By Pamela Redmond Satran

　　Think you have to pick between names that are classics, with deep roots and centuries of use, and names that are unusual?

　　You don’t, as these classic girls’ names, all ranked below the U.S. Top 1000, attest.

　　Some were popular in recent years and are now sinking from view — Pamela, Jean — while others are rising stars we predict will soon appear on the official Top 1000: Imogen is a prime example, along with Mabel, the Margos, and Clementine.

　　That still leaves dozens of classic girls’ names that are neither coming into style nor sailing out but simply holding steady below the radar.

　　A note on how we chose the names: We did not include variant spellings of more popular classic names such as Emilee, and for the most part excluded short forms unless they have been traditionally used on their own.  Our definition of classic embraces ancient names such as Phaedra and Keturah along with more recent widely-used girls’ names such as Maureen.

　　If you’re in search of a classic girls’ name that’s both traditional and unusual, consider these 100+ picks, ordered from those given to the highest number of baby girls in the U.S. in 2012 (Aurelia, at 250) to the least (Petal, used for just 5).

　　[column1]

　　Aurelia

　　Mercy

　　Astrid

　　Roxanne

　　Mabel

　　Liv

　　Margot and Margo

　　Theresa

　　Louisa

　　Antonia

　　Delia

　　Annette

　　Pamela

　　Dominique

　　Janet

　　Sally

　　Clementine

　　Cordelia

　　Gretchen

　　Tamara

　　India

　　Ramona

　　Susanna and Susannah

　　Lucinda

　　Marian and Marion

　　Maura

　　Robin

　　Melinda

　　Carol

　　Marcella

　　Gillian

　　Constance

　　Hillary and Hilary

　　Louise

　　Isadora

　　Sheila

　　Ophelia

　　Betty

　　Justine

　　Honor

　　Flora

　　Agnes

　　Diane

　　Cleo and Clio

　　Ariadne

　　Cecily

　　Imogen

　　May

　　[/column1]

　　[column2]

　　Guinevere

　　Magdalene

　　Florence

　　Lois

　　Harriet

　　Bernadette

　　Edna

　　Suzanne

　　Octavia

　　Joan

　　Pilar

　　Rosalind

　　Millicent

　　Theodora

　　Mildred

　　Wilhelmina

　　Norma

　　Jean

　　Roberta

　　Maureen

　　Lavinia

　　Portia

　　Prudence

　　Hermione

　　Winifred

　　Dinah

　　Henrietta

　　Polly

　　Agatha

　　Jill

　　Keturah

　　Jemima

　　Minerva

　　Phaedra

　　Olympia

　　Eulalia

　　Gail

　　Deirdre

　　Cornelia

　　Gertrude

　　Sybil

　　Ethel

　　Phyllis

　　Jessamine

　　Blanche

　　Cosima

　　Hero

　　Lucretia

　　Petal

　　[/column2]

　　We’ll have the boys’ version later this week.