Animal Names for Girls

The Ancient Roman Balbina is the feminine form of Balbus or Balbinus. While certainly unique, it's hard to imagine this name will go far in the modern English-speaking world.

A beautiful Lithuanian name with an ever-so-lovely and inspiring meaning.

Well used in northern Europe, almost unknown here.

The bright yellow weed lends itself to a creative baby name, although we don't recommend the nickname Dandy.

Photographer Diane Arbus named her daughter Doon, inspired by the sand dunes she walked among when pregnant. Used this way, Doon might be considered a nature name, a refashioning of the word dune. But Doon might also stem from the familiar Scottish surname Dunn or Dunne, which means brown or dark, originally used for a dark-haired person.

A more feminine version of Devin.

The Spanish version, with its -eena ending, takes the name out of the Oh My Darlin' realm, which for many American parents may be just the thing.

Offbeat and romantic place-name.

This name looks like a sister to the names Elsa and the Czech name for girls Eliška, a popular diminutive of Elizabeth — and sometimes it is (in German, for example). But it is also a word in Old Norse and some modern Nordic languages, meaning "love" or "to love".

A very unique fruit name heard more often on peachy-colored dogs than on baby girls.

In Greek mythology, Elysium, or the Elysian Fields, was the paradise inhabited by the blessed and righteous after death. Greek poet Homer attested that the Elysian Fields were on the western edge of Earth.

Not to be confused with the Aria/Arya name family, Arja is a variation of Irja, which ultimately is derived from Irene.

Unlike most combination names, this elegant blend -- related to the German Anneliese -- is more than the sum of its parts.

Aileas is one of those Scottish names that is at once familiar and unusual, a spin on the internationally-popular Alice that is all but unknown outside of its native Scotland. It might overcomplicate things in the US, though, given that most Americans would pronounce it like the word alias and would find it difficult to get from those vowel combinations to ah-lus or eh-lus.

Cloe comes in second to the original form, Chloe, in it's native Spain. In the US, this honor goes to the Kardashian-ized Khloe.

One of the newest members of the ever-growing cult of pseudo-Hawaiian girl names ending in -lani. Aylani was amongst the newest entries to the US charts in 2023, just barely making the cut at #1000.

Avaline emerged as a full-fledged name when Cameron Diaz used it as the name of her wine brand. Only a dozen or two baby girls are given the name each year in the US, a surprise given the dramatically increased popularity of Adeline and Evelyn, which have spawned an abundant number of variations.

You can call your baby "babe," but don't name her that.