed Sheeran put this continental place name on the map when he used it as the middle name for his daughter Lyra, born in 2020.

Malea, for familiar to Americans spelled Malia as in Malia Obama, is a Top 100 name in Germany and Switzerland. In the US, only about 40 baby girls were named Malea last year, versus 1100 named Malia.

A religious name, referring to the announcement by the Virgin Mary that she was with child.

Avita sounds like a drug name. In fact, it is! (It's an acne medication.) While that may not be enough to stop you, you might want to consider Aviva, Vita, or Evita (which has issues of its own) instead.

A fresher, feistier Italian variant of Marcia.

A Danish variant of Kaja (Kaya) or a Cornish word name derived from kaja "daisy".

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".

Lada is the Slavic goddess of youth, merriment, beauty and fertility, usually associated with spring. Her name is referenced in wedding and folk songs in Eastern Europe, but largely unknown in the West.

Name that enjoyed some popularity early in the 20th century but now is locked in another, ahem, era.

Author Ottessa Moshfegh is one of the few to bear her name — a rare variation of the ancient name Atossa, rather than Odessa (as many think). The historical Atossa was a character not unlike one in a Moshfegh novel — born into nobility and initially married to her brother, Atossa later became a powerful wife of Darius I. Atossa had a bleeding tumor removed from her breast in the first documented case of mastitis.

Eissa, a name found frequently as both a last and a first in Arabic lands, is the Arabic form of Jesus. Also spelled Isa, Issa, and Esa, Eissa came to greater prominence when it was chosen for their newborn son by singer Janet Jackson and her husband Wissam Al Mana, who is Qatari.