C names for girls

Cadeau puts a decidedly French-ified twist on the word name trend, but don't be surprised if you encounter ponies and poodles with the same moniker.

The musical word name Cadence, seemed to come out of nowhere to zoom up the charts; it rose over 700 spots between 2002 and 2004, and showed up in the Top 200 in 2007. It's gone down in the popular names list since then, though. Some might see it as a feminine relative of the popular Caden. Kadence and Kaydence are also rising.

Cadenza takes the popular CADENCE and gives it a more operatic flourish.

A Danish variant of Kaja (Kaya) or a Cornish word name derived from kaja "daisy".

Calista Flockhart opened the door to a whole flock of graceful and unusual Greek names like this. Some others are Calantha, Calla, Carissa, and Cassia.

If you love Calliope and Callista, you'll love Calanthe, which combines the trendiness of the Greek 'cal' names with the equally fashionable "the" ending (like Xanthe and Evanthe) and a connection to the beautiful Christmas Orchid. Color Calantha one of the more unusual and captivating names for Christmas babies.

A word name with fashionable o-ending that has associations with both the homespun fabric and the mottled cat. Alice Cooper named his daughter Calico decades ago.

Has not caught on as much as other Golden State place-names -- Sierra, Marin, West, or even Francisco -- probably because of its length.

Spelled with either one 'l' or two, Calista came to the fore in 1997 when Calista Flockhart hit it big as Ally McBeal. Flockhart, who bears her mother's middle name, didn't just introduce a name, she introduced a whole sensibility. Pretty and delicate, Calista is definitely worthy of consideration, especially for parents with Greek roots.

Calla is a lily name that is much more distinctive and delicate than Lily. Rarely heard today, it did appear in the popularity lists in the last decades of the nineteenth century.

Calliope is the name of the muse of epic poetry -- and also the musical instrument on the merry-go-round. Bold and creative, it would not be the easiest name for a girl lacking such qualities. It debuted in the US Top 1000 in 2016. While Americans usually pronounce this name with a long I sound and the emphasis on the second syllables, Greeks pronounce it with the emphasis on the third syllable -- ka-lee-OH-pee.

This hyper-rhythmic name has two evocative references. In Greek mythology, she was an island nymph, a daughter of Atlas, who delayed Odysseus from returning home. It is also a genre of West Indian music, originating in Trinidad and Tobago and largely popularized in the States by Harry Belafonte.

Most names that start with Cam- are on the upswing, so why not this obscure term for Wales as well as for a prehistoric time period.

This evocative term for a stone or shell carved in relief could make a striking first name for a girl, though she would have a starring role in her story, rather than a cameo.

The name of a small yellow bird that hasn't taken off in the way that some of its avian sisters – like Robin, Wren or Lark – have.

Candace, an ancient title of a dynasty of Ethiopian queens mentioned in the New Testament, is associated both with actress Candice Bergen and Sex and the City writer Candace Bushnell.

Chosen by the late Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa for their youngest daughter, there is renewed interest in Italian isola name Capri.

Cara is a simple, sweet, Italian endearment that enjoyed its greatest popularity from the 1970s through the 1990s, reaching a high of Number 189 in 1977. Despite the rising celebrity of English model/actress Cara Delevingne, who played Enchantress in Suicide Squad, Cara dropped off the Top 1000 in the US in 2020, perhaps because it sounds too close to the dreaded Karen.

While Charlotte and Caroline are considered stylish and classic members of the Charles family, this Germanic form peaked in the US at Number 76 in 1965. It fell out of favor in the 2010s, but recent years have seen it re-enter the Top 1000.