Mermaid Names

Sounds like Serena, but refers to the mythological sirens -- half woman, half bird -- who virtually sang men to death. Not a great role model for your little girl.

The image of the lovely Lady Sybil, tragic youngest daughter of the Crawley family on Downton Abbey is likely to go a long way towards reviving this almost forgotten name, off the list since 1966 and most popular in the 1920s and '30s.

This name of the mythological mother of Achilles might suffer from English speakers making the rhyming association to the word fetus. The traditional Greek pronunciation might alleviate that problem.

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.

Viviane is one of a cluster of names that may or may not be related. They include the Latin Viviana, which means life, and its modern forms Vivian and the French form Vivienne. But Vivien, pronounced identically, may be a literary invention connected instead to Ninian. Some sources also connect the Viv variations to the Irish Bebinn, the name of the goddess of childbirth, or Bevin.

Waverly, with its literary resonance and lilting three-syllable sound, could well become the next generation's successor to Kimberly. Its upper-crusty surname feel places it among the new stylish English names for girls, successors to Ashley and Whitney.