UK Girl Names

This is the most popular Welsh form of Agnes. Variants include Annest and Nest. There was an eleventh century Nest who was known as 'Helen of Wales' for her beauty and the problems it caused.

Though still being used, Deanna peaked many decades ago.

You may never have known a Nettie personally, but there well might be one hidden in your family history, considering that she was a Top 100 name until 1901 and stayed on the Social Security list until 1962.

Tolkien may have been inspired by this unisex name of a Celtic goddess of war. Welsh poet Dylan Thomas named his daughter the variation Aeronwy. With goddess names so hot for baby girls, this ethereal choice is one to consider.

In the Ossianic poems, Morven is the name of Fingal's kingdom. This name, borne by young Scottish actress Morven Christie, has a darkly intriguing quality to it.

Abbreviated form of Harley that might also be spelled, for girls, Arleigh or Arlee.

This frilly Victorian name is a variant of Cecilia and Cecily, with which it might well be confused. Cicely was a surprise choice for comedienne Sandra Bernhard.

The Gwendoline form may introduce pronunciation confusion -- does that last syllable rhyme with wine or win or when? We vote Gwendolen as not only the most proper but the clearest spelling, followed by Gwendolyn, with Gwendoline a distant third.

Though it's used far more often for boys, Lyle has a lot in common with today's trending girl names that share the double L sound: Lila, Layla, and Lola.

Unusual floral name which would be perfect for a spring baby girl, if you can pronounce the Welsh double L correctly. It's a tricky sound for non-native Welsh speakers, kind of halfway between an H and an L.

Yet another creative character name from Toni Morrison, Denver was a daughter of Sethe's in the novel Beloved. Today Denver is most familiar as the name of the largest city in Colorado, used almost equally for girls and boys.

This phonetic version of the Welsh Cerys might be easier for Americans, certainly, to understand, but it does lose some poetry in translation.

A winning, gold locket nickname name of the turn of the last century, though also a common nickname for Vincent.

Old-fangled nickname could make dot.com era short form or middle name.

The 6th century Irish saint Mirin emigrated to Scotland and now is the patron saint of both the Glasgow suburb of Paisley and the game of football.

This name is currently best known on The Bachelorette's Tenley Molzahn. In the 1950s, it was attached to the Olympic figure skating champion Tenley Albright, and Jessica Biel played a Tenley in the movie Summer Catch.

A word name with fashionable o-ending that has associations with both the homespun fabric and the mottled cat. Alice Cooper named his daughter Calico decades ago.

Tanwen is a far more singular and colorful alternative to Bronwen.

While the most famous Channing is the very male Channing Tatum, the name is now given about a third of the time for girls. It makes an attractive surname-name for either gender.

This jazzy old name could make a comeback, the way Josephine and Ella have. In England the name was popularized by Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, after whom her governor general of Canada husband named the North American province. Jazz singer Alberta Hunter was a noted bearer.