Invented Girl Names

A nouveau take on Mabry, an English and Irish surname that derives from Mayberry. Undoubtedly, some parents are using Maebry as an invented name, a combination of the stylish name Mae and versatile syllable "bry."

Zayley -- which may also be styled Zaylee or Zaylie or Zalie, among other spellings -- is a member of the squad of names that include Bailey, Hayley, and Kaylee and is always welcoming new members.

Arlenis Sosa, the hot young supermodel from the Dominican Republic, is popularizing this lovely and unusual choice, related to Arlen or Arlene.

The Kimberly of the current age, but currently less popular than either Ember or Everly.

Rylen, an invented name related to Rylan, Ryland, and more distantly to Riley, is now in the girls' column thanks to its choice for their first daughter by football great Drew Brees and wife.

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

Cerie -- which may be thought of as a variation of Siri or Cherie or Ceri but in fact is related to none of them -- is the name of Liz Lemon's assistant Cerie Xerox on 30 Rock. The gorgeous Cerie's name is pronounced seh-REE. As baby names go, you could do worse. But you could also do a lot better.

The name Dasani was created by the Coca-Cola Company in 1999 for its bottled water product. Like other brands at the time, Coca-Cola tested various invented names and ultimately settled on Dasani because focus group data told them "the name is relaxing and suggests pureness and replenishment."

If you're torn between Marissa and Alyssa.

As modern "smoosh" names go, Starlynn is not bad. Over the past two years nearly 40 American girls have been given this name. There may be some confusion with the name Starling (a type of bird), but that shouldn't be too difficult to overcome. Beware, however, its similarity in sound to Russian dictator, Stalin.

Westlyn is a hot new girls' names, rising 350 percent in 2017 over the year before in official US statistics. It was given to just over 100 baby girls in 2017. Actor Josh Brolin named his daughter Westlyn Reign. Near-identical twin Westlynn is also growing in popularity, given to about half as many baby girls. Westlyn is a combination of word name West, also becoming more popular in various forms including Weston and Wesley for boys, and the long-used suffix lyn. West is a stylist and attractive unisex short form.

This newer sounding coalition of Jennifer and Vanessa is gaining in popularity.

The beauty brand name L’Oréal is rumored to derive from L’Auréale (literally translating to "the halo"), a popular hairstyle in France in the early 1900s. The first product created by Eugène Schueller, who would eventually go on to found L’Oréal, was a hair dye called Oréal. It is related to the French word for gold, or.

This Latin-sounding place-name, created by C. S. Lewis for his Chronicles, will undoubtedly be adopted by a few admiring parents.

This contemporary creation plays on a couple of trends by applying the attractive Z to the rhyming family of names including Hailey, Bailey, and Kayley. The -ee suffix is the icing on the cake. It first entered the US Top 1000 in 2015.

A nouveau creation inspired by Paisley.

Inspired by either Raleigh -- a North Carolina place-name and the surname of the explorer Sir Walter Raleigh - or by Raylee, a modern creation, blending Ray and Lee, Rayleigh has been steadily used since the beginning of the 2010s. Never as popular as Braylee, Kayleigh, Hailey, Jaylee, or Bailey, Rayleigh was given to around 160 girls - and 13 boys - in 2023.