Animal Names for Girls

Columba is an early saint's name that rhumbas to a modern beat. While the original St. Columba is male, the name sounds more appropriate for a girl in the modern world. Leave variations Colm and Callum for the boys.

A modern version of the dated Betty. You might want to consider varying Elizabeth, too, to the Italian Elisabetta.

Aileas is one of those Scottish names that is at once familiar and unusual, a spin on the internationally-popular Alice that is all but unknown outside of its native Scotland. It might overcomplicate things in the US, though, given that most Americans would pronounce it like the word alias and would find it difficult to get from those vowel combinations to ah-lus or eh-lus.

Latin for "lamb", and a soundalike of the previously mega-popular female name Agnes, which has long been associated with lambs due to the link. Agnus Dei is Latin for "Lamb of God", honoured within the Catholic Mass and other Christian liturgies.

In the US, there are a handful of baby girls given the Brin spelling of this classic Welsh gender-neutral names, compared with over 800 in one recent year named Brynn and about 150 called Bryn.

Latter-day Ashley that comes in a range of spelling variations. Ansley and Ainsley have both hit the Top 1000 in recent years.

Toni Morrison, the modern master of literary names, made this one famous as the title character of a novel. But things didn't work out so well for that Beloved.

A spelling variant of Aliyah and a feminine form of the Arabic name Ali, meaning "sublime, high" or "exalted." While Aaliyah is the most familiar and popular spelling of the name because of its ties to the singer, Aliah is a concise alternative.

To some, Eloise will forever be the imperious little girl making mischief at the Plaza Hotel, while the original version Heloise recalls the beautiful and learned wife of the French philosopher Peter Abelard, admired for her fidelity and piety.

In Greek mythology, nymphs of the breezes.

Made famous by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, whose parents fashioned her name from a musical term meaning "with sweetness".

Davi as a girls' name might be considered a way to honor an ancestral David.

Once exclusively male name, Daryl Hannah made the Darrell spelling just as appropriate for girls -- and maybe even more feminine than masculine these days.

Though this is traditionally a male name, it can work for a girl in our culture. Might also be considered a short form of the Italian Amadea.

An important name in Irish myth, belonging to a beautiful giantess who was both mother and wife of Brian Boru. It is usually Anglicized as the phonetic Bevin, but also as Vivian.