100 A-Z Old Fashioned Girl Names

So you’re having a baby girl, but what shall her name be? You might want to hold off on that decision until you actually meet her when she is born, but you probably want some ideas lined up before then. After all you already sort of know your baby and it’s nice to ponder what the right name should be.

1. Abigail : a biblical name, meaning “my father is joy” – sometimes interchanged for Abbey.
2. Adelaide : from ‘adal’ and ‘heid’ meaning nobel and kind – sometimes shortened to Ada (the name of Lord Byron’s daughter) – sometimes also Adele.
3. Alice : stems from Adelaide. Also well known because of Alice in Wonderland.
4. Alma : probably derived from ‘almus,’ which means nourishing in Latin.
5. Amelia : from ‘amal’ meaning work. Became popular in the 18th century after an English princess with Germanic roots was named Amelia. Of course, later there was also Amelia Earhart – the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean.
6. Anna : another biblical name, stemming from Hannah, meaning ‘favor’ or ‘grace.’ Saint Anna or Anne, was the mother of Virgin Mary. Versions of the name include Ana and Aina.
7. Annabelle : originated from Amabilis, meaning “lovable.” Also interchanged for/influenced by Annabell, Amabell and  Anna and Belle.
8. Anne : see Anna.
9. Audrey : diminutive of ÆÐELÞRYÐ. Well-known as the name of a 7th century princess in East Anglia who founded a monastery at Ely. The name then took a different turn in meaning as they were selling cheap lace at a fair by St. Audrey, which meant the name got associated with tawdry!
10. Augusta : feminine form of Augustus, which means “great” or “venerable.” King George III gave the name to his second daughter in the 18th century, which is when it became popular.
11. Ava : variant of Eve, derived from Hebrew meaning “to breathe” or “to live.”
12. Belle : from French, meaning “beautiful.”
13. Betsy : from Elizabeth, which in turn is from the Hebrew Elisheva meaning “my God is an oath/abundance.”
14. Betty : see Betsy.
15. Birdie : meaning “bright, famous, little bird.”
16. Blanche : this means “white” in French and was the name of a character in A Streetcar Named Desire. A variant is Blanca.
17. Blythe : means “cheerful” in old English.
18. Caroline : feminine form of Carlolus, which is the latin form of Charles and Karl. It either springs from the word “man” or “army, warrior.”
19. Catherine and Katherine : could be derived from words meaning “each of the two,””torture,” or “my consecration of your name.” Later it became associated with the Greek katharos, meaning “pure.” It was the name of 4th-century saint and martyr.
20. Celia : from the Roman Caelius, meaning “heaven.” Short for Cecilia and similar to Cecily.
21. Charlotte : feminine version of Charles. (see Caroline.)
22. Chloe : means “green shoot” in Greek.
23. Clara : feminine version of Clarus, meaning “clear, bright, famous” in Latin. Made popular by Saint Clare of Assisi.
24. Clarissa : derived from Clarice, which in turn comes from the French Claritia, which in turns comes from Clara.
25. Colleen : comes from ‘cailín,’ which in Irish means “girl.”
26. Cora : is a name that was invented by author James Fenimore Cooper in 1826 when he wrote Last of the Mohicans.
27. Daisy : means “white flower,” which comes from ‘dægeseage,’ meaning “day eye.”
28. Delia : means ‘of Delos,’ i.e. from the Greek island.
29. Delilah : comes from Hebrew and means “delicate, weak, languishing.” It’s a biblical name.
30. Della : see Adelaide.
31. Dinah : comes from Hebrew and means “judged.”
32. Dixie : this refers to the Southern states in the US. May have come from “dix” (ten in French), which was printed on ten-dollar bills in New Orleans.
33. Dora : from Dorothea (see below), Isidora (see Isadora) or Theodora. Theodora comes from Theodore and was used by empresses in the Byzantine Empire.
34. Dorothy/Dorothea : this is the feminine form of Isidore, meaning “gift of Isis” in Greek. Isis was an Egyptian goddess. Isidora was also the name of a 4th-century Egyptian saint and hermitess.
