Respellings Girl Names

A familiar name written a new way. Respellings are where invented meanings cluster most thickly elsewhere on the internet, because a new spelling reads as a new name that must have come from somewhere.

Rankings for

38 names, most popular first in the United States

Very Rare Rare Uncommon

Girls Boys Unisex

Khloe Khloe means green shoot, and the K is doing no work etymologically — it respells Chloe, whose Greek khloe names the first growth of a crop rather than a color or a plant.
American #272 in US
Jordyn Jordyn respells Jordan, and the river came first — the name means flowing down, describing the Jordan's fall from the Galilee hills to the lowest exposed land on earth.
American #371 in US
Katalina Katalina is a girl's name meaning "pure," following Catherine.
Greek, Spanish #430 in US
Adelynn Adelynn is a girl's name of Germanic origin meaning "noble."
Germanic, English #447 in US
Madilyn Madilyn is a girl's name meaning "woman of Magdala."
Hebrew, French #464 in US
Rylie Rylie is a girl's name in the United States, also used for some boys, and it's a spelling of Riley.
Irish, English #476 in US
Saige Saige is a girl's name, also used for some boys, and it's a modern spelling of Sage.
Latin, English #480 in US
Aubree Aubree respells a name that began as elf-ruler — the Germanic Alberich names the dwarf king who guards the Nibelung hoard, and the same figure becomes Oberon in medieval French romance.
American #489 in US
Nylah Nylah is a modern girl's name whose origin is disputed.
Disputed #504 in US
Iyla Iyla is a modern girl's name whose origin is disputed.
Disputed #526 in US
Makayla Makayla is one of a large family of respellings of Michaela, and the name underneath is a question — Michael means who is like God, expecting the answer nobody.
American #567 in US
Keira Keira rose twice, two years apart, and both markets moved together — American births went 433 in 2003 to 1,244 in 2004, then on to 3,022 by 2006, with England and Wales tracing the same two steps in the same years.
Irish #621 in US
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 #710 in US
Kathryn Kathryn is a girl's name, the y-spelling of Katherine, and it inherits that name's unknown meaning.
Greek #729 in US
Mikayla Mikayla respells Michaela, and the Hebrew behind both is a question — who is like God — whose expected answer is nobody.
American #746 in US
Kaitlyn Kaitlyn is a girl's name that respells the Irish Caitlín — which came into Irish from French, and into French from Greek.
Irish #801 in US
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 #994 in US
Katelyn Katelyn is one of five respellings that divided the same sound in the 1990s, and Ireland ranks it 292nd — far above the United States at 1,078th, the reverse of how its sister spelling Kaitlyn behaves.
Irish #1,078 in US
Allyson Allyson descends from Alice by way of a French diminutive, and it is not Alice plus son — the ending is the Old French -on, the same one behind Marion, and nothing in it refers to a child.
English #1,140 in US
Meghan Meghan means pearl, through Megan and Margaret, and the h is an American addition — Welsh spells it Megan, and the extra letter appeared in twentieth-century American use with no basis in the original.
Welsh #1,910 in US
Alissa Alissa means noble, and the flower it resembles was named for rabies — alyssum joins the Greek negative to lyssa, madness, because the plant was believed to cure the bite of a mad dog.
English #1,946 in US
Krystal Krystal means ice, and the Greeks believed rock crystal was water frozen so hard it could never melt — which is why the same word names both the mineral and the frost.
American #2,123 in US
Jacquelyn Jacquelyn means supplanter, and the chain is long — it is an American respelling of Jacqueline, the French feminine of Jacques, which is James, which is Jacob.
American #2,277 in US
Caitlyn Caitlyn is the third spelling of one name on this site, alongside Caitlin and Kaitlin — all descend from Catherine by way of Old French and Irish, and all three are large enough to hold separate pages.
Irish #2,504 in US
Jaclyn Jaclyn compresses Jacqueline, and the name underneath means heel-grabber — Jacob was born gripping his twin's heel, and every Jack, Jacques and Jacqueline descends from that description.
American #2,790 in US
Adleigh Adleigh is a modern American girl's name with no single agreed meaning.
Disputed (modern English coinage) #3,117 in US
Nichole Nichole means victory of the people, and the compound is political — the Greek joins a word for victory to one meaning the citizen body, so it describes a public triumph rather than a personal one.
English #3,367 in US
Ashlee Ashlee is the third spelling of one name on this site, alongside Ashleigh and Ashlyn — all descend from the Old English for an ash-tree clearing, and the ash was the tree spears were made from.
American #3,860 in US
Kaitlin Kaitlin reached English through Irish, not from it — Catherine went into Old French as Cateline, into Irish as Caitlín, and back out again respelled.
Irish #4,171 in US
Debra Debra is a girl's name, the phonetic respelling of Deborah, from the Hebrew for bee.
Hebrew #4,475 in US
Lynda Lynda means lime tree, from Spanish and Germanic roots that disagree — the pretty reading comes from the Spanish linda, and the tree from a Germanic element, and neither is settled.
American #4,568 in US
Marsha Marsha is a phonetic respelling of Marcia, and the name underneath is dedicated to Mars — the same god who gives his name to March, when the Roman year and the campaigning season both began.
English #7,529 in US
Janis Janis fell further than any name in this sweep — 3,217 American births in 1947 down to 10 in the most recent year on record, which is a fall of more than 99 percent.
American #10,064 in US
Traci Traci is the most narrowly recorded name in this sweep — every one of its 52,406 births is American, it charts in no market in the current year, and its entire history runs from 1945 to a 1970 peak and down.
English 52,435 births
Shelia Shelia is Cecilia with two letters swapped and four languages in between — Cecilia became the Irish Síle, Síle was written Sheila in English, and Sheila was misspelled into Shelia often enough to become its own name.
Irish 47,946 births
Meagan Meagan means pearl at four removes — Welsh Megan shortens Marged, which is Margaret, which is the Greek margarites, which is probably a loan from further east than Greece.
Welsh 45,226 births
Emagene Emagene is a vintage American girl's name, a phonetic spelling of Imogene that was used mainly in the early twentieth century.
English, Gaelic 206 births
Claragh Claragh is a girl's name, an Irish-styled respelling of Clara, from a Latin word meaning bright or clear.
Latin 103 births

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