Dutch Names for Girls

Skyla is the most feminine form of the Skylar / Sklyer trend - little Skyla will never be mistaken on paper for a boy.

Yes, though it seems so extreme, girls were actually sometimes given this name a century ago; now it is so uncommon it would make a strong springtime statement. Biggest obstacle: the nickname Daffy.

Cato may have risen to new prominence in the English speaking world as an ancient Roman boys' name, popularized by The Hunger Games. But in the Netherlands, it's most widely used as a short form for Catharina and other forms of Katherine, ranking close to the Top 100, higher than any formal variation of the name. Cato for a girl is a cute idea and a fresh way to shorten the ubiquitous Catherine.

Lissa might be an abbreviation of Melissa, but it's more substantial in its own right: Lissa is the name of a supreme mother goddess in African mythology and an Arabic symbol of rebirth.

Ilsa is remembered as the radiant but tragic heroine of "Casablanca," and it's having something of a European resurgence.

Dutch supermodel Doutzen (pronounced doubt-son) Kroes has introduced us to a name from the Netherlands that might have a hard time in an American classroom and is nowhere near as glamorous as its bearer.

Madelief is an uncommon name but not unheard of in the Netherlands, where 123 girls were called Madelief in one recent year. With its soft sounds and similarities to all those "Madeleine" type names as well as names ending in "eef/eev" sounds (Aoife, Eve, Genevieve), Madelief has potential in English-speaking countries to be a fresh and pleasant change from Daisy, Margaret and Madeleine.

Originally a Dutch surname, imported by the early Dutch colonists, has been all but overpowered by the phonetic spellings in the US -- Skyler for boys and Skylar for girls. With the surnames-as-first-names trend, however, and the popularity of the Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton, which features the Schuyler sisters, perhaps Schuyler might receive some more interest in the coming years.

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.

Fenne and its phonetic version Fenna are vintage names enjoying a resurgence in The Netherlands, where both make the girls' Top 100.

Foreign variations of Mary are definitely the way to go; this one has a nice Dutch-girl feel. It also works as a cultural crossover name, e.g. between European languages and Japanese.

Saar is a very popular girls' name in The Netherlands, where it's an abbreviated form of Sarah. The Dutch feminine Saar, pronounced sahr, is distinct from the Hebrew place-name Saar used for boys in Israel.

Sidonia is an international spin on the recently-trendy Sydney. Plus Sidonia has an advantage over the French Sidonie in that it sounds more distinct to the English speaker. An original way to honor grandpa Sid.

Merel is a soundalike of Meryl and may be thought of as a variation of that name, but it's also the Dutch word for blackbird and so you can make it more stylish as one of the flock of cool new bird names, joining Wren, Lark, and Sparrow.

Dael is cooler than Dale -- but why? Vowel switch gives an old nature name a hipper look.

The popular Dutch name Lieke is one of those diminutives, like Lena, that can be short for a range of names ending in its sound -- which, by the way, is the two-syllable LEE-ka. Despite its versatility, we don't see Lieke's popularity translating to English-speaking cultures.

Could run into pronunciation confusion.