Colonial Names for Girls

Aphra would make an interesting choice-- especially since it's the name of the first professional female writer in English, the seventeenth century's Aphra Behn. Born in 1640, she was a prolific dramatist of the English Restoration, and a spy.

Letitia is a delicate, once prim and proper sounding name whose staid image has been unbuttoned by numerous phonetic spellings. The original, often used in Spanish-speaking families, would still make an attractive, delicate choice. After a solid century on the Top 1000 list, Letitia fell off in the early 1980s and has not yet returned.

In the eighteenth century there was a poetic fad for names with the 'inda' sound, and, along with Belinda, Clarinda, Dorinda and Florinda, Melinda was one of those created at that time. It came into non-literary use in the 1840's, peaking in the U.S. in the late 1960s and 1970s: Melinda was a Top 100 name from 1967 to 1980. It began to fade as nickname Mindy ascended. Nowadays, however, Melinda feels more contemporary than cousins Melissa, Mindy, Belinda and Linda.

Kay, a cigarette-smoking, nightclubbing name of the 1930's, could be ready for a comeback along with cousins May/Mae and Ray/Rae.

Charity is one of the Big Three abstract virtue names, along with Hope and Faith, though far less widely used than the others. But as Faith, Grace and Hope grow more common, some parents are beginning to look at the more unusual three-syllable choices like Verity, Amity, Clarity and Charity, which sound much fresher and also have that pleasingly rhythmic 'y'-ending sound.

After a long time in limbo, Prudence is now so clunky it'a cool, and it's starting to make a comeback, along with other Puritan virtue names like Mercy, Patience, and Constance.

Popular with the Puritans, this name of the shrewd and beautiful wife of King David and mother of King Solomon could be a bit of a load for a modern girl to carry.

A name some people first encountered in the old children's book series The Five Little Peppers, in which Sophronia, the youngest of the Peppers is nicknamed Phronsie.`It was also used by Dickens in two of his novels: The Old Curiosity Shop and Our Mutual Friend.

Patience is a passive virtue turned engaging name, fresher than Hope, Faith, or even Charity. Its resemblance to the trendy Payton may be one reason for its recent spike in popularity.

Edwina may still be taking tea in the parlor, but we can see her joining friends like Matilda and Josephine for a comeback, especially if pronounced like Edwin rather than Edween.

An interesting and rhythmic name often heard in the Native American community; in fact,in the Gold Rush era in California and Nevada, it was so common that it became a generic English term for a Native American woman.

An old name, with a history separate from Emily and Emma and a different kind of vintage feel, that's a possible alternative to top-of-the-pops names. More common spelling is Emmeline.

Keturah, the Old Testament name of Abraham's second wife, is a possibility for anyone seeking a truly unusual and interesting biblical name; certainly a lot more distinctive than that of Abraham's first wife, Sarah.

Sweet, modern descriptive name, but perhaps a little too cute for its own good.

Marietta would make for a classy and uncommon long form for cool nickname Etta.

After a century of association with horses and cows, this name just could be ready for revival by a fearless baby namer -- after all, it did happen to Jessie and Becky.

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.

Meg, perennially one of the Little Women, is a Margaret short form that manages to be neither quite in nor quite out of style. Meg is sleeker and more sophisticated than Maggie, more contemporary than Peg, more stylish than Megan, and still one of the best diminutives of Margaret.

Meg Ryan was born Margaret Mary Emily Anne.

A classic short form of Henrietta, also seen as a nickname for Mehetabel.

Atalanta was a beautiful mythological maiden who refused to marry any man who couldn't beat her in a footrace -- quite a role model. This myth is found in Ovid's Metamorphoses and later in Swinburne's Atalantis in Calydon.