Animal Names for Girls

A feminization of Adam with several sweet nickname options — Addie, Ada, Minnie, or Mina being a few.

Abbreviated form of Harley that might also be spelled, for girls, Arleigh or Arlee.

Has a nice fresh, early morning meaning, but not the most mellifluous of sounds. Also spelled Arpineh.

A fresh and pretty Japanese name which would be an unusual route to the popular Emmy/Emi nickname. In Japanese, this name can be formed from a variety of different kanji combinations with different meanings, but "laughing child" and "beautiful child" are two appealing possibilities.

A pretty and unusual name with a multi-cultural feel--Hebrew, Greek, and a dash of Russian.

This French name meaning goddess is a possible Gallic import in the Celine mode.

Cookie is most often used as a dog name, and it should stay that way.

Angelia, also called Angelos, was a daughter of Zeus and Hera. She stole her mother's anointments and gave them to Europa, then to escape her mother's wrath went into hiding.

Spelled Alastríona in its native language, this Irish cousin of Alexandra is little-known but fairly intuitive.

Banana is one fruity name we wouldn't recommend. Pick Plum instead. There is a Japanese novelist whose pen name is Banana Yoshimoto--birth name Mahoko.

Sounds like and is often confused with Asia, though it has an air of retro cool via the seminal Steely Dan album. Or, pronounced eye-ah, it can be an alternate spelling of the international favorite Aya.

Modern Irish form of the mythological name Étaín.

Feminine spin on Arnold that received a brief flurry of use in the early 1990s.

Sympathetic new twist on a Puritan virtue name.

A nouveau elaboration of Arya that may have also been influenced by the rise of -ani ending names such as Leilani.

Like its parent name Elijah and the related Elliot, this has potential for girls. It shares sounds with Eliza, Delilah, and Iris, along with established unisex choices, like Ellis, Emery, and Eden. Given to only a small handful of girls every year, it is not a popular choice just yet. If you do enjoy the idea, Lilias, Eirlys, Clovis, Micah, or Micaiah might appeal too.

This name dates back to Arthurian legend, in which Angharad was the lover of Percival, one of the Knights of the Round Table, and was used more recently for the name of the favorite wife of the warlord in Mad Max: Fury Road. It was quite popular in the Middle Ages and is still heard in Wales, but we doubt that even the glamorous Rosie Huntington-Whiteley could propel it to wider popularity.

Cady is one of those names that sounds popular but is actually rare in this form, given to only a few dozen baby girls in the US last year.

An unusual floral -wen name which was the name of an 1878 opera by Welsh composer Joseph Parry.