Five Letter Girl Names

This floral name, related to bloom and Blossom, is common in the Jewish community, but not often heard outside it. Other Yiddish nature names are Ita (star), Masha (rising water), and Mayim (water).

Something slightly negative about that Nil beginning; more positive similar names would be Lilla or Willa, Lucilla or Priscilla. Nilla may also be a short form of the Scandinavian Gunilla.

Indian tennis sensation Sania Mirza is popularizing this one.

If you're planning to have a younger one.

Merve is derived from Marwa, a significant name in the Muslim community, as it the name of a mountain in Mecca.

Hilla is a rising girl name in Finland, where it is seen as both an independent name and a short form of names beginning with Hil-.

In the US Amber is stuck in the '80s, while Ambre is a fresh choice in France.

A love-filled word name most notably borne by Heart Phoenix, mother of River, Rain, Joaquin, Liberty, and Summer. She legally changed her name from Arlyn in 1988.

Feels truncated, as though a first syllable was snapped off.

Unusual multicultural choice that may appeal to the artistically inclined. The bear meaning gives it a new trendy edge as an animal name.

Gilly is a name that's popped up from time to time in different contexts: As a nickname for Gillian, for instance, and as the name of a town in Switzerland. But it's increasingly associated with Hannah Murray's character Gilly in HBO's Game of Thrones, whom Sam Tarly rescued from Craster's Keep.

Igbo name made more familiar by its relationship to the popular Belle and Bella.

Anglicized form of Ngaire, this name is sometimes heard in New Zealand and very occasionally in England.

About 60 girls were named Alise in the US last year, making it an uncommon but not truly rare name. While it's pretty and intriguing as a spin on the very popular Alice, it's pronounced more like Elise or -- in Latvian -- Elisa, and so may prove more confusing than it's worth. If you want to name your daughter Alice, name her Alice, and if you want to name her Elise, name her Elise. Choosing Alise in many ways gives you the worst of all worlds.

Australian opera singer Nellie Melba—self-named for her hometown of Melbourne—inspired this now-dated name more associated today with a peach dessert and dietetic toast.

An archipelago near the center of the Mediterranean, the name derives from the Greek word for honey. Malta has been heard as a girl’s name in the past and was used as a character name by both Dickens and Murakami.

This name found in the fantasy series Endymion/Rise of Endymion has a slightly physiological feel to it.

Why bother to invent a new name or spelling when there are intriguing oddities like this in existence. Also in the Welsh encyclopedia of names: Ffion, Ffiona, and Ffraid, the Welsh form of Brigid.