Daring Middle Names for Girls

This name of the bright orange flower found in Asia has been used occasionally in English-speaking countries. A notable namesake is Tiger Lily, the Native American princess from Peter Pan. Read more about Tiger Lily and other Disney Princess Names in our featured blog.

This name of the queen of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream has a delicate, lacy charm similar to Tatiana's, but that first syllable could cause embarrassing problems.

As a name, Topaz is sophisticated and sultry; as a golden gem, it's said to have healing and energizing properties and also to bring good luck-- and being the birthstone for November it's one of the perfect names for November babies, with that final 'z' giving it some extra sizzle.

Doting parents have begun to use names like Precious and Treasure, which are sweet for a baby, but might not hold up over the years. Treasure was used for nearly 300 baby girls in one recent year.

When actress Susan Ker Weld changed her name to Tuesday, she opened up a whole calendar of possibilities. This was decades before the arrival of Sunday Rose Urban.

With geographical features like Savannah and Sierra and increasingly getting the baby-name treatment, could icy Tundra also see some use? It's only appeared six times on the Social Security rankings, all in the 1960s and 70s.

Turquoise is similar in hue to Aqua, which is one of the cool new color names on the palette. Other blue-hued options: Cerulean, Cyan, Indigo, or Blue itself.

For a girl, we'd say Val-en-teen, though many would insist on pronouncing it like the holiday.

Velvet is a name that couldn't possibly be softer or more luxuriant. Many people have fond memories of it via the character of Velvet Brown, played by the young Elizabeth Taylor in National Velvet, an intrepid young woman willing to masquerade as a boy to race her horse in a dangerous steeplechase.

This is the Italian way to say Venice -- Ven-ETZ-ee-a -- but you might also opt for the softer Venetia or Venice itself.

The name of a heavenly planet and the Roman goddess of beauty and love was an intimidating no-no until tennis champ Venus Williams put an athletic, modern spin on it.

Verona is a scenic place-name with the added attraction of a Shakespearean connection, as in Two Gentlemen of....

Viridiana is a frillier version of the medieval name Viridis, meaning green. Viridiana briefly made it into the top 1000 in the US in the 1990s.

Whimsy is a new entry to the ever-expanding word name lexicon, sister for Pixie and Bliss. While it has an undeniable offbeat English aristocratic charm (maybe we're thinking of Dorothy Sayers' fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey, whose middle name was Death?), we see this as more fitting for a middle than a first name.

The name Wilder is still used more than 90 percent of the time for boys, but it's being used quietly for girls too. with 50 receiving the name in a recent year. Along with the rest of the Wild and Wiley family, it's one of the hottest baby names starting with W. Certainly giving your child of either gender such a wilder name is setting them up for a certain kind of character and future.

A frilly southern-accented flower name yet to be planted on many birth certificates. In the language of flowers, the wisteria is a symbol of devotion. It is named for American horticulturalist John Caspar Wister.