35. Edith : from ‘Eadgyð,’ meaning “fortune, wealth and war.” It was often used by Anglo-Saxon royalty.
36. Eileen : from Eibhlín, or the Irish form of Helen, from the Greek Helene, meaning “torch” or “corposant.” Possibly also from the Greek Selene, meaning “moon.”
37. Eleanor : from the Occitan Aliénor. 
38. Elena : from Helen (see Eileen).
39. Elise : from Elizabeth – see Betsy.
40. Eloise : from Héloïse, which in turn is from Helewidis, meaning “hale, healthy and wide.” Helios in Greek also means “sun,” but it’s doubtful helios has something to do with Eloise.
41. Ella : from Alia, meaning “other, foreign.”
42. Elsa/Elsie : from Elizabeth – see Betsy.
43. Emma : from ‘ermen,’ meaning “whole” or “universal.”
44. Enid : from ‘enaid,’ meaning “soul” or “life.”
45. Esme : meaning “esteemed” or “loved.” Recently found in the Twilight Saga.
46. Eve : see Ava.
47. Evelyn : originally from ‘avi,’ potentially meaning “desired.”
48. Faye : variant of Fay, from ‘faie” meaning fairy. Sometimes short for Faith.
49. Flora : derived from the Latin ‘flos,’ meaning “flower.”
50. Frances : female version of Francis, which comes from Franciscus, meaning “Frenchman.”
51. Geneva : from Geneviève, which in turn is derived from Genovefa, which in Gaulish probably means “tribe woman.”
52. Georgette/Georgina/Georgia : female form of George, which in turn is from the Greek Georgios, meaning “farmer” or “earthworker.” There was a famous Saint George.
53. Gloria : meaning “glory.”
54. Grace : comes from ‘gratia’ in Latin and means, “grace.
55. Gwendolyn/Gwendolen : Gwen means”white, fair, blessed” and ‘dolen’ means “ring”
56. Hannah : from the Hebrew ‘Channah’ meaning “favor” or “grace.” Also see Anna.
57. Harriet : from Henriette, which in turn comes from the masculine Harry.
58. Hattie : short for Harriet.
59. Hazel : stems from the hazel tree and the color hazel.
60. Ida : from ‘id,’ meaning, “work” or “labor.”
61. Imogen : this was actually a misprint of the name Innogen in the play Cymbeline by Shakespeare. Innogen comes from the Gaelic ‘inghean,’ meaning maiden.
62. Inez : from Agnes, meaning ‘chaste’ (Greek Hagnos). Saint Agnes was often associated with a lamb, due to ‘angus’ meaning lamb.
63. Isabel/Isabella : Occitan form of Elizabeth (see Betsy).
64. Isadora : see Dorothy/Dorothea.
65. Jane : the feminine form of John/Johannes, which in Hebrew means “Yahweh is gracious.” Made famous by Lady Jane Grey, who ruled England for nine days and Jane Austen.
66. Jewel : meaning precious stone.
67. Jocelyn : from the masculine Gaudelenus, Gautselin and Gauzlin, from the Germanic tribe the Gauts. It was used up until medieval times and then revived in the 20th century.
68. Julia : feminine version of Julius and made popular by saints and martyrs and later Shakespeare’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona and in places like Sweden, Julia stands for Juliet, which was also made popular by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (in Swedish: Romeo and Julia).
69. June : from the month June, which comes from the Roman goddess Juno.
70. Justine : female form of Justin, which was a popular name for saints and martyrs.
71. Lenora : see Eleanor.
72. Lillian : probably from Elizabeth (see Betsy) or Lily.
73. Lila : comes from Layla, which means “night” in Arabic.
74. Lisa/Liza : from Elizabeth (see Betsy).
75. Lola : short form of the Spanish name Delores – Virgin Mary in Spanish is Maria de los Dolores, meaning “Mary of Sorrows.”
