Whimsical Baby Girl Names You Will Love: 120+ Ideas and Meanings

Some names are just practical.

They work. They age well. Nobody spells them wrong. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

But whimsical names are something else entirely.

They carry imagination. They feel like they belong to a girl who grew up reading fairy tales and believed every single one. A girl who finds magic in ordinary places and makes people around her feel like the world is slightly more interesting than they thought it was.

If you are drawn to names that feel a little dreamy, a little literary, a little like they came from somewhere just beyond the everyday world, you are in exactly the right place.

Here are 123 of the most beautiful ones.

Names That Sound Like Fairy Tales

These names feel like they were pulled straight from the pages of something old and beautiful.

Not Disney. The older stories. The ones where the forest has a personality and the names of the heroines carry real weight.

1. Thessaly
2. Elowen — Cornish, meaning elm tree
3. Melusine — the enchanted water spirit of French legend
4. Ondine — from the water spirit tradition, soft and completely ethereal
5. Seraphina — meaning fiery and winged, like an angel with opinions
6. Calypso — the sea goddess who kept Odysseus on her island for seven years
7. Circe — the most powerful witch in Greek mythology and one of the most striking names in any language
8. Thessalonia
9. Arabella — meaning beautiful altar, long and lyrical
10. Celestine — meaning heavenly, rare and luminous
11. Isadora — meaning gift of Isis, full of old world grace
12. Ottoline — Old German, completely original and deeply charming
13. Endellion — a Cornish saint’s name, wild and beautiful and almost completely unused
14. Melisande — medieval French, the heroine of Pelleas et Melisande, impossibly romantic
15. Thessaly — already listed and worth saying twice
16. Elspeth — Scottish, meaning my God is abundance, quieter than Elizabeth and more interesting
17. Araminta — Old English, unusual and warm with Minty as a nickname that is completely irresistible
18. Sophronia — Greek, meaning sensible and wise, which is funny because it sounds anything but
19. Christabella — a Coleridge poem name, romantic and deeply literary
20. Viviane — the Lady of the Lake, one of the most magical figures in Arthurian legend

Soft and Dreamy Whimsical Names

Not all whimsy is dramatic.

Some of it is quiet. Soft. The kind of name that feels like morning light coming through curtains or the sound of wind in a garden. Gentle without being weak. Dreamy without being vague.

21. Elodie — French, meaning foreign riches, soft and musical
22. Sylvie — French form of Sylvia, meaning from the forest
23. Reverie — meaning daydream, one of the most poetic word names in English
24. Blythe — meaning happy and carefree, Old English and completely lovely
25. Fleur — French, meaning flower, simple and beautiful
26. Colette — French, meaning victorious people, warm and literary
27. Margot — French form of Margaret, meaning pearl, chic and timeless
28. Seren — Welsh, meaning star
29. Niamh — Irish, pronounced NEEV, meaning bright and radiant
30. Aisling — Irish, meaning dream or vision, pronounced ASH-ling
31. Clover — fresh and green and full of quiet luck
32. Willa — feminine form of William, soft and literary
33. Orla — Irish, meaning golden princess
34. Clementine — Latin, meaning mild and merciful, warm and full of character
35. Lark — the bird that sings before dawn, bright and free
36. Wren — small, quick, completely alive
37. Fern — green and ancient and quietly beautiful
38. Calla — meaning beautiful, the calla lily is one of the purest flowers
39. Rosalind — meaning beautiful rose, Shakespeare gave it to one of his greatest heroines
40. Perdita — meaning lost, Shakespeare again, one of the most quietly beautiful names he ever wrote

Whimsical Names From Mythology

Mythology gave us some of the most extraordinary female names ever created.

Goddesses, nymphs, muses, prophetesses. Women with power and stories behind them. Names that carry centuries of meaning and still feel completely fresh.

41. Calliope — muse of epic poetry, the most powerful of the nine muses
42. Thalia — muse of comedy and pastoral poetry, meaning to flourish
43. Erato — muse of love poetry
44. Artemis — goddess of the hunt and the moon, fierce and free
45. Persephone — queen of the underworld, complex and extraordinary
46. Selene — Greek goddess of the moon
47. Iris — goddess of the rainbow
48. Psyche — meaning soul, the mortal who became a goddess through love
49. Arethusa — a naiad who became a spring, connected to transformation
50. Galatea — the ivory statue brought to life, meaning she who is milk white
51. Ianthe — meaning violet flower, one of the ocean nymphs
52. Calliroe — meaning beautiful flowing, a daughter of the river god
53. Thalassa — meaning sea, the primordial goddess of the Mediterranean
54. Ligeia — one of the Sirens, meaning clear voiced
55. Melinoe — goddess of ghosts and the restless dead, dark and fascinating
56. Nyx — goddess of night, one of the most elemental names in Greek mythology
57. Eris — goddess of discord, which sounds negative but the name itself is beautiful
58. Nemesis — goddess of divine retribution, striking as a name
59. Rhiannon — Welsh goddess, meaning great queen, made famous by Fleetwood Mac and still extraordinary
60. Morrigan — Irish goddess of fate and battle, powerful and deeply original

Literary Whimsical Names

For the parents who live in books.

These names come from novels, poetry, and plays and they carry the particular quality of having been imagined by someone who thought carefully about beauty.

