180+ Southern Names for Girls and Boys

Sister is an old-timey nickname-name for girls, ranking in the Top 1000 as a proper name for girls until the beginning of the 20th century. But more often, Sister was used as a nickname in the truest sense of the word, not a short form ala Kathy but a nickname in the way that Chip and Bud are. Or maybe Junior is a more appropriate name analogy: Sister was sometimes the nickname given to the only girl in a family of boys, so literally a descriptive word name like Junior.

Variant of Maribel

An old English redhead name -- one of the few that doesn't begin with the letter r -- with references both to a famous French knight and a magical horse.

Not even for Brandy's twin brother.

Dacey is a delicate and lacy Irish name with real possibilities.

Pronounced Beecham, but still too fancy and fey. Likewise Beaufort (beautiful fort), Beaufoy (beautiful beech tree), and Beaumont (beautiful mountain).

Rather formal word name that has been used occasionally over the years, most notably for the autism activist and animal expert Temple Grandin.

If it's not too phlegmatic for you, this surname and name of a Scottish clan could honor a number of people, especially Alexander Fleming, the father of antibiotics, and Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond.

This name of a character in Faulkner's As I Lay Dying is short, sweet and Southern-sounding.

After Dallas, Austin, and Houston, the new cowboy on the block. Old-school Western nickname: Tex.

This biblical name is also a Hebrew term for someone from Yemen, since that country is south of Israel.

Clytie was a sea nymph who loved the sun god Helios, who spurned her. She turned into the heliotrope flower.

A slow and sultry southern choice that's definitely cool for babies of either gender.

Lacks the cachet of some newer place-names.