Five Letter Girl Names

Nelma originated as a Nordic nickname for names such as Anelma and Sanelma.

A lovely and typical name on the eastern shore of the Gulf of Bothnia that no one in the English-speaking world will know how to pronounce. Maia sounds (virtually) the same and is far more familiar outside Finland and Latvia.

Well used in Israel and in Russia, either on its own or as an endearment for Galila or Galina.

The energetic Brody is a name that claims different meanings and origins depending on whether you're looking at its Irish, Scottish, or English history -- and Eastern Europeans claim a version too. This spelling is much more popular for boys, but has seen some use for girls in recent years, including volleyball player Gabrielle Reese's daughter. An alternate spelling is Brodie.

The final -e takes this from a daring word name to a literary honor name, for the inimitable Irish author, poet and playwright Oscar Wilde, infamous for his wit and flamboyance.

Appealingly boyish a decade ago, less so now.

Basha bears a family resemblance to other newly popular Slavic names Sasha and Mischa, all of them hearty, warm and welcoming.

Xya first popped into the American baby name charts in 2000, and has been used used every year, though in low numbers, from 2013 onwards. Modern and almost unique — and with a high Scrabble score — Xya fits easily into the trend for mini-names with plenty of vowels, like Mia and Kaya.

Eighteenth-century nickname that still appears occasionally as an alternative to Suzy.

Tayla is a hybrid name, ala Sayla and Mikayla. Recipe for sudden -- if brief -- new name success: take two of the trendiest choices, Taylor and Kayla, stir, and voila...Tayla, which made it onto the hit parade in the mid-1990s.

The Sirens in Greek myth were nymphs of half-woman, half-bird appearance who lured sailors to their deaths with their song.

The Finnish writer Mika Waltari invented the name Minea from the Greek Minos for a character in his 1945 novel The Egyptian. It's become a popular Finnish name in the 21st century.

A modern virtue name with ancient charm, Valor works well as it doesn't come up in everyday conversation all that often. Predominantly used for boys, Valor has been given to a slowly growing number of girls in the last decade, with 18 receiving the name in 2023.

Variation of Kylie with the popular suffix -ee. Kylie was popular in Australia in the 1970s and 80s, said to come from a Noongar word for "boomerang". In the US, it has also been used as a feminization of the Scottish male name Kyle.