Of Nature

One of the rarest of the flower names, that of the blossom celebrated in Japan as a symbol of the sun and a possible object of meditation. One of the rare flower names counted among names for autumn babies, Chrysanthemum is also one of the most unusual nature-themed girl names starting with C.

This kind of plainspoken nature name (think River and Sunshine) may still carry a whiff of the hippie, but this one has a nice, airy feel.

Soaring astral name has a great gender-free feel. It also has a pleasing christmas connotation, courtesy of the reindeer listed in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

A place name from Venezuela believed to come from an indigenous word for wind, this can make an innovative choice for a child of either sex.

Cove is an up-and-coming nature name whose cool sound and peaceful image saw it rising for both sexes... until COVID-19 hit. It remained steady in use for boys in 2021, but actually increased for girls, although it remains a seriously rare and distinctive choice for either gender.

Nickname name from the era of Father Knows Best, though we can see it making something of a comeback, a la Clover and Pippa. Cricket has new potential especially since it has recently been chosen by Busy Philipps. Still, it's one of the quirkier girl names starting with C.

Cyan is a highly unusual blue-green color name, a classmate of Celadon and Cerulean. It does come with the homey nickname Cy.

Poetic though thorny.

One of the flower names, used occasionally in Britain (where it's pronounced DAY-lee-a). It seems to have recovered from what was perceived as a slightly affected la-di-dah air. The flower was named in honor of the pioneering Swedish botanist Andreas Dahl, which means dale.

In Greek mythology, Daphne was the nymph daughter of Peneus, a river god. Peneus saved Daphne from Apollo’s romantic obsessions by transforming her into a laurel tree. It is from this myth that the plant genus daphne, which contains the laurel species, gets its name.

Delphine is a sleek, chic French name with two nature associations — the dolphin and the delphinium, a bluebell-like flower, a well as a link to the ancient city of Delphi, which the Greeks believed to be the womb of the earth. All of these derive from the Greek word delphus "womb".

Subtle but clear unisex way to signal peace, especially in middle place.

Dune is a name of several layers. It's a modern nature name, like Ocean, Bay and Reef, although rarer, conjuring up images of breezy sand dunes on summer beach days.

This Welsh nature name that can be pronounced exactly like the male Ira. Or, to avoid confusion, you could just name her Snow.

Strong, straight, and leafy, one of the new tree names used mostly as middles.

Este -- think Esme with a t -- comes to us via one of the rocking sisters in the musical group Haim. For long best known as the Esther diminutive used by cosmetics queen Estee Lauder, Este is a slimmed-down version that feels chicer for our star-struck times. While mother name Esther has Persian origins and impressive Biblical roots, it's a name used in a wide range of cultures.

Of all the botanicals, Fern has been one of the slowest to move back from the front parlor into the nursery, despite the appealing girl character in the children's classic Charlotte's Web. Fern was most popular from the turn of the last century through the 1940s, reaching a high of #152 in 1916. We can certainly see her rejoining the long list of popular greenery names.