Animal Names for Girls

Evocative Spanish city name that would make a one-of-a-kind given name.

Variant of Annemarie

A mighty lion in sheep's clothing. Though Amandla looks, to the untrained eye, like a variant of milquetoast Amanda, it actually derives from the word for "power" in the Zulu and Xhosa languages, two of the major languages of South Africa. Anti-Apartheid activists often used the phrase "Amandla Awethu!", meaning "power to the people," as a rallying cry at protests. There was also a 2002 documentary about the role of music in the downfall of Apartheid called "Amandla."

Polish form of Alice and Alicia

Alison by any spelling is now considered more of a mom name than a baby name. It's been trending downward for more than a decade, though it still makes the Top 1000.

In Greek mythology, Elysium, or the Elysian Fields, was the paradise inhabited by the blessed and righteous after death. Greek poet Homer attested that the Elysian Fields were on the western edge of Earth.

Common California place-name that could work for a girl.

With Katya catching on, this sound-related name could too, though there is the Batgirl association. Basha, Basya, Batyah, Bitya, Peshe, Pessel (Yiddish).

Former Miss Universe and former Mrs. Marc Anthony, Dayanara Torres has made a more lasting success of her name.

The saintly Italian form of the saintly Latin Benedicta.

Dariel is one of many similar forms and variations of different names—Dara, Dariela, Daria and Darya—that are all unusual and pretty if not quite authentic-feeling.

Abital is popular for boys as well as girls in Israel, but we rarely hear it here. In the Old Testament, Abital was one of King David's wives and the mother of his fifth son.

A name halfway between its old milquetoast image and a more jovial Irish-sounding contemporary one. Sounds more feminine than masculine these days.