Hebrew Girls

A variant spelling of either Irish Shea or Hebrew Shai, Shay feels at once vintage and modern.

Cool meets Born Again meets Brad and Angelina, who made Shiloh an instant star when they chose it for their daughter. While Shiloh has risen from obscurity thanks to its celebrity baby use, it hasn't become a star the way brother names Maddox and Pax have. It entered the Top 1000 in 2007, one year after the birth of Ms. Jolie-Pitt.

Popular Israeli choice, ripe for adoption here. Parents who great up in the 1980s may remember animated heroine She-Ra, Princess of Power.

Friendly and relaxed choice used by singer Annie Lennox for her daughter; Tal is a unisex Hebrew version.

Talia is derived from the Hebrew elements tal, meaning "dew," and yah, in reference to God. In the mythology of one ancient sect, Talia was one of ten angels who attended the sun on its daily course. The occasionally homophonous name Thalia has unrelated Greek origins.

Tavora is an attractive option, based on the name of a mountain in northern Israel. But the meaning of Tavora and brother name Tavor is less than optimal.

Lively modern Hebrew name with a positive meaning.

A name with a double animal connection via two distinct origins, one Native American and the other Hebrew and Biblical. Yona is rare in the US but not unknown: It was given to a dozen baby girls in 2021.

When aspiring British writer Sadie Smith decided to change her name to the more distinctive and zippy Zadie at the age of fourteen, this attention-magnet name was born. But though it might sound like a modern initial-switch, Zadie was actually Number 539 in 1881, remaining in the Top 1000 for almost thirty years.

This is a Hebrew word name, created from the word zahav, meaning gold.

Zara has multiple origins, but most notably is a variation of Zahrah, a name derived from the Arabic zahrah, meaning "blooming flower." Zara can also be a diminutive of the Bulgarian name Zaharina, a feminine form of the Hebrew Zechariah. Today, Zara is heavily associated with the Spanish fast-fashion empire of the same name.

An appealing name almost unknown in our culture but with roots in several others; worldlier than cousins Celia and Delia.

More than zero, but perhaps too close to Vera.

A rarely heard Hebrew name whose zippy first initial Z transforms it from dated Yetta-like image to more lively Catherine Zeta Jones-like appeal.

A zippy little international name. The Hebrew name relates to the month of Israeli independence, while the Slavic Ziva (also spelled Živa and Siva) is a goddess of love, life and fertility.