Modern Baby Girl Names

While Alivia may not have achieved the megapopularity of its mother name, it's still a widely used choice. Alivia combines the trendiness of A names with the trendiness of Olivia to create a choice that's slightly off the beaten track -- slightly being the operative word here. Is the distinction the initial A earns you worth a lifetime of explaining, "No, it's Alivia, with an A, not Olivia"? Your call, though ours would be no.

So sweet it makes our teeth hurt. It has appeared in the US Top 1000 every year since 2006, though it dropped a significant 136 places from 2014 to 2015, and kept dropping to Number 974 in 2016.

Sunshine was seen as a quintessential hippie name of the 70s, reaching as high as Number 536 in 1975. Now such names are making a bit of a retro comeback, seen, for example, as a character on Glee.

Strongly feminine variation of Colby with two prime associations: singer Colbie Caillat and actress Colbie Smulders (born Jacoba).

Name that makes a dramatic musical statement.

Not quite a nature name and not quite a surname — whatever Laken is or isn't, we know it's definitely a name to watch.

Charli may be the new Charlie, which is the cooler Charlotte. British singer-songwriter Charli (born Charlotte) XCX, creator of the hit album Brat, and TikTok star Charli D'Amelio popularized the Charli spelling.

The term for a female baker was Baxter, which ironically feels less appropriate for a baby girl than Baker itself. Josephine Baker was an American-born French entertainer, French Resistance agent, and civil rights activist.

Modern, mini nickname for Rebecca, much fresher than Becca or Becky.

A cool name, representing the Roman goddess of peace and offering a positive message to bestow upon a child. Pax is one of the most stylish new names that mean peace.

Is Milani an elaboration of Italian city name Milan or is it a modern form of Melanie? Milani has very quickly gained popularity over the last decade, potentially because of its trendy -i ending or its similarity to other Mil- favourites like Mila and Miles.

Combine two parts Paisley with one part Hazel and one part Harley, add a dash of Hayes, and voila: Haisley.

One of the designer baby names -- Chanel and Gucci are others -- that have appeared in this era of branding everything from your purse to your offspring. It helps that the name is similar to more established choices, such as Amani, Marnie, Amy, and Aria.

One of the most girlish offshoots of Braeden.

An inspirational and aspirational word name that evokes ideas of loyalty, faith, honesty, and accuracy, True is a unisex name, which is just slightly more popular for boys. Like an updated form of Trudy and Prue and with the virtuous feel of Grace, Faith, and Hope, True was given to around 200 girls in 2023.

The calming variety of marijuana, used as a baby name every year since 1992.

Baylor is a possible occupational alternative to the tired Taylor, especially for a horse lover.

While this African place-name is much more popular for boys, nearly 40 girls were named Zaire last year. Among African baby names, this is one of the best-known in the US.

New Presidential name, if you're ready to move beyond Lincoln and Jefferson. At the turn of the last century, during the original McKinley's heyday, as a first name it almost reached the Top 100.

Oaklyn is one of the oak-related names moving up the popularity charts, along with more popular sister Oakley and near-identical twin Oaklynn. The Oaklynn spelling used for three times as many baby girls as Oaklyn -- 1800 vs. 600.