Ending in -ora or -orah

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.

The skyrocketing success of singer Norah Jones brought this spelling of the name onto the pop charts in 2003. As well as being a spelling variant of Nora in English, it's also an alternative transcription of the Arabic name Nura, from Nur/Noor "light".

Lovely variation of an upstanding classic.

Short and slight, with great potential now that names like Ava, Ida and Orla are popular. Ora Beach is a tourist destination on Seram Island, Indonesia.

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.

Olde World Latin.

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.