Latin Names for Girls

Once unique to the Zappa family, now you can have your own little prima donna.

Pretty Victorian-feeling cousin of Ariel; also, more prosaically, a kind of bay window.

An ancient name soiled by toilet paper association.

With the rise of many once-dated leonine names, from Leona to Lionel to Leonora, Leandra is an unusual choice that might be looking at a comeback..

A cool name, representing the Roman goddess of peace and offering a positive message to bestow upon a child. Pax is one of the most stylish new names that mean peace.

A name halfway between its old milquetoast image and a more jovial Irish-sounding contemporary one. Sounds more feminine than masculine these days.

Faustine has a positive meaning, although the association with the character who sold his soul to the devil may be off-putting. This name is among the Top 100 girls' names in France, but was given to fewer than five baby girls in the US last year.

A combination name that might be dismissed as a clown and cow name. The sounds are nevertheless pretty and the meaning is good - though spellings Claribel or Clarabel might help distance it from the cow association.

Cyrilla is an obscure feminization of Cyril that's a bit buttoned-up but also intriguingly unique, with an authentic pedigree. Spelling Cirilla is more visible thanks to The Witcher series, in which its the name of the heroine Princess Cirilla, nicknamed Ciri. 40 baby girls were named Cirilla in the US in 2021, vs. only 10 called Cyrilla.

This variation on the Julia theme has stayed in play due to the popularity of Julianne Moore, though it now sits at the bottom of the US Top 1000.

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

Takes the priss out of Priscilla.

Could be the next Nova, now that celestial baby names are in the ascendent.

Hilary (also spelled with two 'l's) is a hot potato of a name, so closely identified with Sen. Clinton that it's hard for most parents to see it as a baby name. A pity, really, as it's got so much going for it: the popular, rhythmic three-syllable structure, the fact that it's strong but light, proper but jaunty, with an irresistible meaning -- having the same root as hilarious.

A surprisingly popular spiritual name that entered the US Top 500 in 2003. As of 2023, it is still a Top 500 choice, where it fits in with similar bold word names like Chosen, Blessing, and Dream. Miracle is a familiar name in Nigeria too, where it is used as a unisex option.

Alta, one of the newer names bookended by the letter A, has a meaning that might raise a child's self-esteem. It was the middle name of First Lady Lady Bird Johnson.

Melodic and unusual, and she will outgrow any bib jokes.

Calpurnia is a name with a massive history. As the third and final wife of Julius Caesar, Calpurnia has been forever depicted in literature (Shakespeare) and film (Cleopatra; Rome) as a modest and sweet woman, utterly devoted to Caesar. She is said to have foretold his death and to have tried (and failed) to have warned him of the treachery of his trusted allies. Following Caesar's assassination, Calpurnia never remarried.

This Top 100 girls' name in The Netherlands is unlikely to translate to the U.S., where it would undoubtedly pronounced fee-line and mistaken for the adjective that means cat-like. While the name Feline -- and Felina and Felinus -- do have the same root, the considerably more charming pronunciation in modern-day Europe is fee-LEEN-ah. Some websites mistakenly relate it to Felix and give its meaning as happy or fortunate.

An unusual possibility; Zea would fit right in with schoolmates named Tea and Leya.