A - Z All My Favorite Names

Promise is one of those word names with an uplifting meaning that is making inroads as a girls' name, like sisters Dream and Serenity. How promising is Promise as a first name? Our try at cleverness illustrates perhaps the biggest problem with naming your baby girl Promise: It will be difficult for people to resist making bad puns on the name. We promise (argh) you'll be tired of hearing them well before your baby Promise's first birthday.

Lithe and leonine name chosen for her daughter by singer Erykah Badu -- whose other child has the number name Seven.

A puritan virtue name that's only slightly less challenging than Chastity. It was used for nearly 20 baby girls in the contemporary US in one recent year.

This may be a bit quirky to make it as a name, especially in first place. If you love it, you might try it in the middle.

Queen has seen a revival in recent times, reaching its record high in 2018 with 280 births — it has remained steady since then. Previously, Queen saw a peak in the 1920s, but its origins go back even further than that. Queen was a noted name among enslaved people in America, along with other royal choices such as Duke, Squire, and Prince.

Wisecracking waitress name stuck in the luncheonette. Started as nickname for girls named Regina -- queen in Latin -- now mostly a canine choice.

Quill is a unique possibility for the child of writers -- even if they do use computers rather than pens; could also serve as a rhyming tribute to an ancestor named Gil, Phil, or Bill (or Jill).

A heroine in a Victorian novel written with a quill pen, has an unusual, offbeat charm.