Animal Names for Girls

Cristina is one case where the streamlined version feels more alluring.

Attractive form still très Parisienne.

While Amorie might be strictly a feminizing way to spell the unisex Amory, it also relates to the word Amore and the name Amoris, which mean love,

Also seen as a surname.

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.

Dianella is the botanical name of a small plant which grows across Australia. It flowers in spring with a star-like purple flower which develops into a blue berry. Dianella feels wearable as an elaboration of Diana.

Variation of Emma with the popular suffix -lyn.

The açai palm is a tree native to Brazil that produces açai berries (the base of those trendy smoothie bowls). Since US birth certificates don't allow for diacritical marks, we are unsure if people are naming their children after the fruit (pronounce ah-sah-EE) or omitting the cedilla and pronouncing it a-KYE.

Alair is a lighter, more unusual form of Hilary.

Well used in northern Europe, almost unknown here.

Haitian writer Edwidge Danticat highlighted this sophisticated, chignon-wearing choice for literate parents.

Derya is a unisex name in its native Turkey, though even there it is far more popular for women than for men. It is related to the Persian name Daria, which also means sea.

A rarely heard name that was the title of a hugely popular Big Band song in the forties. Amapola, with the emphasis on the third syllable, is one flower name that has not been widely discovered.

Variant of Corinne

About 60 girls were named Alise in the US last year, making it an uncommon but not truly rare name. While it's pretty and intriguing as a spin on the very popular Alice, it's pronounced more like Elise or -- in Latvian -- Elisa, and so may prove more confusing than it's worth. If you want to name your daughter Alice, name her Alice, and if you want to name her Elise, name her Elise. Choosing Alise in many ways gives you the worst of all worlds.

This variation of Aviana adds a second n, possibly to make the connection to Anna clearer. On the popularity charts, it first entered the US Top 1000 in 2011 and was one of the fastest-rising girls' names of 2016, entering the Top 500 for the first time.