Five Letter Girl Names

Audacious offshoot of Roxanne, the wayward heroine of the musical Chicago.

There are lots of Kathy moms and grandmas but very few babies, most of whom are now called Kate or Katie.

The Etain (or more properly Étaín) of Irish mythology was a beautiful fairy turned into a fly (or in some versions, a butterfly), by a jealous queen. The insect Étaín fell into a glass of milk and was swallowed by yet another queen, then reborn as a beautiful maiden. Its pronunciation is similar to the number eighteen.

Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek lends a large dollop of glamour to this name that would otherwise resemble the middle-aged Selma.

Many popular Dutch short forms are drawn from the middle or end of their proper name: Sanne from Susanne, Bas from Sebastian. Jette could be from a name like Henriette or Mariette.

One of the few Lu- names that you've probably never heard of, Lulie could prove a good alternative for Luna, Lucy, and Lula.

A variation of the name Nere, both choices are distinctive and accessible. In the Top 20 in Spain.

This once vivacious midcentury nickname is rarely used for modern babies.

Name of a town in Scotland that has a feminine strength.

Alita is a girls' name threatening to break into the Top 1000. There are many possible sources of this name, but the most plausible is that it's a short form for the popular Spanish name Adelita, a relative of Adele and Adeline.

Ailla is a name with many possible derivations, including Cornish (possibly meaning "beautiful"), French (deriving from Ailler, meaing Garlic), Finnish (related to Helga) and Turkish (where it may have a meaning connected to moonlight). None of these derivations are very clear; what is certain is that Ailla is a name with a beautiful sound and an international flavor.

Elula, female derivation of Elul, the name of the sixth month on the Hebrew calendar, was used by Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen for their second daughter. The couple kept their unusual choice under wraps for several months, perhaps to get a head start on the hordes of fans who might adopt the fashionable-yet-unusual double-l name for their own. Reminiscent of (though not actually related to) Eulala, the stylish pick of Marcia Gay Harden for her daughter. Lula, Lulu, or Lu could be short forms.

An ancient Roman name that has never made it into the modern world.

Taina is a feminine Tupi name meaning "star." A nice choice for those looking for something celestial but less common than Stella or Astrid. Taina also means "secret" in Russian and is a Finnish form of Tatiana.

Attractive and equally intriguing alternative to Katya.

Minty isn't a fresh word name — it's an old-fashioned nickname for Araminta, the romantic smoosh name coined by playwright William Congreve in 1693.

Ethne is one of the many Irish Gaelic names whose spelling and pronunciation -- it's en-ya -- will prove endlessly confusing to English speakers.

Author Toni Morrison is an acknowledged master of naming, and Sethe, the name of one of the main characters of Beloved, which can be pronounced as Seth or Seth-eh, relates to the male biblical name Seth but is also the name of the Egyptian god of confusion.