Girls Names from YA Fantasy

  1. Rosalie
    • Origin:

      French variation of Latin Rosalia
    • Meaning:

      "rose"
    • Description:

      Rosalie hit its apex in 1938 and then slid straight downhill until it fell off the U.S. Top 1000 completely in the 1980s, only to spring back to life in 2009 as the name of a character in the Twilight series. The beautiful vampire Rosalie Hale has breathed fresh life back into this mid-century name, and the fact that the character is both sympathetic and relatively minor means Rosalie has the chance to thrive again as a baby name without feeling unduly tied to Twilight.
  2. Rose
    • Origin:

      Latin
    • Meaning:

      "rose, a flower"
    • Description:

      Rose is derived from the Latin rosa, which referred to the flower. There is also evidence to suggest it was a Norman variation of the Germanic name Hrodohaidis, meaning "famous type," and also Hros, "horse". In Old English it was translated as Roese and Rohese.
  3. Ruby
    • Origin:

      Latin
    • Meaning:

      "deep red precious stone"
    • Description:

      Vibrant, sassy, and bubbly, Ruby is a vintage gem that hasn’t lost any of its sparkle. Currently popular in a number of English-speaking countries, Ruby is proof of the 100 Year Rule, trending again for the first time since its heyday in the 1910s.
  4. Safiya
    • Origin:

      Arabic
    • Meaning:

      "pure"
    • Description:

      The soft and pretty name of one of the wives of the Prophet Muhammad.
  5. Shahrzad
    • Tea
      • Origin:

        Short form of Dorotea or Mattea
      • Meaning:

        "gift of God"
      • Description:

        As Theo and Thea get more popular, so do Teo and Tea, short forms of the Latinate variations of Theodore and Matthew -- which include Dorotea and Mattea. But like Theo and Thea, Tea can stand perfectly well on its own and blends seamlessly into any Anglophone or European culture, if that is your aim. Some may argue that the Tea version is the prettiest and it's certainly the sleekest.
    • Yelena
      • Origin:

        Russian variation of Helen
      • Meaning:

        "bright, shining one"
      • Description:

        One of many international versions of this classic.
    • Zoya
      • Origin:

        Russian and Greek variation of Zoe, Greek
      • Meaning:

        "life"
      • Description:

        Now that Zoe is getting wildly popular in the U.S. and the U.K. -- one poll puts it at number one in Wales -- parents may start hunting down fresh twists like this.