Invented Girl Names

Charming comedic actress Niecy Nash -- who's drawn widespread acclaim in the last few years as the star of Getting On and Claws -- was originally born Carol Denise. Her stage name likely originated as a nickname for Denise, but it feels distinctive enough to stand on its own. Indeed, it already has, at least on BET's Being Mary Jane, in which it's the name of a recurring character.

Glinda is famous as the name of the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz, invented by author L. Frank Baum. but has there ever been a real life, non-fictional Glinda? Not in the US last year.

Cinderella stepsister type Victorian-valentine name.

There aren't many Glendas under forty.

Tayla is a hybrid name, ala Sayla and Mikayla. Recipe for sudden -- if brief -- new name success: take two of the trendiest choices, Taylor and Kayla, stir, and voila...Tayla, which made it onto the hit parade in the mid-1990s.

Eniko Hart makes this Japanese name familiar in the US. In Hungary, it's a literary name invented by the poet Mihály Vörösmarty in the 19th century. He based it on the name of the legendary mother of the Hungarian people, Enéh.

Aloma is a name invented for a Hawaiian dancer, the title character in a 1925 play later adapted twice as a film. But long before that, it was also used by the medieval scholar Ramón Llull, possibly as a feminine form of Alomar (from the Germanic name Aldemar, "old + famous"). The Catalan author Mercè Rodoreda used it for the heroine of her novel Aloma/, making it a classic Catalan literary choice.
It has not been used enough to make the US charts since the 1980s, but would fit with the trend for liquid-sounding, multicultural names like Alaia and Alina.

Spelling variation of Erin invented for a character on the science fiction TV show Farscape.

One of the many faux-Medieval names invented by George R.R. Martin for his A Song of Ice and Fire series of books, the source of HBO's Game of Thrones. Princess Myrcella Baratheon is the daughter of Cersei Lannister and (secretly) her brother Jaime. Their younger brother Tyrion sends her to Dorne to be married to the Dornish prince Trystane Martell to seal an alliance between the two houses.

Jaelyn is a name popular in many spellings and variations, including Jaelynn, Jaylin, and Jalen, and used for girls as well as boys.

Normani is a name made famous by the person it was invented for, singer Normani, whose birth name is Normani Kordei Hamilton. An unlikely combination of the operatic grandma name Norma and the designer surname Armani, Normani was given to more than 50 baby girls in the US last year.

A modern combo name created from Zoe + Ella – or, in the case of influential British Youtuber Zoella, from Zoë + Elizabeth.

A rarely used play on Amber, making it more feminine and both more modern and old-fashioned at the same time.

Swinging London songbird Petula Clark claims that this name was her father's invention; in any case it hasn't seen much copycat usage.

A unisex name with an appealing and nature inspired meaning, Kamari is currently more popular for boys in the US, though it is climbing the charts for girls too, after in entered the Top 1000 in 2019. Derived from the Arabic Qamar meaning "moon", it also appears as Kamaria is Swahili and Comorian.

Eclipsa Butterfly, also called Eclipsa the Queen of Darkness, is a character on the Disney Channel show Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Both Eclipsa and Solaria, the name of her mother, debuted on the charts in 2021, two years after the series finale.

A newcomer to the US popularity charts, likely influenced by the popularity of similar names Camila and Camilla.

Jaycee is a modern invented name, likely inspired by the similar sounding Casey and Macy.

Elphaba was invented by Gregory Maguire for the protagonist of his novel Wicked, which became the long-running Broadway play and then a movie. Elphaba is the name of the Wicked Witch of the West, unnamed in the Oz books, and is drawn from the initials of Oz creator L. Frank Baum.