Forgotten Vintage Gems For Modern Baby Girls

A short form of the modern coinage Icelyn that feels cool as a short form, but too frosty for a full name.

Frequently cited as an example of cruel baby naming, à la Ima Hogg.

Ing was a powerful Norse god whose name inspired several modern variations -- though Inga has become a caricatured Scandinavian choice.

Isla is hot, Iona is cool – maybe it's time Iola got a second look? Last heard from on Carol Burnett's Mama's Family show, Iola feels like just the sort of uncommon, vowel-rich, vintage name that should be ripe for rediscovery.

This unusual Greek flower and color name has gained considerable recent attention via actress Ione Skye, who is the daughter of sixties folksinger Donovan.

Still evokes the spunky image of the character in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women.

This endearing nickname name is one Katherine pet form that predates all the Kathys and Katies, having been fairly common in the eighteenth century. With the current mini-craze for animal-related names, Kitty is sounding cute and cuddly again—she's already jumped back onto the U.K. list, at number 199.

A name better left where it is, embroidered on a fifties poodle skirt.

It sounds like a modern nature name, but Leafy was coined as a Puritan nickname for the girls' name Relief, which referred to the relief of Christ.

A rare and delicate choice, Lelia is a modern variation of an ancient Roman family name. It came to Britain in the mid-nineteenth century, following the publication of George Sand's popular romantic novel titled Lelia in 1833.

Letitia is a delicate, once prim and proper sounding name whose staid image has been unbuttoned by numerous phonetic spellings. The original, often used in Spanish-speaking families, would still make an attractive, delicate choice. After a solid century on the Top 1000 list, Letitia fell off in the early 1980s and has not yet returned.

An underused member of the Lily group of names. The spelling makes it clear you want it to rhyme with Willa.

In Nabokov's notorious novel, Lolita is the pet name given by the pedophilic narrator, Humbert Humbert, to his victim: a young girl called Dolores and nicknamed Lola or Lo by her mother. Still, it seems that a few parents are prepared to look past this problematic association, seeing this as a offbeat option for those who defy convention. We would recommend thinking seriously about the background of this name before bestowing it on your daughter.

Lou is usually a short form of Louise, Louisa, or Lucy in English-speaking countries, when Lou is used for girls at all. But in France and Germany, it's a fashionable choice all on its own, sure to gain even more widespread style credibility since Heidi Klum and Seal chose it for their daughter.

A pretty and plausible Latin name that's gotten a bad rap through the years via a link to Lucrezia Borgia, who, though long considered a demon poisoner, was actually a patron of learning and the arts.