Country Girl Names
- Alabama
Origin:
Place-name; ChoctawMeaning:
"vegetation gatherers"Description:
Alabama is a hot southern place-name, picking up from Georgia and Savannah. This is not a geographical name come lately, though--there have been girls named Alabama dating back well over a century.
- Becky
Origin:
Diminutive of RebeccaDescription:
One of those casual down-home names last popular in the 1960s.
- Gertie
Origin:
Short form of GertrudeDescription:
Gertie has a certain homespun charm, summoning to mind butter-yellow braids and denim overalls, summoning mind the adorable character played by little Drew Barrymore in E.T. Is the world ready for the return of Gertie and Gertrude? Maybe?
- Chesney
Origin:
English from FrenchMeaning:
"oak grove"Description:
A rising surname name for girls — it's overwhelmingly feminine, despite the association with Kenny Chesney.
- Caddie
Origin:
Diminutive of Caroline, FrenchMeaning:
"free man"Description:
Trapped somewhere in the nether region between Haddie and Catie, with the added confusion of sounding like someone who works on a golf course. Caddie Woodlawn was a TV heroine of the Old West in the 1980s. Caddie had its moment, but we don't see it becoming one of the more popular girl names starting with C.
- Louisiana
Origin:
French place-nameDescription:
Louisiana is a geographic spin on the Louise theme. Pretty, if a bit of a syllable overload. Short form Lou or Lulu lightens it.
- West
Origin:
Word nameDescription:
Straightforward yet romantic, this is one newly minted name with long-term appeal, especially as a middle name. It was used as such for Tea Leoni and David Duchovny's Madelaine, whom they call West. Definitely ambigender, it was chosen by Marley Shelton for her daughter.
- Gussie
Origin:
Diminutive of Augusta, LatinMeaning:
"great, magnificent"Description:
Gussie is fussy — try Gus.
- Tennessee
Origin:
Native American, Cherokee, place-nameMeaning:
"bend in the river or meeting place"Description:
Young rocker Tennessee Thomas has brought this former one-person name over to the girls' side -- though the census roles of North Carolina in 1850 included a female named Tennessee and called Tincy.
- Sister
Origin:
English, "a female who has one or both parents in common with another"Meaning:
"a female who has one or both parents in common with another"Description:
Sister is an old-timey nickname-name for girls, ranking in the Top 1000 as a proper name for girls until the beginning of the 20th century. But more often, Sister was used as a nickname in the truest sense of the word, not a short form ala Kathy but a nickname in the way that Chip and Bud are. Or maybe Junior is a more appropriate name analogy: Sister was sometimes the nickname given to the only girl in a family of boys, so literally a descriptive word name like Junior.
- Gentry
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"aristocracy"Description:
Gentry is a word name that's gaining ground for girls as a kind of updated Jennifer, especially in the Jentry (or Jentri or Jentree) spelling.
- Sammy
Origin:
HebrewMeaning:
"god has heard"Description:
Short for Samantha or long for Sam, Sammy is a sweet midcentury nickname name that we can see coming back.
- Lil
Origin:
Diminutive of Lillian and Lily, flower nameMeaning:
"lily"Description:
Spunky old vaudeville era nickname name suddenly sounds new again.
- Autry
Origin:
French surnameMeaning:
"noble strength"Description:
A fresh take on the fashionable Audrey and Aubrey, or another novel surname name which seems fitting for either sex.