Girls

Poppy, unlike most floral names which are sweet and feminine, has a lot of spunk. Long popular throughout the rest of the English-speaking world, Poppy is finally starting to rise toward the top in the US, where it entered the Top 1000 for the first time in 2016.

A sweet, nostalgic nosegay kind of name, Posy has been long fashionable in England, a country of gardeners, but this pretty bouquet-of-flowers name is still rarely heard in the US, though it could be seen as a more unusual possible alternative to Rosy or Josie.

A quaint and quirky flower name, until recently considered a bit too prim for most American classrooms but brought back to life in recent years by the attractive character of Primrose "Prim" Everdeen in the Hunger Games series. In the Top 300 girl names in England and Wales and on Nameberry, Primrose remains rare in the US, but is made more accessible by a raft of sweet nickname options, including Rosie and Posy.

Priya originated in India as a name derived from the Sanskrit word for "beloved." In India, where names are often given based on one’s birthday and horoscope, Priya is traditionally given to girls born in August. Priya is used in Hindu mythology as the name of a daughter of King Daksha—known for fathering 146 daughters.

Rani, alternatively spelled Ranee, is the female equivalent of Raja in Hindi. In many Indo-Aryan languages it can mean "queen" or "lady". The Hebrew version is used for both genders in modern Israel. Actress Kate Hudson and director Danny Fujikawa named their daughter Rani after Fujikawa's late father, whose name was Ron.

A male character in The Chronicles of Narnia, but could conceivably be used for a girl.

Rue has gone from Golden Girls actress to Hunger Games heroine. This botanical name is also a coincidental double word name, meaning "regret" in English and "street in" French. Despite these unfortunate secondary meanings, Rue has real potential to be one of the most popular new middle names for girls.

Sabrina, the bewitchingly radiant name of a legendary Celtic goddess, is best known as the heroine of the eponymous film, originally played by Audrey Hepburn, and later as a teenage TV witch; it would make a distinctive alternative to the ultrapopular Samantha. Similar names you might also want to consider include Sabina and Serena.

Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin is a master namer, and this unusual choice from India is beginning to be heard in nurseries as well as on television. Sansa was perhaps slower to catch on than other names such as Arya and Khaleesi as Sansa Stark was in the first seasons of the show a weak and compromised character.

Satine, the name of the Nicole Kidman character in Moulin Rouge,, is, by definition satiny smooth. Jacinda Barrett named her daughter Satine Anais.

Not only stern and serious, but a little too severe.

This obscure Native-American name owes its very life to country singer Shania Twain, who dropped her original name, Eileen, for it.

There's definitely a cold front of names for winter babies moving in, with Summer, Spring and Autumn giving way to Winter--plus North, January, Frost--and Snow. This name feels brisk, fresh, pure, evocative -- and magical. A haunting middle name choice.

An attractive French word name known here via former child TV star Soleil Moon Frye, aka Punky Brewster. It started to be lightly used in the U.S. in the 1920s and is now attracting some attention as both a sunny nature and an international word name. It's currently in the Nameberry Top 500.

Could there be a more poetic name than Sonnet? Actor Forest Whitaker was inspired to choose it for his daughter.

Starr today is more fashionably the plain-spoken Star or the more obscured Stella, Esther, or Estella.

Stella is a name with star quality and sparkle, that manages to sound both ethereal and earthy. Celestial but not otherworldly, it lands somewhere between the popular Ella and bold Seraphina.

Not too long ago, Temperance was found only on lists of Puritan baby names.

Mythological water spirit with the more common spelling of Ondine, heroine of an Edith Wharton novel.

This Latin word used for evening spiritual services was introduced to baby namers by the Eva Greene character Vesper Lynd in the modern James Bond film Casino Royale in 2006, based on the Ian Fleming novel, and is just now beginning to provoke interest among namers, with its spiritual reference and soft, whispery sound.