Modern Baby Girl Names

A lucky word name that started to rise out of obscurity in the 2010s. Like Dream and True, Charm could be just one celebrity baby away from becoming a big trend.

Audrina is a name that owes its fame to overnight reality TV sensation Audrina Partridge, one of the original cast of the MTV reality series The Hills.

Heavily perfumed word name that peaked a few years ago.

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.

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.

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.

Has joined Chanel and Armani on the fashionista hit parade of names. The meaning of Dior is uncertain but it may be "gold".

This Bailey variation is the second most popular spelling for girls, and while the -ee ending does make it more feminine, it feels more substantial in the original form. Bailee and Bayley are two other, less common alternatives.

Among the children named Heaven are the daughters of TV personality Brooke Burke and rap singer Lil' Mo, who also has a daughter named God'iss Love. Some parents have taken to using Nevaeh instead—Heaven spelled backwards.

Wilda (or Wylda) has two widely divergent images. Pronounced vill-da, it feels like a cousin of Hilda: a sturdy and none-too-attractive prairie settler. But you can also think of her as wild-ah, as in the feminine of wild and wilder.

Stormi is like Sunni, with angst. If naming your child Storm or Stormy is asking for trouble, naming her Stormi -- as Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott did -- is asking for trouble of several different kinds. But we're sure she'll be adorable and as celebrity baby names go, this one is nearly normal.

Doting parents have begun to use names like Precious and Treasure, which are sweet for a baby, but might not hold up over the years. Treasure was used for nearly 300 baby girls in one recent year.

Some parents, including rapper Ludacris, are literally bestowing good karma on their children; it could just join the new spiritual name congregation.

Alita is a girls' name threatening to break into the Top 1000. There are many possible sources of this name, but the most plausible is that it's a short form for the popular Spanish name Adelita, a relative of Adele and Adeline.

Niko was used for 14 baby girls in the US last year, and twin sister Nico for another 30 -- though that's still far fewer than the 1500 baby boys who were given one of those two names.

The Wylie spelling (with that feminine Y) is much more common among girls than Wiley, but both have been climbing the ranks. Could Wiley be the next Riley?

Aubriella is a hybrid name that marries two trendy favorites, Aubrey and Ella, into one. It ranked in the US Top 1000 between 2014 and 2022, and while it never rose above the Top 800, it likely feels more popular than it actually is, thanks to its well used components and similarities to the likes of Gabriella and Annabella.

Berkeley, with an extra E, is the more familiar variation of this name, associated with the California school. But it's the streamlined Berkley that has proven itself to be more popular as a baby name, at least in the US.

Tied to the bluesy southern city and to the world heritage cite in Egypt after which it was named, Memphis is a modern choice with ancient history. Currently significantly more popular for boys in the US, as a place name with sounds reminiscent of Paris, Meredith and Emma, it has plenty of potential as a unisex choice.

Parents searching for a simple, peaceful name may be attracted to this one.