Your female protagonist. You know her. You love her. You want everyone else to love her, too. What are you going to call her?
One of my most popular posts is my 100 Sexy Names for Contemporary Romance Heroes, so I thought I’d do a female counterpart. This list is for any kind of story, not only romance!
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I creeped on a bunch of boards where moms-to-be discussed the stereotypes they had about names. I couldn’t find many negative associations with the names on this list, though everyone is different, so I can’t promise you won’t see the name of the bitchy lady you work with, or the mean girl who made middle school hell for you.
The names with asterisks by them are common names for women in their 20s and 30s in the United States, according to the Social Security database. I’ve tried to give you a mix of common and unusual choices. If you want help with a last name, here’s a list of the top 1000 surnames in the United States.
In no particular order, here you are!
- Sarah*
- Jacqueline* Bound to have associations with elegance, thanks to Jackie Kennedy.
- Felicia
- Sage I know a Sage, and she’s extremely intelligent, as the name implies. Some people think of Sage as being kind of wild.
- Dominique Kind of a glamorous French name. Some people think of it as African-American, maybe because of the gymnast Dominique Dawes. Monique has a similar feel.
- Hope
- Selena Of course, the two big associations here are the late singer who went only by her first name, and Selena Gomez.
- Julia*
- Grace
- Molly People think of Molly as really cute and maybe kind of innocent. Note that it’s on this list of the “top 10 whitest names,” although that goes back to 2006.
- Aria
- Elizabeth* All kinds of nicknames possible.
- Bethany
- Joy
- Carolina/Caroline The Carolina I know has Colombian parents, and everyone calls her Caro, which I think is a fantastic name.
- Vanessa*
- Jia A Chinese name that means “good” or “outstanding,” according to a couple of websites I consulted.
- Camille
- Gabrielle/Gabriella*
- Octavia Two wonderful associations here: the actress Octavia Spencer and the scifi author Octavia Butler.
- Lilly/Lily
- Serenity Not just the name of an awesome spaceship!
- Paige
- Maria* As classic as it gets, and most people will see it as a Hispanic name.
- Zoe
- Allison*/Allyson Alyssa is another option. Most people think of Allison as blonde and friendly.
- Carina/Corrina/Karina Almost everyone online loved this name, except for one doctor who didn’t like it because carina is the name of part of the trachea, or windpipe. I don’t think many readers would know that. Corinne is a similar name.
- Megan*
- Autumn
- Hannah*
- Gillian/Jillian
- Caprice She might get you into trouble, and it might be worth it.
- Maureen
- Penelope Although Penelope in The Odyssey stayed home and waited for twenty years, people imagine Penelope as an adventurous type. Nickname options are Pen, Penny, Nell, and Nellie.
- Estelle Stella is a variation.
- Diana
- Annika Both a Russian and a Swedish name…and actually, I knew an Annika from Finland.
- Eden
- Emily*
- Marissa Marisol is a similar option.
- Holly
- Tameka/Tamika/Tamikah Aramaic in origin.
- Leila
- Athena The goddess of wisdom and war. Suitable for a brave, smart heroine.
- Chloe
- Robin/Robyn You might think of the “y” spelling as more modern, but Robin Hood was often spelled “Robyn Hode.”
- Rebecca*
- Jamie.*
- Devi A Hindu name that means “divine” or “goddess.”
- Skye
- Jade People imagine that Jade has a carefree personality. The name might also make people think of actress Jada Pinkett Smith.
- Jessamine Jess or Jessie for short. This was my great-grandmother’s name, and I think it’s gorgeous.
- Violet Most people seem to like this name, but it has a split personality. On the one hand, it sounds quiet. On the other hand, it sounds like the word “violent.” Recommended for shy demon hunters.
- Nina
- Lauren* Laurel is a similar choice.
- Piper
- Eva Could also be short for Evangeline.
- Rowan/Rowena
- Amy*
- Charlotte I knew one Charlotte who went by Lottie.
- Linnea
- Maya
- Tuesday
- Jamila/Jamilla/Jamillah An Arabic name that means “beautiful.”
