525+ European Names for Girls and Boys

Solal is a trendy choice in France, where it's primarily a literary name. It featured in an eponymous novel by Albert Cohen published in 1930, as well as two sequels. Another famous French bearer is the singer Solal, born Laurent Morhain, known for his roles in musical comedies. The grandson of former French president Nicolas Sarkozy is also named Solal.

Zadig is the name of the hero of a novella by Voltaire, gaining popularity in modern France as a quirky-chic choice.

Eliška is warm and friendly, in the Misha, Sasha mode.

Pascoe was popular in medieval times and is definitely deserving of revival, especially for a child born in the Easter season. Other spellings are Pasco and Pascow.

Festive name of the wife of Salvador Dali. In Spanish, Gala comes from the Roman name Galla, a feminine form of Gallus meaning "rooster" or "a person from Gaul".

Some sources say Artis is a form of Arthur, and it certainly has the same root and meaning of bear. But Artis is a name in its own right with a 60-year history on the US Top 1000, from about 1900 until the early 1960s.

Nope, not a misspelling of Sexton or a number name. This Old Norse name is actually a name denoting victory and in the Swedish Top 100..

Faustine has a positive meaning, although the association with the character who sold his soul to the devil may be off-putting. This name is among the Top 100 girls' names in France, but was given to fewer than five baby girls in the US last year.

Variation of Thaddeus.

Ylva may look like it belongs with the Eva family of names, but it actually derives from Ulf, a name meaning "wolf." It's not a very intuitive name to English-speakers, and likely won't get picked up in the US anytime soon. At last count, it was only given to five American baby girls.

Piero is elegant, melodic, appealing. Just picture the muted frescoes of Renaissance artist Piero della Francesca.

Commonly heard in its native country, and might get a boost here too, now that Alanis Morrissette has used it for her son Ever's middle name.

Madelief is an uncommon name but not unheard of in the Netherlands, where 123 girls were called Madelief in one recent year. With its soft sounds and similarities to all those "Madeleine" type names as well as names ending in "eef/eev" sounds (Aoife, Eve, Genevieve), Madelief has potential in English-speaking countries to be a fresh and pleasant change from Daisy, Margaret and Madeleine.

A romantic take on Ariadne, who in Greek mythology was the daughter of King Minos of Crete. She saw over the labyrinth, where she later helped Theseus defeat the Minotaur.

Putting the emphasis on the "elle" softens a name that seems at once futuristic and medieval.

Widespread popularity in the Latino community has propelled this name up the charts in the US. Ximena is the more popular version, given to about three times as many baby girls as Jimena, maybe because of that edgy initial X.

Pippi Longstocking author Astrid Lindgren invented the name Ronja for her book Ronja, the Robber's Daughter. She was inspired by the lake Juronjaure, located in Norrbotten, Sweden.

An extremely popular choice in its native Hungary (at #3 for the past decade), Levente is an ancient Hungarian royal name, in use since at least the 10th century. This name sounds the same but has a different derivation to the Turkish name Levent.