Safe girl names and guilty pleasures

Like Vita and Viva, one of several similar life-affirming names, this one was chosen by Matthew McConaughey and his Portuguese-born wife Camila. Vida may also be a diminutive of Davida. Australian suffragette and human rights campainer Vida Goldstein is an notable bearer of this name.

Vienna is one of the more popular of the European place-names, with a particularly pleasant sound, evoking elegant images of the Blue Danube, of castles and cafes, sweets and sausages and Strauss waltzes—and Sigmund Freud. It could be a possible substitute for the popular Sienna, although Vienna has been climbing the charts herself. Vienna was one of the fastest rising girl names in 2023.

Vital and vivacious, Vita is stirring back to life along with many of her V-themed sisters -- Vivian, Vivica -- and is becoming a new celebrity baby favorite.

Vivi is a short form of all the Vivian and Viveca forms that is sure to get a lot more attention now that a little Jolie-Pitt girl has been named Vivienne.

The attractive actress Vivica A. Fox has done a lot to add this version of the name into the mix.

Wilhelmina might once have been condemned as a clunky relic best left in the past, but a steadily increasing number of parents are dusting it off for their 21st century babies. A reasonably popular choice in the 19th century, but out of favor by the 1950s, in the last decade, the number of babies called Wilhelmina has doubled, with 140 girls receiving the name in 2023.

An appealing name almost unknown in our culture but with roots in several others; worldlier than cousins Celia and Delia.

This is an African name that would fit into any culture.

There are many variations of this name, with or without the initial T and the final h, with one p or two. In the Bible she was the wife of Moses.

A thirteenth-century Tuscan saint, patron of homemakers, Zita is the kind of name that sounded really creative in an earlier era.