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[Opinions] What is a good modern American name for a girl?
Any ideas?
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Popular American girl names nowadays are pretty “soft” and flouncy:
Olivia
Emma
Sophia
Charlotte
Eleanor
Ella
Penelope
Mia
LydiaI noticed -ana names are popular, like Eliana, Lilliana, Ariana. Some vintage names seem to be coming back, too:
Evelyn is really in
Hazel, etc.Surnames and traditionally masculine names are (unfortunately) popular, too:
Parker
Harper (tbh this is a guilty pleasure of mine)
Carson (spelled Carsyn or Karsyn to somehow make it more cutesy for girls)
Cameron
Hadley
Emerson
Etc.Girls with floral names aren’t super abundant, but some of these names are popular:
Willow
Daisy
Rose
LilyThen the classics (some of these I’ve already mentioned):
Eleanor
Lydia
Harriet
Alice
Grace
Miriam
EstherThere’s quite a variety.

This message was edited 3/18/2019, 4:54 PM

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By modern, do mean a name for a girl being born this year?Some names that are in the top one hundred girl names in America and are rapidly climbing in popularity include:
Mila
Luna
Bella
Aurora
Kinsley
Elena
Emilia
Willow
Everly
NovaOther common modern American names include:
Mia
Amelia
Evelyn
Harper
Elizabeth
Avery
Ella
Scarlett
Victoria
Aria
Chloe
Camila
Penelope
Riley
Eleanor
Stella
HazelEdited to note: The names above are not all names that I personally like, but they are a fairly good representation of names that I see on babies currently being born in America. If I wanted to make a realistic school group for a book set in modern America, these are the types of names that would probably appear.

This message was edited 3/18/2019, 12:47 PM

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Let's see...Assuming by "girl" you don't mean woman.
Nevertheless, I'll give a few different lists.Here are young women's names, say mid-30s and younger, but still adults...Danielle
Kelsey
Charlotte
Lindsey
Madison
Shannon
Courtney
Sarah
Marie
Destiny
Andrea
Laura / Lauren / Laurel
Kristin / Kristen / Kristina
Rachel
Samantha
Jennifer
Stephanie
Rebecca
Bethany
Brittany
Amber
Ashlyn
Melissa
Kayla
Katelyn
Jessica
Crystal
Alyssa
Kelly
Kimberly
NicoleHere's the common names of teenagers now...
Emily
Hannah
Olivia
Abigail
Alexis
Bella
Grace
Kayley
Haley
Bailey
Natalie
Zoe
Chloe
Mckenzie
Mckayla / Michaela

... Load Full Message

This message was edited 3/17/2019, 8:26 PM

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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

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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.
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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

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I've known a Winona, Veronica, Miriam ;-), Gwen, Astrid, and Amalia.I've actually met several of each.
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I've also met a Gardenia, a Noa, and an Ursula. :)
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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
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She's not on your list, but I'm actually friends with a Patience! She has a daughter named Serenity. XD
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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.
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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

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Okay, but as a 30-year-old South Carolinian, they seem too odd to be plausible to me.
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Noel id like a name for a babygirl that will grow with her as she ages
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How modern are you thinking?
I'm more familiar with what names were becoming modern/new in the 90s and 2000s, so I think a lot of people with these names are in their 20s right now. But some of them are still popular in 2018 I think.Adrienne
Amber
Ashlynn
Cameron
Corrin
Courtney
Devon
Gabby
Gabrielle
Hannah
Hayley
Kayley
Madison
Max
Nora
Riley / Reilly
Sabrina
Sierra
Sienna
Sophia

This message was edited 3/17/2019, 3:44 PM

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Hi !!!Names that in my mind are typically from U.S. (English ones) are:Harper
Riley
Savanna
Brooklyn
Audrey
Samantha
Piper
Nova
Sienna
Dakota
Evangeline
Haven
Honor
Phoenix
Lana
Liberty
Jillian
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