Girl Names

Avery is a hugely popular name in the US, especially for girls. But while nearly four times as many girls as boys are named Avery today Avery's popularity is starting to soften for girls while it continues to strengthen for boys.

Pronounced a la Bette (Betty) Davis or Bette (Bet) Midler, a twentieth-century relic. Though if the equally vintage Betty comes back, Bette may be close behind.

Brynn outshines the original Welsh Bryn in the popularity stakes. This simple, brisk name might be seen as a combination of Bree and Lynn, an androgynous-sounding choice that especially in this spelling is not truly unisex: Brynn, for boys, is not even in the Top 1000.

Carmen has long been associated with the sensuous, tragic heroine of Bizet's opera, based on a novel by Prosper Merimee; more recently it has called to mind two other bombshells: Carmen Miranda (born Maria) and Carmen Electra (born Tara), as well as the great jazz singer Carmen McRae. In the celebrity baby name world, this classic Spanish name for girls was used by Hilaria and Alec Baldwin for their daughter.

Cynthia is an attractive name -- in classical mythology an epithet for Artemis or Diana -- that was so overexposed in the middle of the twentieth century, along with its nickname Cindy, that it fell into a period of benign neglect, but now is ripe for reconsideration in its full form.

Like Ashley before it, on-trend Everly has been followed by a range of spelling variants, and among them, Everleigh is the most popular.

Y is often used to feminize a variant spelling of a name, though of course there's nothing intrinsically gendered about it. The Karsyn spelling is slightly off its peak for girls, but rising for boys.

This is an alternative to Laura or Lauren made romantic by Dr Zhivago, and badass by video-game heroine Lara Croft.

Gone with the Wind inspired a generation of girls named Melanie, though it looks as though Scarlett will triumph in the end.

Nahla is a lovely name chosen by Halle Berry for her daughter. Not to be confused with the Disneyfied Nala.

An appellation for the Virgin Mary, "Queen of the apostles." After three years off the US popularity charts, Reina rejoined the list in 2014, though it lags behind alternate spellings Raina, Rayna, and Reyna. It is also used in Yiddish and in Japanese.

Thalia was one of the Three Graces in Greek mythology, and also the Muse of comedy and pastoral poetry, making this a Hellenic choice worthy of consideration.

One of the first luxury brand names and the quintessential Booming Eighties status-conscious moniker; used by Donald Trump for his daughter, Tiffany has plummeted far from its high in the Top 25.