Names That Mean Feminine

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.

There are not one but two notable modern women with this name: journalist Christiane Amanpour and physician/author Christiane Northrup. In Germany, the pronunciation is kris-tee-AH-na while in France, it's kris-tee-AHN — and in the U.S., there's sure to be confusion. While Christiane is not stylish, it's a strong, attractive, unusual-though-familiar name.

Has the fusty charm of recently excavated ancient Roman male names like Augustus and Magnus, which might just appeal to the fearless baby namer.

Frederique, the soigne name of Dutch-born model Frederique Van der Wal, is a lot more sophisticated than the dated MONIQUE. Still, as feminine forms of the Fred names go, we prefer the Italian Federica or the distant Spanish cousin Fernanda.

Philippine would be taken as an ethnic identification rather than a name in the U.S. Better try Philippa, though if you don't mind eternally correcting people, Philippine can make an interesting alternative. Pippa can be a short form of Philippine as well as Philippa.

Variation of Valentina with the same pared-down appeal as Maren.

The name recently given to their daughter by Susan and Robert Downey, Jr. is pronounced like Avery and may be seen as a kree8tiv spelling variation of that popular unisex name or a girlish short form of Avraham, the Biblical Hebrew form of Abraham.

Has an incomplete feeling....

Federica is the Latin version of Frederica, one of those formerly stuffy female names -- think Josephine and Eleanor -- that feels fresh and elegant again. And Federica has more energy without that first r.

Diminutive of Maxine, Maxima or Maximiliane

Andrina is best-known as an older sister of The Little Mermaid.

Unusual and appealing, Laurenza might make a perfect honor name for an ancestral Laura or Lawrence. Count Laurenza among the unknown-yet-usable Italian names for girls.

A Roman name that's unused by English speakers today, but might appeal as a shorter, lighter alternative to Aurelia. The Latin vocabulary word aula also meant "hall".

There are several better Cal- names that don't simply echo a male form.

Many old-school girl names are feminine forms of male names. This one gets an exotic twist from being the female version not of Basil but the form used very commonly in Greece, Vasilios. This uncommon name would make an interesting and rare V-starting choice.

Name that's virtually unknown here but has a lovely meaning and a simple sound and spelling.

This version of the more familiar Paulina is occasionally used in the US, though some may see it as relating more to the word pole than to the classic Paul.

Trevor with a New York accent.

Cyril has several attractive femaie forms, including the French Cyrielle as well as Cyrilla. The one downside of this unique name is that many English speakers will pronounce it like cereal, so you'll constantly be explaining, "No, it's siri-ELLE."

Javiera, pronounced ha-vee-AIR-a, is not as well used as twin brother JAVIER, but makes an attractive Latina choice.