wonderful girl names

This ready-for-revival nickname name recalls the old Gay Nineties and bicycles-built-for-two era. In the US, Nellie is one of the most popular unique girl names, lying just beneath the Top 1000. About five times as many baby girls are named Nellie in the US today as shorter form Nell.

An obscure yet on-trend name with two wonderful meanings associated with it. Neoma is one of the freshest celestial girl names with moon-related meanings, rarer than Luna or Phoebe but with the same fluid sound.

An offbeat possible replacement for the overused Melissa and Marisa, Nerissa was used by Shakespeare for Portia's witty confidante in The Merchant of Venice. Queen Elizabeth has a cousin named Nerissa.

This Old Testament female name has been one of the most popular girls’ names in Israel over the last decade. Also highly popular in Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, and a new entrant to the US Top 1000, it may be misunderstood here as an attempt to streamline and feminize the more familiar Noah – although it's a separate name with a separate derivation.

Unusual yet accessible Hawaiian choice. The Noel beginning makes it a possible name for baby girls born at Christmas.

An icy name with an operatic namesake in late 19th - early 20th century singer Lillian Allen Norton, better known by her stage name Nordica.

Invented for Bellini's opera, Norma had some star quality in the silent-screen and Marilyn Monroe days, but at this point it's a graying grandma in baby name limbo.

Odette's evil Swan Lake twin -- gives the name a sinuous, sensuous appeal.

Ollie is used less often as a nickname for the mega-popular Olivia or the stylish Olive than Ellie is for Eleanor or Allie for Allison. That may be because Ollie has a much longer use as a nickname for boys.

Lacks the vintage charm of the original Arabella, but with the love for all names Bella, it might appeal to some.

A pretty, feminissima name, more distinctive than Cynthia. George Bernard Shaw used it for a character in his play The Apple Cart, about which it is said 'Orinthia is a name full of magic for me.'

Orleanna was the young heroine of Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible.

Wears long blonde braids, carries a spear, and sings duets with Brunhild. But variations Ottilie, Ottiline, or Ottoline are both unusual and chic.

Ottilie is trending in the UK, where the pronounced T helps the name sound pretty and delicate, rather like Amelie and Elodie. Ottilie is less popular in the US, where many Americans pronounce it as a near-homonym for "oddly".