Musical Names

Bellamy is a surname name with an admirable meaning and upbeat rhythm, similar to jovial choices like Rafferty, Barnaby and Willoughby.

Rhythmic and captivating.

Calista Flockhart opened the door to a whole flock of graceful and unusual Greek names like this. Some others are Calantha, Calla, Carissa, and Cassia.

Vocal name seldom heard, with most elle-ending names these days dropped in favor of the more straightforward Elle and Ella.

Name your daughter Duana after a Duane relative if you like, but please pronounce it doo-ahn-a and not doo-wain-a.

Original form of the more familiar Calliope, the muse of epic poetry.

Lark is getting some new and well-deserved attention as a post-Robin and Raven bird name. Although it was first recorded as a name in the 1830's, it has never appeared on the Social Security list.

One of the Sirens in Greek mythology, Ligeia was also the title character in an Edgar Allan Poe story. The mythological Ligeia was half-bird, half-woman. Spelling may also be Lygeia or Ligia.

Madrigal might be a pretty and highly distinctive choice for a child of a musical family--or for the parent looking for a less conventional path to the nickname Maddie than Madeline or Madison . Definitely more striking than Cadence or even the increasingly popular Aria.

Mandolin may seem like an outlandish choice for a name, but since BANJO has been used as a baby name, all the instruments in the band seem to be auditioning for a place on birth certificates. This one comes with a real name nickname, MANDY.

Mavis, another word for the song thrush, is also a relative of the Welsh word for strawberries, mefus. Mavis has something of a British World War II feel, a friend of Beryl and Doris, but it was quite popular in the U.S. a couple of decades earlier, peaking in the Roaring Twenties. With the renewed interest in names ending in 's' — and in bird names — Mavis could make a return, especially with the new interest in Maeve, and in fact, it reentered the US Top 1000 after a 50-year absence in 2016.

Sounds a lot like the recently revived Adele.

Philomela, the name of a mythological Athenian princess who was transformed into a nightingale, is rarely heard outside the Greek community. The mellifluous Philomela might make a more distinctive and prettier update for Pamela or Phyllis. Philomela may also be a good choice for a music-lover's daughter. Try Pippa or Millie for short.

Piper is a bright, musical name that entered the list in 1999, one year after the debut of the TV series Charmed, which featured a Piper, and it's been a consistent riser since. Piper Kerman is the memoirist whose prison experiences provided the basis for the hit Netflix series Orange is the New Black.

Could be seen as extravagantly ecstatic for a baby name, though feel free to rhapsodize about your little girl, whatever her name.

Sounded bright and chirpy in the fifties and ranked in the Top 100 until 1980, but by now Robin has lost traction. Robin is, however, having something of a style comeback for boys.

This lovely, quintessentially British appellation, also spelled Rosamond, is the name of a legendary twelfth-century beauty. Rare on these shores, it is more than worthy of importation.

Could there be a more poetic name than Sonnet? Actor Forest Whitaker was inspired to choose it for his daughter.

Tehila may at first appeal as a distinctive choice. Danger: might tend to sound like a mispronunciation of tequila.