- Andrea*
- Winter
- Renée
- Tegan/Teagan
- Rosemary Rose on its own is also a nice name.
- Jane I think of this as a good name for a reserved person, probably because of Pride and Prejudice. Janelle and Janae are variants.
- April* Abril is the Spanish version.
- Kristina
- Iris A pretty flower and the name of a famous writer, Iris Murdoch.
- Abigail
- Samantha*
- Rhiannon This is the name of the Celtic goddess of horses, inspiration, and the moon. It’s also a really old rock song.
- Olivia
- Cecilia
- Noel/Noelle
- Audrey I’ve always loved this name, which has an elegant association with Audrey Hepburn. Audra is a possible variant.
- Zara/Zahra People see Zara as someone who likes to have fun, which is how they think of Tara also.
- Naomi
- Carissa
- Jennifer*
- Amaya A pretty Japanese name with a pretty meaning—“night rain.”
- Florence Flora or Flory are nice nicknames. Flo, not so much.
- Josephine
- Lucia
- Maggie
- Katherine*/Catherine. A few different choices for nicknames here.
- Angelina
- Erin*
- Samara
- Chaya This is a Hebrew name meaning “life.”
- Amanda*
- Ruby
- Catalina
- Genevieve Geneva is a similar choice.
- Sidney/Sydney
100 Alexandra/Alexandria
*
Not enough names for you? I’ve expanded this list to 200 names in my book Master Lists for Writers: Thesauruses, Plots, Character Traits, Names, and More. It has lists of character names for contemporary heroes and lists of names from several historical periods as well. Hope you like it!
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Lovely names. I was happy to see “Julia” and “Emily” here. Any thoughts on “Clara?”
I didn’t look up impressions for Clara, but I don’t know why – it’s lovely! I think of Clara Bow, but I think Clara has a little attitude, too. 🙂
MY NAME IS NINA!!!
It’s such a great name! 🙂
My name is Guinevere but most people pronounce it like Genevieve at first glance… (:
And a load of other stuff which is too embarrassing to be mentioned, lol.
My name is on here, woo!
(It’s never on any lists except Celtic mythology names)
It’s a beautiful name!
Me too. It’s dort of weird but great seeing it.
Just so you know, you put Bethany on the list twice. It is number 13 and number 89. Is there a reason for that?
IT’S A REALLY GOOD NAME. Hahaha, no, it’s a mistake! Thank you so much for letting me know. I’m going to substitute something from my runner up list on #89. And I’m going to talk to Mr. Donovan about maybe proofreading for me from now on… if you’re married to a profesh proofreader and tech editor, you should take advantage, right? 🙂 Thanks again!
Maybe you can tell me why Gwyn, Gwendalyn is never on one of these lists?
What would the character name “Jenna.” conjure up to you? I’ve got that name as my main protagonist/heroine and I was just wondering if you think it sound lie a heroine leading lady name for a book. 🙂
I think it sounds good! I first think of Jenna Marbles, the youtube sensation, which is a positive association since she’s pretty fun. 🙂 It’s a somewhat common name but not ubiquitous!
I have known three different Jenna’s and none of them were the ‘heroin’ type person, but I often get a different perspective of a name than other people. Jenna to me sounds like the less popular girl in school, a bit quiet, trying to fit in still… Maybe the new girl?.. she is a bit different than others and has a bit of old fashioned Goth sort of outlook. Common name and it would be the kind of girl I would put in the background of a story. If you want ideas here are some impressions I get…. Angelina= strong, outgoing, but somewhat secretive. Hanna=bubbly and smart, easygoing, Dylan=rich, slightly snobby, tall, Haedyn=quiet, bookworm, romantic type, Raquel, pretty, but not delicate, muscular and also musical, Lily=soft and kind, musically inclined, outdoorsy
I am using ‘Ro’ as my main characters name. My favourite heroin name would be Reyna… It gives a sort of royal but adventurous sort of impression to the reader. The name didn’t quite fit with my characters personality though so I stuck with something a bit more like her.. An adventurous character who has lost herself and who cannot afford to think of anything but what is happening exactly at the moment being. Ro is a little down to earth but definitely shows a deep personality. Consider these..??.. Ro, Reyna, Cassia, Angelina, Lily, and Thalia.
