Animal Names for Girls

A life-affirming choice — just beware pronunciation issues among the goyim in your neighborhood.

Namibian supermodel Behati Prinsloo, who has walked the runway for every designer from Prada to Versace to Vera Wang, has introduced us to this Afrikaans version of Beate or Beatrice, a rhythmic twist on an international favorite.

Beata, a Latinate saint's name, has been widely used primarily by Roman Catholics in several European countries, but is rarely heard in English-speaking countries. Playground alert: could be mispronounced Beeta.

Old-fangled nickname could make dot.com era short form or middle name.

A twist on Alina or Alena, this name popped into the Top 500 for the first time in 2014. Also an Arabic name, meaning "soft, pliable, delicate".

Altalune is an invention used by Uma Thurman and Arpad Busson as one of several middle names for their daughter. It's evocative Latin meaning roughly translates to "over the moon." Celebrity baby Altalune will be called the more familiar Luna for short.

Clove is a spice name that is a tad more piquant than Saffron or Cinnamon. It might get more attention now as a member of The Hunger Games family of names.

Despite its modern sound, Blaise has plenty of history as a given name (for boys), from a Christian martyr to Arthurian legends. Today Blaise feels like the cool and edgy Blaze with a French accent.

The quintessential friendly fifties name, nearly epidemic in its day. Now many grownup Debbies have reverted to the full and lovely form of their name, which modern parents often avoid because of the name Debbie ringing too loudly in their ears.

Alcyone was the wife of Ceyx, but the happy pair angered the gods by calling each other Zeus and Hera. Ceyx's ship was sunk, Alcyone hurled herself into the sea, but then in sympathy for their grief the gods made the lovers halcyon birds or kingfishers.

Another of the new Greek-accented Cal- names.

When Deborah seemed too formal in the laid-back sixties, Debra stepped in as a pared-down alternative, but the pendulum is about to swing back.

Short form of Bronisława, usually spelt Bronia in Poland.

Brisk but rather brittle. Britt Eklund was a Bond Girl in the 1974 The Man with the Golden Gun. Britt is a contracted form of Birgit, but be aware that it does come with the strong possibility of being confused with Bret/Brett—or as a shortening of Brittany.

A word name with fashionable o-ending that has associations with both the homespun fabric and the mottled cat. Alice Cooper named his daughter Calico decades ago.

Aliza might seem like yet another variation of the eternal Alyssa/Alicia/Eliza loop, but it's a distinct name all its own. The z adds zip.

Most familiar as the name of Tony Soprano's wife, but she spelled it Carmela. In the contemporary US, both Carmella and Carmela are used in near-equal numbers, given to a total of about 300 baby girls last year.

While the most famous Channing is the very male Channing Tatum, the name is now given about a third of the time for girls. It makes an attractive surname-name for either gender.

Swap two letters of Birdie and you get Bridie, a traditional diminutive of Bridget. Bridie fits perfectly with the trend for standalone vintage nicknames like Betty and Sadie, but is surprisingly rare.