Animal Names for Girls

Soft and delicate French name rarely heard here.

The Elissa version of a long-popular name is fading in favor of Alyssa, Eliza and other variants. The legion of other forms and spellings includes Alissa, Allissa, Allyssa, Alyssa, Elissah, Ellisa, Ellissa, Ellyssa, Elys, Elyssa, Elyssia, Ilissa, Ilysa, Ilyssa, Lissa, Lissie, Lissy Lyssa.

Part Ava, part Evelyn, this name made its first appearance in the US Top 1000 in 2013 when it was one of the fastest-rising names of the year. Joining Gracelyn, Raelynn, and Emmalyn in the charts, Avalyn followed the same pattern of smooshing together a popular name with the suffix -lynn.

A popular name in its native Turkey, with one of the most poetic meaning around.

Obscure form of an old-fashioned favorite that's poised to make a comeback. This version, which owes as much to Alison as to Louisa, has a stylish A beginning and a multi-syllabic feminine grace.

Has an evocative African beat.

An even more unusual alternative to the fashionable Adeline and Adelaide, Adalind comes from the same Ancient Germanic root adal, meaning "noble". Adalind Schade is a character on the popular NBC show Grimm.

An eider is a sea duck with extra soft feathers as well as a Basque name with a lovely meaning. Eider is one of the fastest-rising boys' names below the Top 1000. Though theoretically unisex, no baby girls were given the name in 2023.

A representative Japanese name with a meaning symbolizing ripeness.

Fading boys' name making fresh start for girls, aided by -ley ending.

An implied spiritual meaning makes this a plausible new name.

Annis and Anice are both antique variations of Agnes that have fallen out of use, perhaps because of pronunciation problems (ANN-is, or an-EES?)

In the Noongar language of Western Australia, Bindi means butterfly. Bindi is usually seen as a girls' name, as seen in Bindi Irwin, daughter of the late Steve Irwin.

Coppélia is the name of the life-sized doll created by Doctor Coppélius in the eponymous 1870 ballet, based on short stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Coppélius' name may be derived from the Yiddish Koppel, a diminutive of Jacob.

Tuneful variation on the Claire names.

The feminine form of German and French name Augustin, ultimately derived from Latin Augustus. Names with the -ine ending are considered chic in France at the moment; Augustine re-entered the French top 500 in 2009 and is climbing fast.

Dua is one of those names that has been popularized in English speaking countries by a single celebrity: British-Albanian model-singer Dua Lipa. It's simple, modern, appealing, and may find a wider audience thanks to its attractive namesake.

Slavic diminutive of Anna