Names That Are Variations

Juana has not achieved the popularity in the U.S. of the male version Juan. Whereas Juan has made it almost to the Top 50 on the U. S. hit parade, sister Juana has barely entered the thousand most popular.

The Isidora spelling, though equally legitimate, is about 90 percent less common than Isadora.

The strong and unusual name of a medieval (male) saint and a contemporary (female) novelist, Benilde Little.

See TALIA.

Variation of Sindri

An interesting and appealingly international spin on Barbara, with a lot of charm and energy.

Sounds incomplete, like a pet form of Miranda.

Emani is more popular than the original Iman, for girls at least. About 200 baby girls were named Emani in the US last year, while 80 girls were named Iman. Iman is quite gender-neutral, with 60 baby boys given the name, while only a handful of baby boys were named Emani.

We get that the "s" in Louis is confusing if you want it to be pronounced "lewee" — which is why Louie exists. Losing the "e" gains it nothing.

Ioanna may be an original spin on the Joanna family, but American tongues may have trouble wrapping themselves around all its vowels. Ioanna is pronounced ee-oh-ah-nah.

Anglicizing it to a phonetic pronunciation might make it easier.

Right up there on the Hispanic popularity list.

Bence has been the most popular boy name in Hungary for over a decade — it’s held the top spot since 2003, the year Hungary began releasing its baby name data. Bence is the Hungarian translation of Vincent and is also occasionally used as a nickname for Benedek.

More commonly spelled FEODORA, a charming choice for the intrepid baby namer, especially with its dynamic nickname FEO (pronounced FAY-o).

Katharina is an attractive form of Katherine and a great way to update a classic. But English speakers may want to choose the Katerina or Katarina spelling to avoid pronunciation confusion.

While this version of the name has never made it into the US Top 1000, it is nonetheless slowly on the rise. In 2015, 162 girls were given this name. The related Hattie is the highest it's ever been, currently at Number 488. This spelling could also supply an accessible nickname to the rising Jewish appellation Hadassah.

Y is often used to feminize a variant spelling of a name, though of course there's nothing intrinsically gendered about it. The Karsyn spelling is slightly off its peak for girls, but rising for boys.

Paulo suffers in comparison to the richer and more authentic-sounding Paolo.

One of the few masculine names to derive from a feminine name — in this case, Clara. Clarus is the name of a French saint, the patron saint of tailors.