Romantic names for girls – loosely defined as creative and elaborate names that suggest an earlier era and a Latinate emotionality – have become more fashionable in recent years.  As we grow more comfortable with the notion of equality for girls, we may also become confident enough to give our daughters elaborately feminine names rather than having to make our point with androgynous, modern monikers like Blair or Blake.

　　Of course, not every romantic name is a feminist statement.  These names may just feel fresh again after decades of sleeker, more straightforward girls’ names like Mary and Betty, Karen and Lisa.  Even Jennifer and Ashley pale in the face of these flagrantly feminine names.

　　The rise of Isabella and Sophia to the Top 10 means that Romantic Names are now mainstream.  Some choices further off the beaten track:

　　ADORIA

　　ANASTASIA

　　ANGELICA

　　ANTONIA

　　ARABELLA

　　ARTEMESIA

　　AURORA

　　CELESTIA

　　EVANGELINA

　　FORSYTHIA

　　GABRIELLA

　　ISADORA

　　JULIANA

　　LILLIANA

　　MAGDALENA

　　MARIELLA

　　MELISANDE

　　NATALYA

　　PALOMA

　　RAFFAELA

　　RAMONA

　　SERAPHINA

　　TAMARA

　　TATIANA

　　VALENTINA

　　VENETIA

　　The names of romantic heroines also carry a special romantic aura, even when they’re less elaborate than the classically romantic names like Seraphina and Lilliana.  While some of the most romantic heroines of literature have decidedly unromantic names – nothing can really elevate Jane of Jane Eyre and Cathy of Wuthering Heights to the level of romanticism – other names take on a more romantic glow thanks to the heroines who bear them.

　　Some examples from literature, classic and modern, as well as romantic films include:

　　ANNA – Anna Karenina

　　CHRISTABEL – Possession

　　CLARE – The Time Traveler’s Wife

　　CLEOPATRA – Antony and Cleopatra

　　DOROTHEA – Middlemarch

　　EMMA – Madame Bovary

　　JULIET – Romeo & Juliet, The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Society

　　LARA – Doctor Zhivago

　　LUCINDA – Oscar & Lucinda

　　ROSE – Titanic

　　ROXANE – Cyrano de Bergerac

　　SABRINA — Sabrina

　　SCARLETT – Gone with the Wind

　　SOPHIE – Sophie’s Choice

　　TESS – Tess of the D’Urbervilles

　　VIVIAN – Pretty Woman

　　And then there are romance novels, both conventional and paranormal.  Names of the newer romantic heroines include:

　　BRYNA – Spellbound

　　CHLOE – The Dark Highlander

　　DOUGLESS – Knight in Shining Armor

　　IDESS – Ecstasy Unveiled: Demonica Series

　　KENNA – Dragon Moon

　　MAIA – In Twilight’s Shadow

　　PHOEBE – It Had To Be You

　　RENATA – Eternal Moon

　　SAVANNAH – Dear John

　　VASILISA/LISSA – The Vampire Academy (Vasilisa is also the name of the heroine of a classic Russian fairy tale)

　　ZARAH – Huntress Moon

　　Thanks to our intern DANIELLE MIKSZA for help researching the names.