76. Lorene : from Lora/Laura, which stems from Eleonora or Loredana.
77. Lorraine : comes from the region with the same name in France, which originally meant “Kingdom of Lothar.”
78. Loretta : a variation of Lora, Laura or Lauretta, from the masculine Laurus, which means “laurel” in Latin.
79. Louise : the feminine form of Louis, from Ludovicus. A lot of French Kings bore the name Louis.
80. Lucinda : stems from Lucia, but Cervantes in his famous novel Don Quixote so to speak added to the name, which was later used by Molière in The Doctor in Spite of Himself.
81. Lucy : this is the English version of Lucia, which is the feminine form of Lucius.
82. Lydia : this means “from Lydia” in Greek, which was an area in Asia Minor. There was a woman in the New Testament from there.
83. Mae : Mae comes from the month May, which in turn comes from the Roman goddess Maia.
84. Maggie : short for Margaret, from Margarita which means “pearl.”
85. Macy : comes from the French surname Massy. Today there is the famous shopping center Macy’s.
86. Marilyn : this is the combination of Mary and Lyn. There’s a debate where the name Mary stems from and what it means, but most likely from the Egyptian “beloved” or “love.” The name today is famous much thanks to Marilyn Monroe.
87. Marjorie : this the Medieval form of Margery, which was then shaped by the name of the herb marjoram.
88. Martha : this means “lady” or “mistress” in Aramaic.
89. Mathilda/Matilda : this comes from the Germanic Mahthildis, which means “strength in battle.”
90. Millie : from Mildred or Millicent.
91. Minnie : from Wilhelmina, which is the feminine of Wilhelm and William. These come from Willahelm, meaning “will, desire” and  “helmet, protection.”
92. Miriam : this is the Hebrew version of Mary (see Marilyn).
93. Molly : comes from Mary (see Marilyn).
94. Myra : this means “myrrh” in Greek.
95. Nell/Nellie : from Eleanor, Ellen or Helen.
96. Nora/Noreen : from Eleanor or Honorius (masculine), meaning honor.
97. Olivia : this is yet another name from Shakespeare who first used this spelling of the name in Twelfth Night.
98. Opal : this comes from Sanskrit and means jewel. However, there is also the gemstone opal.
99. Pauline : from the Roman family name Paulinus.
100. Pearl : from the latin ‘perla.’
101. Penelope (Penny for short): there is some debate as to where this name originate. ‘Penelopos’ is a form of duck in Greek. Alternatively, ‘pene’ means “threads, weft” and ’ops’ means “face, eye.”
102. Rosalind : Germanic for “horse” and “soft, tender.” Later the spelling was influenced by the Latin phrase ‘rosa linda’ meaning “beautiful rose.”
103. Rose : from Latin’s ‘rosa’ for the flower and originally constituting of two Germanic elements meaning “fame” and “type, sort, kind.”
104. Roxie : from Roxana, or Roxane, which stems from Roshanak, meaning “bright” or “dawn.”
105. Ruby : from the red gemstone which was said to contain the spark of life – “a deep drop of the heart’s blood of Mother Earth,” if you are to believe Eastern legends.
106. Sadie : from the Hebrew Sarah meaning “lady, princess, noblewoman.”
107. Scarlett – the first thing that springs to mind is of course Scarlett O’Hara, but alas the name comes from the same surname, which denoted a person who sold clothes made of scarlet (a type of fabric). Today you call a certain nuance of red scarlet.
108. Stella : Once again, if you’ve ever seen Streetcar Named Desire you may remember Blanche saying “Stella, Stella for star” and that is, literally, what it means.
109. Sylvia/Silvia : the feminine form of Silvius from the Latin ‘silva,’ meaning “wood” or “forest.”
110. Trudy : from Gertrude, meaning “spear of strength.”
111. Victoria : from the Roman goddess of victory.
112. Viola/Violet : means “purple.”
113. Vivian/Vivienne : stems from Vivianus, where ‘vivus’ means alive.
114. Willa : comes from William (see Minnie).

By Maria Montgomery – Maria is a freelance writer, director and social entrepreneur. She’s also the spokesperson for The Little Angels Community Center and an avid blogger. You can find her somewhere between Cape Town, London and L.A., where you will most likely find her in the hills, looking out over the city she loves. @OhMyMontgomery

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