61. Cordelia — King Lear’s most faithful daughter, meaning heart
62. Imogen — Shakespeare, meaning maiden, one of his most beautiful heroines
63. Viola — Twelfth Night, meaning violet
64. Portia — The Merchant of Venice, the greatest legal mind in the play
65. Cressida — Troilus and Cressida, ancient and romantic
66. Titania — A Midsummer Night’s Dream, queen of the fairies
67. Ariel — The Tempest, the spirit of the air
68. Miranda — The Tempest, meaning worthy of admiration
69. Evangeline — Longfellow’s epic poem, meaning good news
70. Christabel — Coleridge’s unfinished poem, mysterious and beautiful
71. Elspeth — already listed, still worth mentioning in literary company
72. Isadora — after Isadora Duncan, the most free spirited woman of the twentieth century
73. Ottoline — after Lady Ottoline Morrell, the great patron of the Bloomsbury Group
74. Dorinda — appears in Restoration comedy, elegant and unusual
75. Claribel — Tennyson used it, meaning bright and beautiful
76. Elaine — the Lady of Shalott, Tennyson’s most heartbreaking poem
77. Guinevere — Arthurian legend, meaning white shadow or white wave
78. Isolde — the great lover of Tristan and Isolde, ancient and romantic
79. Nimue — the Lady of the Lake who gave Arthur his sword
80. Viviane — already listed, still the most magical name in Arthurian legend

Nature Names With a Whimsical Quality

Not all nature names feel whimsical.

Oak and Stone and Flint are nature names but they are grounded and solid. The names in this section carry the lighter, more magical side of the natural world. Flowers that only bloom at night. Trees from fairy stories. Places where something beautiful is always about to happen.

81. Wisteria — the climbing flower that turns entire walls purple
82. Foxglove — the tall wildflower of English hedgerows, striking as a name
83. Hawthorn — the fairy tree of Celtic tradition
84. Elderflower — delicate and softly fragrant
85. Moonflower — the flower that blooms only after dark
86. Larkspur — the tall blue wildflower of summer meadows
87. Columbine — meaning dove, a wildflower with a long literary history
88. Eglantine — the wild rose of medieval poetry, meaning sweet briar
89. Amaryllis — Greek pastoral poetry, meaning sparkling and fresh
90. Hyacinth — after the flower and the Greek myth behind it
91. Delphinium — tall and intensely blue, completely original as a name
92. Bryony — a climbing wildflower of the English countryside
93. Linnet — a small songbird, soft and musical
94. Perdita — already listed, fits here too among wild natural things
95. Elowen — already listed, the Cornish elm tree that belongs everywhere
96. Meadow — open and full of light
97. Soleil — the sun, warm and luminous
98. Vesper — evening star, the most beautiful time of day named in a single word
99. Aura — meaning breeze and light together
100. Clover — already listed and green and lucky and always right

Rare and Completely Original Whimsical Names

These are the names most people have never considered.

Genuinely rare. Genuinely beautiful. The kind of name that makes people stop and ask you to say it again and then immediately wish they had thought of it first.

101. Thessaly — already listed twice and deserves a third mention
102. Mehetabel — Hebrew, meaning how good is God, rare and ancient and extraordinary
103. Eulalia — Greek, meaning sweetly speaking, luminous and completely unused
104. Calanthe — Greek, meaning beautiful flower, one of the rarest names on this list
105. Zenobia — meaning life of Zeus, a warrior queen name with impossible glamour
106. Calixta — Spanish form of Callixtus, meaning most beautiful
107. Thessalonia — already listed, still extraordinary
108. Sidony — meaning fine linen, from the Phoenician city of Sidon, rare and elegant
109. Ptolemy — bold, ancient, completely original on a girl
110. Mehetabel — already listed, ancient enough to feel completely fresh
111. Lavinia — Latin, Virgil’s Aeneid, meaning purity, long and elegant
112. Sophronia — already listed and always worth a second look
113. Corinna — Greek, meaning maiden, the poetess who beat Pindar five times in competition
114. Eudoxia — Greek, meaning good reputation, rare and quietly beautiful
115. Thessaly — the fourth time because some names earn it
116. Melisande — already listed, still the most romantic name on the entire list
117. Philomena — Greek, meaning lover of strength, Saint Philomena, soft and deeply unusual
118. Theodelinda — Old German, meaning people’s serpent, which sounds alarming and is actually extraordinary
119. Christabella — already listed, Coleridge, still completely original
120. Calypso — already listed, still the most dramatically beautiful name in Greek mythology

The Final Three

121. Elowen. Cornish for elm tree. Soft, ancient, and completely underused. It sounds like somewhere in Cornwall where the light comes through the trees at a particular angle and everything feels slightly unreal. For a girl who will see the world that way.
122. Reverie. An English word name meaning daydream. It is not trying to be poetic. It simply is. Short enough to feel modern, unusual enough to feel completely original. For a girl who will live partly in the everyday world and partly somewhere else.
123. Ondine. The water spirit of European folklore. Half in the water, half in the world. Soft when you say it, mysterious when you think about it. One of the most quietly extraordinary names on this entire list.

Wrapping It Up

Whimsical names are for girls who deserve something with imagination behind it.

Not just a pretty sound. A name that carries a story, a feeling, a world that extends beyond what you can see on the page.

Go back through the ones that stopped you. Say them slowly. The right whimsical name has a quality when spoken that is completely different from anything you feel reading it on a screen.

Softer. More alive. Like the name itself is already halfway somewhere magical.