I like Ro, pretty. Though my first thought is “hey that’s a Greek letter” but then it’s spelled “Rho.”
I love the name Reyna because of Reyna Ramírez-Arellano from the Percy Jackson series
This is a lovely list! I’m saving it for later. I’m not really surprised that my name didn’t make the list. I think there have been way too many high school popular “mean girls” in fiction named Heather! I know I saw my fair share on TV growing up.
I’d be really curious to know what people think of the names Mabel and Emilia. (I’m considering using those two names.)
I love names that begins with ”A” but Aurora wasn’t there (i always loved this name don’t know why : ) Great list by the way thanks 🙂
I considered the name Aurora! I thought maybe it would make a lot of people think of the Disney princess, aka Sleeping Beauty. But maybe not many people would think of her first 🙂 Thanks for reading, and commenting!
Ha, it was a pleasant surprise to find my name on this list! It’s kind of uncommon, I wasn’t expecting it.
But anyway, I loved this list! I’m figuring out my life and toying with the idea of writing my own books and publishing them, not just jotting down short stories. This list (as well as several of your others) have helped me a lot, so thank you! I particularly loved Amaya and Chaya. They’re very lovely-sounding, unique, and the meanings are beautiful. Thank you so much!
Here’s some others
Scarlett -Strong, feminine
Everly- princess, dainty
Gianella- vixen
Grace
Gracelyn
Gracie
Graycee
Gillian- Socialite
Danica
Hadlee- country club
Jaelyn
Joslyn
Kinsley
Marnie
Kiralea (keer-a-lee)
Lovelyn
Braylee
Ashlyn
Riley
Rylee
Sidney
Leela
Maisy
Good list with variety. I like the name “Aubrielle” quite a lot, though I’m not sure if it’s used, I made it up for one of my books.
I like it too!
I have an Annika (Norwegian) in my novel I am currently writing. She sure can attract men, but the wrong ones. The novel’s protagonist is Kaitlyn Alexis (Maus) and I think those names are beautiful (only if Kaitlyn is spelled this way).
I love those names! Annika’s story sounds interesting! 🙂
Great post.
Hey thanks!
I thought most of the names were great and many different from what I’ve seen before, which is cool!!! My daughter is Emmalee, another version for Emily of course, which can be broken into Em, Emma, or even Lee, which could be used to confuse a book character who thinks that they are meeting a man and are shocked when it’s a woman!! I get told a lot that my name is great, Hattie, and know many people who have thought of using it if they had girls. ALL of them had boys!!! I can’t catch a break but I think Hattie could be a great name to use! And no, my name is NOT short for Harriet! I also like and know a Kendra and a Chelsea.A few more Legacy, Roxanne or Roxana(Roxanna), and Kia. My husband met a girl in college who was Ka-a, it was pronounced, Kadasha. Thought it was strange but to each their own!
In Britain the masculine is Robin and the feminine is Robyn, which is why I decided not to name my heroine Robin/Robyn. Far too confusing, like Leslie/Lesley. Much better for my story to go with a gender specific name, in my opinion.
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
In case you missed this great post last year 😀
Wonderful list. Thank YOU. 😀
I was so glad to see Amanda on the list. It is my granddaughter´s name and the main character of my series. I will keep this list for reference for secondary charters. Thanks!
No Melania, Ivana, Marla…LOL
How about name “valisa” I don’t know the meaning but I like it’s sounds good to me… 🙂
Having a hard time finding a girl heroine name. It’s for a book about dragons, unicorns, kings, elves and other stuff. she is 15 though near the end she is an adult so I don’t want something too childish. Also she is a princess but more like the princess leia sort of princess. Battle type, has power, rides a dragon, kills unicorns.
