Invented Names

Names with a traceable moment of creation. Where the inventor left no record of what they meant, these pages say the meaning is unknown rather than supplying one, which is the difference between a reference and a guess.

Rankings for

37 names, most popular first in United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Ailany Ailany is a girl's name of disputed origin.
Modern coinage #14 in US
Madelyn Madelyn is a girl's name and a modern American respelling of Madeline, which descends from Magdalene — meaning "of Magdala," a town on the Sea of Galilee.
Hebrew #71 in US
Raelynn Raelynn is a girl's name of modern American coinage, joining Rae to the -lynn suffix.
Modern coinage #116 in US
Emersyn Emersyn is a girl's name of modern American coinage, a respelling of the surname Emerson.
English #138 in US
Kehlani Kehlani is a girl's name of disputed meaning.
Modern coinage #149 in US
Oaklynn Oaklynn is a girl's name of modern American coinage, combining the tree name Oak with the -lynn ending.
Modern coinage #153 in US
Wrenley Wrenley is a girl's name of recent American coinage, formed by joining the bird name Wren to the -ley ending common in English surnames.
Modern coinage #158 in US
Nevaeh Nevaeh is a girl's name coined in the United States, and it is "heaven" spelled backwards.
American coinage #165 in US
Adalynn Adalynn is a girl's name of modern American coinage, formed from the Germanic element adal, meaning noble, with the -lynn suffix.
Germanic #184 in US
Everleigh Everleigh is a girl's name of modern American coinage, formed by respelling the English surname Everly.
English #194 in US
Cataleya Cataleya is a girl's name taken from the cattleya orchid, and its use is traceable to a single film.
Modern coinage #239 in US
Brynlee Brynlee is a girl's name of modern American coinage, combining the Welsh bryn, meaning hill, with the -lee ending from the Old English leah, a clearing.
Modern coinage #243 in US
Kaylee Kaylee is an invented name with no single source — it fuses the Kay and Lee sounds that were already everywhere, and the meanings assigned to it afterwards were reverse-engineered.
American #255 in US
Aylani Aylani is a girl's name of disputed origin.
Modern coinage #293 in US
Elowyn Elowyn is a girl's name of disputed origin.
Modern coinage #299 in US
Mya Mya is a girl's name, usually a respelling of Maya or Mia, and the sources disagree completely about what it means.
French #443 in US
Fiona Fiona was invented by a Scottish poet, and then used as a pen name by a man — William Sharp published as Fiona Macleod for a decade and denied being her until his death.
Scottish #470 in US
Jayla Jayla is a modern American coinage with no source, and its 2006 peak of 3,417 births is the largest single-year figure in this group — a name can be very popular and still have no history at all.
American #529 in US
Myra Myra was invented by a poet — Fulke Greville coined it around 1580, probably by rearranging Mary, and every later meaning attached to it was supplied after the fact.
English #662 in US
Kayleigh Kayleigh is far larger in England than its American figures suggest — 1,206 births in England and Wales in 1996 against a US peak of 1,450, in a country with about a fifth of the population.
English #802 in US
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 #849 in US
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 #875 in US
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 #972 in US
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 #1,633 in US
Belinda Belinda is a literary invention with a snake in it — the Germanic element behind it is usually read as a serpent, and Pope's Rape of the Lock made the name fashionable in 1712.
English #1,826 in US
Melinda Melinda is an invented name rather than an inherited one — an eighteenth-century literary coinage joining the Greek word for honey to the ending of Belinda and Lucinda.
English #1,984 in US
Leya Leya is a girl's name of recent coinage, generally read as a respelling of Leah or Leia.
French #2,165 in US
Lyana Lyana is a girl's name of recent coinage, usually read as a respelling of Liana, meaning a climbing vine, or as an elaboration of Lya.
French #2,218 in US
Mindy Mindy has no source of its own — it shortens Melinda, whose second half is transparent and whose first half nobody has explained, so the name inherits half a meaning.
English #2,404 in US
Velma Velma is an invented name with no root at all — it appears in nineteenth-century America built on the pattern of Selma and Thelma, and the Germanic derivations offered for it were attached afterwards.
American #5,894 in US
Glenda Glenda is a twentieth-century Welsh invention rather than a traditional name — it joins two ordinary Welsh adjectives, and it does not appear in the historical record before about 1900.
Welsh #6,044 in US
Lilou Lilou is a French invention of the 1990s, and its rise is one of the sharpest we hold for France — from almost nothing to 3,850 births at its 2009 peak, then down to 260 today.
French #7,461 in US
Sheryl Sheryl respells Cheryl, which is itself a twentieth-century invention — it appears in American records around 1920 with no traceable parent, and the meanings offered for it were supplied afterwards.
American #8,014 in US
Sherri Sherri looks French and is not — it respells Cherie, meaning darling, but Cherie is not a traditional French given name at all, so the name is an English invention wearing French clothes.
American #8,777 in US
Latoya Latoya is an American invention with no source language, and its 1984 peak of 5,069 births is the largest single-year figure in this group — the victory gloss offered for it is attached to a coinage.
American #11,650 in US
Louna Louna is a girl's name of recent French coinage, generally read as a blend of Lou and Luna, meaning "moon."
French #12,662 in US
Ludivine Ludivine may have been invented for television — the name has almost no record before a French series used it in the 1970s, and its rise begins immediately afterward.
French 42,149 births

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