Five Letter Girl Names

One of the first reality show-inspired names (he was a Texas hunk on an early season of "Survivor"); hugely trendy for boys but just starting for girls.

Alita is a girls' name threatening to break into the Top 1000. There are many possible sources of this name, but the most plausible is that it's a short form for the popular Spanish name Adelita, a relative of Adele and Adeline.

Ailla is a name with many possible derivations, including Cornish (possibly meaning "beautiful"), French (deriving from Ailler, meaing Garlic), Finnish (related to Helga) and Turkish (where it may have a meaning connected to moonlight). None of these derivations are very clear; what is certain is that Ailla is a name with a beautiful sound and an international flavor.

Name of a town in Scotland that has a feminine strength.

Mexican-born actress Salma Hayek lends a large dollop of glamour to this name that would otherwise resemble the middle-aged Selma.

Macey ranks in the Top 1000 thanks to big sister name Macy, ala Stacey and Stacy or Tracey and Tracy. The extra e also relates it to Lacey.

Esme and by extension Esmee have gotten more popular in the US in recent years, but that extra e can confuse an already-confusing pronunciation, especially if you start adding accents.

Akari is a gender-neutral Japanese name used fairly evenly between the sexes in the US.

Fashion designer surname that could make a dynamic first.

Chris is one of the longest-running and still most appealing unisex short forms, still used nearly equally for boys and girls. Though no longer fashionable, Chris still feels crisp and appropriate for both sexes.

Queen Jadis, also known as The White Witch, is the main villain in The Chronicles of Narnia. She is the force responsible for freezing Narnia and creating the Hundred Year Winter.

This once vivacious midcentury nickname is rarely used for modern babies.

This animal-themed name is among the most popular for girls in contemporary Israel. Parents who want to move beyond the mega-popular Aliyah and sisters might want to consider Ayala. The male form is Ayal.

Many popular Dutch short forms are drawn from the middle or end of their proper name: Sanne from Susanne, Bas from Sebastian. Jette could be from a name like Henriette or Mariette.

Meret is an interesting name found in several cultures. In Egyptian mythology, she was a goddess associated with singing, dancing and rejoicing and her meaning is 'beloved.' But the name also has significance in Hebrew, Danish and Norwegian. Close relatives include Merete and Maret.

There are lots of Kathy moms and grandmas but very few babies, most of whom are now called Kate or Katie.

Minty isn't a fresh word name — it's an old-fashioned nickname for Araminta, the romantic smoosh name coined by playwright William Congreve in 1693.

Ethne is one of the many Irish Gaelic names whose spelling and pronunciation -- it's en-ya -- will prove endlessly confusing to English speakers.