Names Ending in F for Girls

Madelief is an uncommon name but not unheard of in the Netherlands, where 123 girls were called Madelief in one recent year. With its soft sounds and similarities to all those "Madeleine" type names as well as names ending in "eef/eev" sounds (Aoife, Eve, Genevieve), Madelief has potential in English-speaking countries to be a fresh and pleasant change from Daisy, Margaret and Madeleine.

Elif is the Turkish form of Alif, the name of the first letter of the Arabic alphabet. Actor Natalie Portman gave another spelling to her son, Aleph.

Leaf is a hippieish choice that, for girls, still retains an evergreen quality.

Sif, or sometimes Siv, was the name of Thor's wife and is popular in modern Scandinavia. In Norse mythology, Sif was the goddess of fertility and agriculture.

Reef is a rare gender-neutral word name in the stylish ocean category. There were a handful of baby girls named Reef last years, and 60 baby boys -- a not inconsiderable number.

Notable Wolfs like Blitzer, Mankowitz, and Kahn give this name a masculine bent, but nature names are inherently unisex, so we see no reason why Wolf can't be used on a baby girl.

Historically Wolf has been more common among German (where it's pronounced Vulf) and Jewish families, occasionally as a nickname for Wolfgang.

The nickname Wolfie softens and feminizes Wolf, while Wolfe turns it into a surname.

Possible musical tribute name to the waiflike, husky-voiced midcentury French singer who was given this last name because of her birdlike quality.

A sweet and simple Welsh word name, popular in its native land, especially in the middle spot.

Somewhat gruff name that might be better feminized as Duffy.

Relief was a name used by the Puritans in reference to the relief of Christ. Leafy was the common nickname.

Elf is an adorable nickname for the otherwise-clunky Elfrida or Elfrieda. Elf was used for the tragic sister in Miriam Toews' novel All My Puny Sorrows.

A short and simple Arabic girl's name typically used in Muslim families.