Usually, I try to keep a neutral tone on my site. Still, I have my own unique style and preference for names as much as everyone else does. I’d like to share!
Every year I comb through the American top 1000 and pick out my favorites. Many names I love are still too rare to make it (Hermione and Horatio, for example), but Achilles is finally popular and so is Ariadne. That doesn’t mean I don’t like very popular names; as a matter of fact, I love names like Emma and Benjamin. Some people are completely turned off by top 100 or top 10 names, and that’s okay. I personally tend to prefer rare names, though seeing a beloved name pick up heat excites me. Ultimately, I think if you love a name enough, popularity shouldn’t matter.
Here are my favorite girls’ names from the 2015 American top 1000, included with their ranks. Now, I like plenty more top 1000 names that I didn’t list here, but I wanted to keep the list relatively short! The boys’ list will go up soon enough.
Girls:
- Emma (#1)
- Sophia (#3)
- Charlotte (#9)
- Amelia (#12)
- Elizabeth (#13)
- Chloe (#17)
- Lillian (#26)
- Hannah (#28)
- Penelope (#34)
- Violet (#50)
- Sarah (#58)
- Eleanor (#60)
- Caroline (#62)
- Aurora (#79)
- Lydia (#81)
- Katherine (#84)
- Alice (#87)
- Julia (#89)
- Isabelle (#94)
- Clara (#98)
- Alexandra (#101)
- Luna (#110)
- Valentina (#114)
- Mary (#124) – Mary is probably my second-favorite name currently, after Hermione.
- Josephine (#131)
- Adeline (#135)
- Emilia (#145)
- Margaret (#154) – Margaret is also easily in my top 10
- Athena (#157)
- Rose (#166)
- Rachel (#167)
- Juliana (#168)
- Valerie (#171)
- Eliza (#175)
- Catherine (#179)
- Cecilia (#181)
- Genevieve (#182)
- Rebecca (#186)
- Arabella (#194)
- Esther (#203)
- Anastasia (#216)
- Iris (#217)
- Juliette (#226)
- Vivienne (#233)
- Olive (#264)
- Adelaide (#273)
- Miranda (#278)
- June (#280)
- Lucille (#283)
- Phoebe (#286)
- Jane (#288)
- Ruth (#293)
- Miriam (#294)
- Diana (#295)
- Joanna (#305)
- Camilla (#374)
- Daphne (#378)
- Annabella (#396)
- Freya (#417)
- Helen (#419)
- Hattie (#488) – I’d love to see Harriet make a comeback as well as this nickname
- Priscilla (#502)
- Evie (#512)
- Frances (#513)
- Rosemary (#518)
- Regina (#520)
- Edith (#526) – Edie would be an adorable nickname. I also like the spelling ‘Edythe.’
- Helena (#534)
- Matilda (#535)
- Johanna (#541)
- Adelina (#545)
- Maia (#556)
- Marie (#564)
- Beatrice (#565)
- Angelique (#568)
- Anne (#569)
- Mabel (#578)
- Mae (#588)
- Annabel (#621) – I used to prefer Annabelle, but lately I’ve grown to really love this version
- Pearl (#628)
- Magnolia (#633)
- Renata (#636)
- Zelda (#647) – I’m totally going through a 1920s phase…Hemingway, Fitzgerald, flapper outfits, etc. (Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife and an author in her own right)
- Adele (#652)
- Aliza (#675) – I think a lot of people don’t realize that this is an entirely different name than Eliza.
- Esme (#682)
- Dorothy (#714)
- Clare (#730)
- Mina (#761)
- Ariadne (#765)
- Martha (#791)
- Thalia (#792)
- Marjorie (#799)
- Aurelia (#802)
- Emmeline (#809)
- Clementine (#819)
- Estelle (#823)
- Paulina (#878)
- Astrid (#890)
- Louisa (#908)
- Judith (#927)
- Susan (#929)
- Cordelia (#948)
- Ingrid (#957)
- Elora (#963)
- Ophelia (#975)
- Noor (#985)
- Rhea (#989)
What do you think of these? I realize my tastes veer rather heavily towards the traditional, though I do appreciate my fair share of modern names. I adore Harper and Sutton, though I’d probably never actually use either of them.
The Well-Informed Namer 