View Message

This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

[Opinions] Re: What is a good modern American name for a girl?
Is she a newborn, or older? What do you mean by "good" (common, normal, pretty)?Olivia is my favorite in the current US Top 10.Chloe, Camila, Eleanor, Luna, Hazel, Violet, Genesis, Maya, Willow, Cora, Julia, Valentina, Vivian, Athena, Ivy, Octavia would all fit in currently as well.
Here's some more that'd blend in, and could also be older...Mary
Jasmine
Eliza
Rose
Esther
Maeve
Ramona
Victoria
Cerys
Ruth
Nadia
Althea
Sarah
Laurel
Daniella
Josephine
Alexandra
These are some more names I'd maybe consider for an American girl, personallyAstrid
Ursula
Miriam
Harriet
Gwen
Tirzah
Rowena
Leopoldine
Phaedra
Halcyon
Gardenia
Amalia
Noa
Eartha
Winona
Veronica
Dunya
Devika

This message was edited 3/17/2019, 4:01 PM

Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

I agree that most of the names in your top list would not seem out of place on a modern American girl. Cerys seems more British Isles than American, but it could still work.On your second list, the following also strike me as fitting in with current styles in America.
Astrid
Miriam
Harriet
Gwen
Rowena
Amalia
Noa
Winona
VeronicaThe only names that would be strange to encounter are Halcyon, Leopoldine, Dunya, Devika, Ursula, and Phaedra. Phaedra seems like a very odd namesake. In myth, she was a woman who tried to get her stepson Hippolytus to sleep with her. After her stepson rejects her advances and is understandably upset that his stepmom would try to seduce him, Phaedra falsely accuses him of raping her and kills herself. Due to his stepmothers false accusations, Hippolytus is exiled and is eventually murdered by his own father, who believed his wife’s claims.
vote up1
I agree those 6 would be somewhat odd. The OP wasn't very specific, though. So, I listed common/normal ones, and then what I liked, for variety.

This message was edited 3/18/2019, 9:51 AM

vote up1
I've known a Winona, Veronica, Miriam ;-), Gwen, Astrid, and Amalia.I've actually met several of each.
vote up1
I've also met a Gardenia, a Noa, and an Ursula. :)
vote up1
I've known an Ursula.I haven't met a Now yet, though. I very much wanted to name my daughter Noa but I knew that everybody would think I gave her a boy's name. It still bothers me, because the meaning fits are so perfectly
vote up1
She's not on your list, but I'm actually friends with a Patience! She has a daughter named Serenity. XD
vote up1
Out of that second list... I have only ever met/known people named Miriam, Harriet, & Gwen. And Phaedra, but it was so rare that everyone mispronounced it every time they read it. The others don't strike me as "American" at all.As for the first list, the only Daniella I have ever met was Romanian. Danielle would be common enough though. It's my middle name and I've met numerous of them over the years.
I've never met a Cerys in my entire life. I know one Charis and her name is incredibly rare and I've never known anyone else to have it and everyone mispronounced it constantly.
vote up1
I've met a Daniella and a Karis (pronounced like Cerys)...at the same time, actually (we were co-workers, and they weren't foreign)...this was in South Carolina. No one seemed to have difficulty with their names. Daniella went by Ella half the time, which these days is more common than Danielle.The 2nd list's just my personal version of "good", and being an American myself, I consider them plausible. :P

This message was edited 3/17/2019, 8:58 PM

vote up1
Okay, but as a 30-year-old South Carolinian, they seem too odd to be plausible to me.
vote up1
Noel id like a name for a babygirl that will grow with her as she ages
vote up1