Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Beatrice. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was more often a diminutive of Bethia.
Amy is an English feminine given name, the English version of the French Aimée, which means beloved. It was used as a diminutive of the Latin name Amata, a name derived from the passive participle of amare, “to love”. The name has been in use in the Anglosphere since the Middle Ages. It was among the 50 most popular names for girls in England between 1538 and 1700. It was popularized in the 19th century in the Anglosphere by a character in Sir Walter Scott's 1821 novel Kenilworth, which was based on the story of Amy Robsart. Enslaved Black women in the United States prior to the American Civil War were more likely to bear the name than white American women because slave masters often chose their names from literary sources. The name declined in use after 1880 but was revived due to the hit song Once in Love with Amy from the 1948 Broadway musical Where's Charley?. The name peaked in usage in the United States between 1973 and 1976, when it was among the five most popular names for American girls. It remained among the top 250 names for American girls in the early 2020s.
Vanessa is a feminine given name.
Katie is an English female name. It is a form of Katherine, Kate, Caitlin, Kathleen, Katey and their related forms. It is frequently used on its own.
Samantha is a feminine given name.
Michelle is a given name, originally a variant of Michèle, the French feminine form of Michel, derived from the Hebrew name Michael meaning "Who is like God?". The usual Latin feminine form of the name was Michaela, with Michael the vernacular form for both men and women. The name was given in reference to the archangel Michael, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. The usual French feminine form of the name was Micheline. The name Michelle was rare until the 20th century. It became a popular name in France and later throughout the Anglosphere after 1930, popularized by French-born film actress Michèle Morgan, who was born Simone Roussel. The name was further popularized by the 1965 hit Beatles song Michelle. The name peaked in usage for American girls in 1968, when it was among the five most popular names for newborn girls. The name has since declined in popularity but remains in regular use in English-speaking as well as French-speaking countries.
The name Edwina is a feminine form of the male name Edwin, which derives from Old English and means "rich friend." Edwin was a popular name until the time of the Norman Conquest, then fell out of favour until Victorian times.
Kate is a feminine given name, and a short form of the names Katherine, Caitlin and others.
Cassie is a feminine given name and a short form of various other given names Cassandra, Cassandro, and Cassidy mostly used in English-speaking countries. It is more rarely a surname. People and fictional characters named Cassie include:
Jenny was originally the diminutive form of Jane, but it is now associated with Jennifer.
Gwen is a Welsh feminine given name meaning "white, holy". It can also be a shortened form of Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere) or other names beginning with the same element, such as:
Molly is a diminutive of the feminine name Mary that, like other English diminutives in use since the Middle Ages, substituted l for r. English surnames such as Moll, Mollett, and Mollison are derived from Molly. Molly has also been used as a diminutive of Margaret and Martha since the 1700s and as an independent name since at least 1720. The name was more popular in the United States than elsewhere in the Anglosphere in the 1800s due to usage by Irish-American families and by Jewish American families who used Molly as an English version of Hebrew names such as Miriam and Malka. Its popularity with Americans was also influenced by stories about Molly Pitcher, a heroine of the American Revolutionary War.
Miranda is a feminine given name of Latin origin, meaning "worthy of admiration", deriving the feminine name from the Latin word mirandus. Although it existed as a surname prior, held by, for example, Giovanni Miranda and Juan Carreño de Miranda, William Shakespeare originated use of the name as a forename for a character in his play The Tempest. In the play, the character is addressed as “Admired Miranda! Indeed the top of admiration! Worth what’s dearest to the world!” People named their daughters after the Shakespearean character beginning in the 1700s. The name was more popular in the United States than elsewhere in the Anglosphere, possibly due to its similarity in sound to Amanda, a name also more common for American girls by the 1800s. The name declined in use after 1900 but was revived in the United Kingdom due to the popularity of the 1948 British fantasy film Miranda about a mermaid named Miranda. The name also increased in usage in the United States when the film began airing on television there in the 1950s. Other media influences also increased usage of the name through the early 2000s. The name has recently declined in usage in the United States due to negative associations with the satirical character Miranda Sings.
Abby or Abbie is a given name, most often a shortened form of Abigail and Albert.
Zoe, Zoey, Zoie, Zoi, Zoé or Zoë is a female first name of Greek origin, meaning "life". It is a popular name for girls in many countries, ranking among the top 100 names for girls born in the United States since 2000. It is also well used in other English-speaking countries including Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, as well as in other countries including Argentina, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. In 2022, Zoe was the 20th most popular name given to girls in Canada, while Zoey was 42nd.
Ruth is a common female given name, noted from Ruth, the eponymous heroine of the eighth book of the Old Testament.
Charlie is a traditionally masculine given name in English-speaking countries, often a nickname for Charles, but is now used as a unisex name.
The given name Lisa can be a short form of Elisabeth, Melissa or Elizabeth. In the United Kingdom, the name Lisa began to gain popularity during the 1960s, by 1974 it was the fifth most popular female name there, and a decade later it was the 14th most popular female name there. However, by 1996 it had fallen out of the top 100. Similarly, in the US it was the most popular female name for most of the 1960s and in the top 10 through most of the 1970s before falling.
Gina is a feminine given name, in origin a hypocoristic form of names ending in -gina, such as Luigina, Regina or Georgina, also of Virginia or Eugenia.
Olivia is a feminine given name in the English language. It is derived from Latin oliva, olive. Both Oliva and Olivia were Latinate forms in use in English-speaking countries as early as the 13th century. Olive was in common use as a vernacular form. Though not invented by William Shakespeare, the name was popularized by a character in Twelfth Night.
