Unique Girls Names

Bryn is an up-and-coming gentle, yet substantial, Welsh name that would also be effective in the middle spot. In Wales it's a traditional boys' name, but it's far more popular for girls now in the US.

Carina is a pretty feminissima name whose fall from popularity may be speeded by similarity to (hurricane name) Katrina.

One of the surname names for boys on its way to becoming unisex, this name broke into the Top 1000 for the first time in 2013 for girls. While it sounds masculine to us, because of its two-syllable er-ending sound so trendy with boys’ names, many parents apparently disagree.

Eden is an attractive, serene name with obvious intimations of Paradise, one of several place names drawn from the Bible by the Puritans in the seventeenth century.

This name of an Albanian supermodel is a short form of many Slavic choices but is an intriguing alternative to Emma on its own.

Emira is one of those pan-international names that feels pleasant enough but seems so unrooted to any one culture that it might as well be made up.

You might think of Harper as the hottest name of the last decade, jumping from obscurity to the Top 10, where it remained until last year.

The name of the Roman goddess of the moon, Luna is derived straight from the Latin word for moon, luna. Luna may be the name most likely to surprise someone from an older generation by its Top 10 status in the US and its widespread international popularity.

Myla can be seen as a female variation of Milo or a different spelling for popular Mila. Though frequently unnecessary in alternate spellings, the "y" here does connote a specific pronunciation.

Nadia, an accessible Slavic favorite, has a strong run of popularity in the US in the early 2000s, partially thanks to the character on Lost called Nadia but actually named Noor, but it's since slumped down the rankings. An earlier inspiration was Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, who won the 1976 Olympics.

Penelope is an unlikely 21st century baby name success story. Off the Top 1000 for 25 years, Penelope jumped back on in 2001 and has been heading uphill ever since, propelled by the trend for mythological names, Spanish actress Penelope Cruz, and some high-profile celebrity babies.

The sassy, steel magnolia appeal of Oscar-winning Reese (born Laura Jeanne—Reese is her mother's maiden name) Witherspoon has single-handedly propelled this formerly boys’ name into girls' popularity.

Saylor jumped into the Top 1000 in 2013 and is given to three times as many girls as the Sailor version. That may be because Saylor feels more like a name and less like an occupation or a word. Its spelling near-echoes the hugely popular Taylor, plus Saylor is a traditional surname in its own right. Recorded in the medieval times in Germany, it's related to the word seil which means rope and was an occupational name for a ropemaker, which also relates to sailor.