An Aura About Her

The name of an ancient country located in South Asia Minor, perfect for someone looking for a rare and feminine name with history.

Laura is a hauntingly evocative perennial, never trendy, never dated, feminine without being fussy, with literary links stretching back to Dante. All this makes Laura a more solid choice than any of its more decorative counterparts and one of the most classic girl names starting with L.

A lovely (and uncommon) longer form for Nora, one of the most fashionable international nickname names around. Lenora fell off the US charts in the 70s, but just re-entered in 2022 as parents' love for short forms Leni and Nora is growing.

Its mellifluous sound makes Leonora--which has a rich history and a tie to the popular Leo names-- a keen possibility for revival. Though it's been hiding below the Top 1000 since the 1940s, Leonora is being rediscovered by stylish parents in the US and Europe.

A beautiful Hebrew name that would work perfectly for a child today.

Somber, almost mournful name that still has a lovely sound.

Unusual and lush Roman name adopted, improbably, by the Puritans.

Nora is a lovely, refined name that conjures up images of Belle Epoch ladies in fur-trimmed coats skating in Central Park. Long seen as a quintessentially Irish name though its roots are not in Ireland, Nora is a quietly stylish favorite that's tiptoed to the top of the popularity ladder.

Pandora has occasionally been used by the British gentry (for girls with brothers who might be called Peregrine) and is now starting to be heard in the US too: It was given to 34 baby girls last year.

This lovely name is a softened French version of Tziporah, the biblical wife of Moses. Unfortunately, in the US, it's become attached to the cosmetics franchise.

A simple and pretty multicultural name: as a Japanese name, it's unisex and means "sky"; as a Korean name, it's feminine and means "conch shell".

Theodora is one of the most revival-worthy of the charmingly old-fashioned Victorian valentine names, softly evocative but still substantial, as is the reversed-syllable Dorothea.

Thora, related to Thor, is the ancient Norse thunder goddess name that's much softer and gentler than its meaning suggests. A noted bearer is actress Thora Birch.

There are many variations of this name, with or without the initial T and the final h, with one p or two. In the Bible she was the wife of Moses.

Zora is a meaningful literary heroine name honoring Zora Neale Hurston, an important black writer and leader of the Harlem Renaissance.