Girl's Names

Rode two rockets to fame, with actress Winona Ryder and singer Wynonna Judd. Winona entered the Top 1000 for the first time since 1957 this past year in 2022, following in the footsteps of trending short form Winnie.

Winslow's most famous reference may be male painter Winslow Homer, but as a name it's beginning to be on the rise for girls. Adorable nickname Winnie may be the reason. Other unusual painterly possibilities for either sex: O'Keeffe, Hopper, and just plain Painter.

Sweet, modern descriptive name, but perhaps a little too cute for its own good.

A frilly southern-accented flower name yet to be planted on many birth certificates. In the language of flowers, the wisteria is a symbol of devotion. It is named for American horticulturalist John Caspar Wister.

Wylie is one Celtic surname with as much appeal for girls as for boys. Wylie is ripe for spelling variations: Wiley is as appropriate as Wylie but when you spell it Wylei, as Corey Parker did for his son, you're getting into yooneek naming territory.

Zinnia is an unusual floral choice with a bit more edge and energy than most and beginning to find its way onto namers' wish lists of botanical possibilities. Named after an eighteenth German botanist called Johann Gottfried Zinn, it appears in Roald Dahl's Matilda as the young protagonist's mother.

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

This unusual and alluring choice was used by David Mamet for his daughter, who is now grown and an actress on the hit show Girls.