Badass Girl Names

Marvel, now a character name in The Hunger Games series, was a miracle name of yesterday, on the girls' Social Security list until 1941 and reaching a high of 487 at the turn of the last century, when Marva was also in style.

Justina was the pre-Justine feminization of Justin, now a possible alternative to Christina. Oddly, while Justine feels like a name unto itself, Justina feels like a pinned-together feminization in the mold of Richarda or Benjamina. Still, it may appeal as one of the unusual-yet-familiar girl names starting with J.

Alabama is a hot southern place-name, picking up from Georgia and Savannah. This is not a geographical name come lately, though--there have been girls named Alabama dating back well over a century.

Cool and bluesy southern city name chosen by musician-activist Bono for his daughter.

Legacy is proof that any attractive-sounding word can be turned into a name, and this one has the added attractions of an inspirational meaning and a cool creative namesake -- hot young artist Legacy Russell.

Heard in Spain more as a last name, but would work here as an alluring first.

This name gained widespread attention via the actress Taraji P. Henson, who was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. A variant is Taraja.

Tornado first meant thunderstorm and only later came to mean whirlwind, the common modern meaning. More recently, Tornado is the first name of a tennis-playing teen whose sister is called the equally attention-getting Hurricane. Both names work for either gender, if you think you can withstand the storm jokes.

Technically a boy's name, but certainly one that would work in the Western culture for a girl, especially after the release of Black Panther, in which it was the name of Lupita Nyong'o's fiery character. Nakia lies outside the Top 1000 but is among the fastest-rising names for both girls and boys.

Jenica might work if you can't decide between Jennifer and Jessica. It's certainly a more distinctive option.

Aviator is equally appropriate for a girl, of course, but lovers of Beatrix and Bellatrix might appreciate the spiky sound of this unique occupational name.

Spelling variation of Tziporah.

Lozen is the name of a female Apache warrior and medicine woman who fought with Geronimo in the 19th century. The sister of the warrior called Victorio, Lozen was the name chosen by soccer star Hope Solo and football player Jerramy Stevens for their daughter, Lozen Orianna Judith, twin of Vittorio Genghis.

Libertad is the forceful name recently given to his daughter by Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal. English equivalent Liberty has been in use for girls for some time. Libertad might be considered a Spanish virtue name or word name. See our list of other Spanish word names.

Menace fits into the growing group of badass baby names that work for boys or girls. Menace is exceedingly rare but has future possibilities.