Six Letter Girl Names

Chic in the fifties, now kept in the public eye mainly by actress Zellweger; today's parents seek more moderne Gallic choices.

Would you really want to name your child after a Japanese anime movie called Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space.

French Canadian singer Dion made us notice this variation, but most parents would prefer the Selene spelling.

Veruca is a name Roald Dahl made up for the horrid little girl Veruca Salt in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. A modern rock band adopted the name, though few parents familiar with the original namesake and meaning would choose to pass it on to an innocent child. Verruca is another spelling, but don't use that one either.

Lilting and lovely. Entered the US Top 1000 for the first time in 2016.

Atalia or Athalia is a biblical name with a gory history. But it's an attractive name in step with the current fashion for A-starting and -ending names that are both distinctive and deeply rooted.

Kynlee had its moment in the spotlight during the 2010s, when it entered the US Top 1000 alongside its more popular counterpart Kinley. An All-American style name, it peaked in 2017 when it rose to #552, but it has been in decline ever since.

This rarely used Old Testament name will inevitably set off a connection to thirst. Thirza was historically used as both an independent name and as a nickname for Theresa.

A male name occasionally borrowed by the girls, as in Dorian Cramer, a long-running female character on the soap One Life to Live and famous midcentury model Dorian Leigh.

Maylin is following in the footsteps of Maelynn and Maelyn — two modern invented Mae and Lynn compounds that are on the rise.

Alcina is an operatic name, best-known as the name of the beautiful sorceress of the eponymous Handel opera drawn from the Orlando poems. Alcina and her sister Morgana live on an island where Alcina seduces every passing sailor but once their novelty wears off, changes them into plants, rocks, or animals. Alcina comes with modern-sounding short forms Alcie or Alsie, which feel more baby-ready now that names such as Elsie, Elsa, and Isla are becoming popular again.

Too close to "payola."

Fiery Native choice.

Triana is a Top 50 girls' name in Spain largely unknown and unused in the US: Only 10 baby girls in the US were given the name in 2017. Also a surname, Triana is the name of a distinctive neighborhood of Seville that's known for being home to artists, flamenco dancers, and bullfighters. Its name comes from the Roman emperor Trajan, which means "three rivers". Some sources list Triana as a short form of Katherine, a variation of Trina, and you can use it that way to honor an ancestral Katherine.

Among the first wave of word names used in the hippie era, it actually is a legitimate girl's name with a lot of luster.

The Elissa version of a long-popular name is fading in favor of Alyssa, Eliza and other variants. The legion of other forms and spellings includes Alissa, Allissa, Allyssa, Alyssa, Elissah, Ellisa, Ellissa, Ellyssa, Elys, Elyssa, Elyssia, Ilissa, Ilysa, Ilyssa, Lissa, Lissie, Lissy Lyssa.

This unusual name found in Scottish poetry would make a distinctive Gaelic pick.

Part Ava, part Evelyn, this name made its first appearance in the US Top 1000 in 2013 when it was one of the fastest-rising names of the year. Joining Gracelyn, Raelynn, and Emmalyn in the charts, Avalyn followed the same pattern of smooshing together a popular name with the suffix -lynn.