Five Letter Girl Names

Auden is increasing in use for girls each year, and the feminized spelling Audyn is beginning to follow along. Parents are loving the gentle but unisex sound of this surname, associated with poet W.H., Auden.

While only 8 baby girls were named Milia in the US in 2021, its rise seems inevitable along with the rise of Emilia and Mila and other similar names. Like Livia, Milia has the advantage of being different from the rest, but the disadvantage of maybe not being different enough (and being a word for tiny, harmless white spots on skin).

Cedric the Entertainer chose this for his daughter, but most other parents would find it, though optimistic, not exactly substantial.

Fenne and its phonetic version Fenna are vintage names enjoying a resurgence in The Netherlands, where both make the girls' Top 100.

Alika is a multicultural choice that's far off the beaten track.

A unisex Chinese and Vietnamese with an appealingly simple, vowel-rich spelling.

Rilla dropped out of the US Top 1000 in 1915, but it's starting to feel like an intriguing possibility again in this age of short, sweet, a-ending names for girls. It is traditionally a short form for names ending in -rilla, like Marilla from the Anne of Green Gables books (Anne's youngest daughter is Bertha Marilla, called Rilla for short). Rilla may also derive from the German word Rille, meaning "brook; stream".

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?)

Kizzy was a character in Alex Haley's Roots; this and other Keziah variations were widely used among enslaved people. In Roots the name is explained by the hero Kunta as 'you sit down' or 'you stay put' in the Mandinka language meaning that 'this child would never get sold away'.

You can call your daughter Sugar, but only as a term of endearment. Her real name has to be something, almost anything, else.

Jenna is overheated, but Jemma is still cool. Jemma and Gemma are most heard in Australia but are increasingly used in other countries.

Haute couture baby names are on the rise — particularly Dior, Armani, and Kenzo. Fendi is among them but is still exceedingly rare, with only 13 baby girls given the name in 2023.

Bright and bold traditionally masculine name used in Israel.

In modern Hebrew, sigal is the word for the violet flower.

A unique relative of Zoe via the Ancient Greek name Zoilos, borne by a 4th century BC cynic philosopher.

This topographical name, more suited to a girl than a boy--though it would inevitably be confused with SARAH--has some distinguished bearers: famous Spanish missionary to Mexico Father Junipero Serra, and sculptor Richard Serra, known for his challenging large-scale metal works.

Why does Mairi (rhymes with Harry) seem so much cooler than Mary? This Irish form of Mary was not used before the seventeenth century, as it was considered too sacred. The vocative case of the name, Mhairi (pronounced VAH-ree), is also used as a given name in Scotland.

Will this old-fashioned nickname make a comeback, now that Jane has shed her "plain" image? Janie is cute and approachable, and would stand as well on the birth certificate as Josie and Jessie do now.