Fantastical Names

Lucienne is a soft and ultra-sophisticated French-accented option in the Lucy family, one that could provide a fresh alternative to such fatigued Gallic choices as Danielle and Michelle.

The name of the Roman goddess of the moon, Luna is derived straight from the Latin word for moon, luna. Luna may be the name most likely to surprise someone from an older generation by its Top 10 status in the US and its widespread international popularity.

This rare sixth-century saint's name has a modern, merry feel.

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 jovial and jaunty Irish name, the title of a long-gone TV crime drama, this would make an appealing choice. Slight downside: Maddy is already a mega-popular nickname for Madeline/Madelyn and Madison, so this Mad- name might not feel as distinctive as the stats would suggest.

The French Miley? This trendy choice from Brittany, which is pronounced either as Miley or May-lee, is related to the traditional (male) saint's name Mael, traditionally feminized as Maelle.

Another feminine form of the old saint's name Mael. Spelled Maëlys, it is a very popular name in France today.

Magdalena is a pretty name forever associated with the fallen-yet-redeemed Mary Magdalen; often heard in the Hispanic community. But forward thinking parents are reviving Magdalena along with Magdalene and the unrelated but similar-sounding Marguerite.

This name made famous in the New Testament has gone from crusty grandma to sleek and chic in recent years, or is it months? The name's image is perhaps helped by the fact that Mary Magdalene was one of the most intriguing women inthe Bible, both a saint and a sinner.

This evocative Arabic name is often heard in India.

Malea, for familiar to Americans spelled Malia as in Malia Obama, is a Top 100 name in Germany and Switzerland. In the US, only about 40 baby girls were named Malea last year, versus 1100 named Malia.

This ancient Roman family name, first borne by the distinguished Marcus Claudius Marcellus and later by two popes, is a possibilty in the hot new category of names from antiquity.

Marcheline was the first name of Angelina Jolie's late mother, who was part French-Canadian, which Jolie and Brad Pitt used as the middle name for their twin daughter Vivienne. The name is related to the Latin Marcellus and Marcus, which come from Mars, the name of the God of War, and is often spelled Marceline. Jolie's mother's birth name was Marcia Lynne.

An old royal name in England and Scotland that's also spelled Marjorie. Popular in the Middle Ages and Tudor period, it was revived at the end of the 19th century, peaked in 1921 and dropped off the list in 1958, enough time to be reconsidered as a Margaret alternative. The name Margery Daw is familiar via the seesaw nursery rhyme and Margery Williams wrote the children's classic The Velveteen Rabbit..

While Marianna looks like a spelling variation of Mariana, the two names have different etymologies. While the one-N spelling derives from the Roman name Marianus, Marianna is a combination of two classics, Maria and Anna, used in many European languages.

Marin is a lovely county north of San Francisco, and a lovely baby name on the rise, one which sounds more refreshing than the more familiar Marina.