Alternatives to Luna

Linda will live forever in baby name history for toppling Mary from its four hundred year reign as Number 1. Queen of Names in 1947, Linda has fallen even further in favor than Mary today.

Lluvia is an intriguing and unique Spanish word name that is beginning to rise. Given to 90 baby girls in 2022, the Spanish word for "rain" joins other trending Spanish word names like Cielo, Sol, and Mar.

A hot starbaby name – chosen by Kelly Ripa, Chris Rock, Lisa Bonet, Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen, Carnie Wilson, and Annie Lennox, and used as the nickname of Madonna's Lourdes – Lola manages to feel fun and sassy without going over the top. Be warned, though: "Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets," to quote a song from the show Damn Yankees.

Unfashionable name, with the rather poignant lone sound.

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.

Louisa, a quaint vintage name, is an example of the idea that these days, old-style girls’ names are more fashionable when they end with an a rather than with an e, as in Julie/Julia, Diane/Diana. So for the next generation, Louisa may rise again, especially with the growing popularity of other Lou/Lu-starting names, like Lucy and Luna. Louisa reentered the US Top 1000 in 2014 after a 45 year absence.

The modern French take on Luna.

Properly spelled Luã, this is a light and bright alternative to mega-popular Luna, with the same celestial meaning. Lua is also an attractive choice for tech-heads, with Lua being a popular programming language.

Its association with the word liebe gives this name an endearing, adored aura.

Very much a boy's name in Italy, it's beginning to be seen as a unisex possibility here: actress Jennie Garth used it for her daughter. When spelled Lucca as in the Italian city, it can also be considered one of the place names along with Venezia, Roma, and Milana that make great Italian names for girls.

Lace-hankie name with Shakespearean pedigree.

Lucia is a lush, rich Latinate equivalent of Lucy, popular in Spain and throughout Latin America and also a cross-cultural favorite. You might be surprised to know that Lucia has ALWAYS ranked among the Top 1000 girl names in the US, though she's really taken off only since the turn of this century.

A versatile classic, Lucy is both sweet and solid, a saint's name, and the heroine of several great novels. First fashionable in England and Wales, Lucy is now a popular choice in the US, The Netherlands, and New Zealand.

There may have been a time when Americans who heard this name thought of something other than the rapper Ludacris, and there may come another such time at some point in the future, but for now, it's probably best left to the man who was born Christopher Bridges.

Luella is a sleeker spelling variant of the girls' name Louella and is now more popular than the original. Sweet, but lively, it was a popular name in the the early 19th century, but fell out of favor in the 50s. Now, after a 60 year absence, it's back in the charts, in the US and the UK.

This streamlined Italian and Spanish spelling of Louisa is currently very popular in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal, where it's usually spelt Luísa.

Lula is one of the livelier nickname-names with the fashionable double-L sound: It joins Lulu, Lila, Lily, and Lou among the trendiest names today. Lula might be short for Talula and sisters or for Lucy or Louise, or may stand on its own two adorable feet. Lula was actually a Top 50 name in the late 1880's and continued in the Top 100 for a couple of decades more.

One of the few Lu- names that you've probably never heard of, Lulie could prove a good alternative for Luna, Lucy, and Lula.

Lula has a firecracker personality, a singing and dancing extrovert. Interesting that Lulu was a Top 100 name when the Social Security list was born in 1880, but it's been sliding ever since and has not been in the Top 1000 for decades. Modern parents in love with Lulu might well reverse that trend.