American Names

Names that were made in America rather than brought there: surnames turned into first names, place names, respellings, and coinages built to sound like something older. They are the group most often given an invented etymology elsewhere, because a name with no history attracts one.

Languages behind these names Hebrew uncertain Modern English coinage invented Latin Greek

Rankings for

10 names, uncommon — 100 to 499 a year, in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Jazmin Jazmin respells a Persian word that traveled the length of Eurasia — yasmin passed through Arabic into Europe with the plant itself, which is why the word is near-identical in a dozen unrelated languages.
American 395 in 2025
Mikayla Mikayla respells Michaela, and the Hebrew behind both is a question — who is like God — whose expected answer is nobody.
American 364 in 2025
Janelle Janelle is an American elaboration rather than an inherited name — Jane with a French-looking ending attached, built in the twentieth century by the same habit that produced Danielle, Rochelle and Michelle.
American 340 in 2025
Kendra Kendra has no settled origin — a feminine of Kenneth, a Welsh compound meaning greatest champion, and an invention from Ken plus a fashionable ending are all proposed, and none is established.
American 320 in 2025
Kylee Kylee has no agreed source, and it is not a feminine of Kyle — the -lee ending was attached to a Ky- opening in twentieth-century America, and any Gaelic meaning offered for it arrived afterward.
American 306 in 2025
Ashlyn Ashlyn has two possible sources and they disagree completely — the Irish aisling means a dream or vision, while the English reading is simply an ash-tree clearing.
American 262 in 2025
Jazmine Jazmine is the fourth spelling of one Persian word on this site, alongside Jasmine, Jasmin and Jazmin — yasmin traveled with the plant itself, which is why it is near-identical across a dozen languages.
American 255 in 2025
Jada Jada appears once in the Hebrew Bible as a man's name, in a genealogy in Chronicles — the modern American name is effectively a separate creation that happens to match it.
American 195 in 2025
Dixie Dixie names the American South and nobody knows why — the leading account is a French ten-dollar note printed dix in Louisiana, and the rival is the Mason-Dixon line.
American 130 in 2025
Arlene Arlene has no established origin at all — it appears in the nineteenth century with no traceable parent name, and the Irish pledge reading usually given for it belongs to a different name entirely.
American 127 in 2025

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