Awesome Finnish Names

This variant of Helen is used across Europe, in France, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, and it's native Hungary. Reminiscent of Elena, Leona, Ilaria, Fiona and Lola, it nevertheless remains a rarity in the US.

Ing was a powerful Norse god whose name inspired several modern variations -- though Inga has become a caricatured Scandinavian choice.

Serene Irene, the name of the Greek goddess of peace and one of the most familiar Greek goddess names, was hugely popular in ancient Rome and again in the United States a hundred years ago.

Irina is a Russian ballet-inflected classic, one of the Three Sisters in the Chekhov play. While some Americans will pronounce this like Irene with three syllables, the pronunciation used throughout Europe, where it's widely used, starts with a short i as in it or if and a strong emphasis on the second syllable.

Iris has so much going for it. It's a fashionable flower name. It's a mythological name, from the Greek goddess of the rainbow. And it's a classic name, always ranking in the girls' Top 1000 but now at its highest point ever.

Jenna was first noted on the 1980s TV series Dallas, later associated with one of the First Twin Daughters. Jenna is still being used, but no longer feels much fresher than Jennifer. You can also spell it Jena, but then many people will pronounce it jeen-a, as in Gina.

In English, Jere could be an alternative spelling to Jerry, a short form of Jeremy, Jerald, Jeremiah and similar. In Croatian and Finnish, however, it is pronounced "YEH-reh" and is used as a diminutive and stand alone form of Jeronim (Croation for Jerome) and for Jeremias (the Finnish form of Jeremiah).

Johanna is the version of this name used in Holland, Germany, and Scandinavia. The extra h makes Johanna a slightly more dignified version of Joanna.

A Scandinavian short form of Johanna, properly pronounced with a Y sound at the start, but would likely be read as the more prosaic "John-a" in an English-speaking context.

Julia was an ancient Roman imperial name given to females in the house of a Julius, as in Caesar. Its origin is shrouded in history, but possible roots include Latin iuvenis, meaning "youthfu"; Greek ioulos, meaning "downy-bearded"; or Jovis, a form of Jupiter, which means "sky father".