Traveling Lite Baby Names

The French spelling of Lucy feels particularly light and shimmery.

Edison's middle name is a fabulous option for parents looking for something with history and a soft sound. This could be the name you're looking for if you like Tesla's scientific pedigree but think that it has become too corporate with the advent of Elon Musk's company.

Accessible and attractive Tibetan name used for both sexes.

Amal is an attractive name with a wonderful meaning that has long been used in many Middle Eastern countries, especially Lebanon (and migrant communities). It is of course getting a lot more coverage now since the fame of international human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney, who's singlehandedly made this one of the best-known Arabic names for girls.

Mavi is a gender-neutral Turkish name with a colorful meaning and a trendy feel. Mavi is also the name of a jeans company. This is one we expect to hear more of.

One of the most popular names in Scandinavia, Freja--or Freyja--was a major deity of Norse paganism. Beautiful, blonde and blue-eyed, she was the goddess of love, beauty and fertility. In the US, the name is most likely spelled Freya.

A thirteenth-century Tuscan saint, patron of homemakers, Zita is the kind of name that sounded really creative in an earlier era.

The pronunciation may be slightly different—toe-MAHS—though some parents use this as a phonetic spelling of Thomas.

Manly almost to the point of macho.

A sweet way—literally—to honor a Melissa or a Pamela.

Val Kilmer is so macho, you almost forget he bears this slight girls' nickname.

Enticing modern nickname name possibility.

A name that's unknown in the US and Britain but is popular as a nature name in Finland. May also be known as a Hungarian variation of Amelia and a Spanish form of Wilhelmina.

Could be confused with the much less captivating Leanne.

Turkish and Bosnian form of the Arabic name Asma, with the powerful meaning of "supreme".

Tove is a modern variation of an Old Norse name, related to Thor. Tuva is a form of the name popular in modern Scandinavia.

Both Karla and Carla are sliding down the ranks, though Karla remains far more popular in the USA than Carla.

A modernization of the Hebrew Rivka, which doesn't sound so modern anymore.

Nela is a pretty if slight name that ranks among the Top 1000 for girls in the UK. It is commonly used throughout Europe as a short form for any range of names ending in -nela including Cornelia and Fenella, though it is widely used on its own.