Girl Baby Names

Amelia is one of the hottest girls' names, a successor to the megapopular Emma and Emily. Amelia, which spent several years at Number 1 in England, is now comfortably ensconced in the US Top 10.

Arden, the name of the magical forest in Shakespeare's As You Like It, is a stylish A name with a strong, straightforward image. Another reason to love Arden: its similarity to "ardent." Arden is solidly unisex, with the current gender distribution running about 60 percent girls and 40 percent boys.

This is a fresh new addition to the botanical list; comedian Gilbert Gottfried made it a real bouquet when he named his daughter Lily Aster. And the name of the little girl on television's Dexter sounds like Aster, but is actually spelled Astor, which brings it more high society name. Aster relates to the Greek word for star. In Ethiopia, Aster is pronounced "ah-STAIR", and is the Amharic variation of Biblical Esther.

Astrid has been a Scandinavian royal name since the tenth century, and many people associated it with the Swedish author of the Pippi Longstocking stories, Astrid Lindgren. Astrid is derived from the name Ástríðr, which is made up of the Old Norse elements that mean "god" and "beautiful."

Avery is a hugely popular name in the US, especially for girls. But while nearly four times as many girls as boys are named Avery today Avery's popularity is starting to soften for girls while it continues to strengthen for boys.

Beatrice is back. Stored in the attic for almost a century, the lovely Beatrice with its long literary (Shakespeare, Dante) and royal history is being looked at with fresh eyes by parents seeking a classic name with character and lots of upbeat nicknames, like Bea and Bee.

Combine the popularity of Betty White and Mad Men's glamorous Betty Draper Francis, with the residual sweetness of Ugly Betty's Betty Suarez, and the result is an impending return of the name. It's got presidential cred via Betty Ford and feminist history through Betty Friedan.

Clover is a charming, perky choice if you want to move beyond hothouse blooms like Rose and Lily, and it's recently become a new celeb favorite, chosen by both Neal McDonough and Natasha Gregson Wagner, who used it to honor her mother, Natalie Wood, one of whose most iconic films was Inside Daisy Clover.

Cora is a lovely, old-fashioned girls' that has been recently rejuvenated by its contemporary-feeling simplicity. In fact, Cora seemed headed straight for the top of the popularity list when the coronavirus pandemic somewhat weakened its appeal.

Nickname name from the era of Father Knows Best, though we can see it making something of a comeback, a la Clover and Pippa. Cricket has new potential especially since it has recently been chosen by Busy Philipps. Still, it's one of the quirkier girl names starting with C.

Delaney has been a popular surname-style choice since 90s, when it joined other Irish surnames such as Cassidy, Kennedy, and Mallory on the US Charts. Buoyant, bright, and cheerful, it ranks in the US Top 250 and is given to nearly 1300 babies every year.

Delia is a somewhat neglected southern charmer that stands on its own but also might be short for Adelia or Cordelia.

Melodic and lively, Delilah has cut itself (mostly) free from its treacherous past to become a contemporary favorite.

This spelling of Devon, as opposed to Devin or Devan, makes it a pretty and popular British place-name, evoking the beautiful county of farmlands and dramatic seascapes and moors in southwest England. A stylish ambi-gender name particularly well used in the early nineties, Devon remains an attractive option--though be aware that at this point in time, it is used more frequently for boys.

With both the Dillon and Dylan spellings, usage of this gender-neutral names runs about ten to one boys to girls. But Dylan is used about 20 times as often as Dillon for both genders. Which might be a vote in favor of Dillon, though for better or worse, this spellings distances the name from singer Bob and poet Thomas.

As the song says, "Dinah, is there anyone finer?" Dinah is a charming, underused Old Testament name with a rich literary and musical resume.

Dorothea is a flowing and romantic Victorian-sounding name which was popular in the early decades of the twentieth century, but has been off the charts since 1970. Definitely on the brink of a revival!

Eleanor's straightforward feminine image combined with its royal medieval history is striking just the right note for parents in search of a girls' name that combines substance and style.