Hi Dawn! I made this list with realistic fiction rather than fantasy in mind (although, I love fantasy!) You might find something you like in my list of medieval names from England:
https://www.bryndonovan.com/2015/05/28/master-list-medieval-names-from-england/
Just want to say that it is pretty rare for a Chinese person to be named just Jia and the same word could translated to many different characters including ‘home’ and ‘plus’. Otherwise this is a really nice list, thank you for making it.
Thank you for letting me know! I know of two Jias (but do not know them personally), and it’s quite possible that that isn’t their whole name! And I had no idea it could be translated in a few different ways.
How about Kay or Kai for a strong female character. Or even Kaya.
I think it sounds great, Leah!
Athena is the goddess of wisdom and WAR STRATEGY, not wisdom and war. Ares is the god of war. But other then that it is a great list. I think the name Claudia is a good one.
Loved seeing variations of my name. Id like to add that you could go with Corina with one r. This can easily be given the nickname Cori. (My mom always wanted that to be my nickname but it didnt pan out lol)
You could still make Cori happen if you wanted to, Cori! 🙂 Corina is a great variation. Such a pretty name!
Very interesting and useful post. Thank you for this.
May i ask, what about creating names?
For example, the word ‘grace’ in Greek is ‘χάρη’ (hari) and since i had trouble choosing a name for my character, between Violet and Grace, i compined the Greek version of grace with Violet and made Hariette, which i think sounds pretty coul and i feel like it suits her more.
What should we take into account when making a name of our own?
Thank you for your attention and thank you for this wonderfull blog
Irene, I’m sorry I missed this comment before! I don’t have advice for making up names, other than making sure people know how to pronounce them in their heads. I think Hariette sounds great and like a real name. It’s very creative without being at all weird 🙂 Thanks so much for commenting!
Original names are always to hardest to conjure.Thanks so much for this freebie sheet, love it! Thanks for sharing!
My name is Dominique, like one of your names in the list, spelt the same and all, but in real life. Anyway, lovely names, thanks for inspiring me.
Dont agree with Marissa and Marisol. I was name Marisol bu my dad my culture is Hispanic there is no way those name are similar Marisol basically has two separate names Mar which mean ocean and sol which mean sun. I can say marysol and Marisol basically the same thing. Marissa Not so much Mar ( ocean) y ( and ) sol (sun) same thing Mar (ocean) I (and ) sol (sun). Basically same meaning but spell differently Marissa eeh Not.
What about Linda – or is that too old fashioned now?
Linda’s not old-fashioned—-it’s classic! Lovely.
Do you look at ilona it means joy to someone
My name is Audrey and it means Noble strength if that helps anyone. I saw it and started laughing because i can not name my character after me. None of these names helped me for this particular character but i will DEFINITELY bookmark this page. I have bookmarked a lot of your pages.
Nice to know that both my first and middle name are on here (41 and 67, though my middle name is spelled Rene). I also have some name suggestions for you, and variants and nicknames for some you’ve already got. For example: the name Nina can actually be a nickname for some of the names on your list: such as Carina and Athena, and Sara and Sadie can be used as variants or nicknames of Sarah (as can Saralynn, which is the name of my younger sister). If you want to add some spice to the name Violet, you could use the Italian variant Viola (Vee- oh- la), and you could use Via, Vie, or even Leo as a nickname for it. I personally used the names Adrienne (female witch, usually called Rena or Reina), Louisa (named for Little Women author by dead mom, full name for Lucy), Rubiana (I’m sure you can see what her nickname is), Sam (named Samantha by adopted parents, uses it most often but not legal name), Giada (previous character’s legal name, Italian version of Jade), Alessia (Italian girl’s name similar to Alice, Alyssa, or Alison. Can be called Lexi, Lessi, Alice, or Allie), Jessa (variant or nickname of Jessica, Jessabelle, or Jessamine. Apparently also a Scandinavian given name. Could be called Jessie or Jess, but I prefer it over Jessie), Rosalie (also called Rose. Don’t remember where it’s from), Jennessa (made- up [by me] variant for Jennifer/ Jenna and Vanessa. Started one of my old characters out with this name, eventually changed it to Jenna), Jemma (can’t remember where from. Used as a first name for an old character [Jemma Marie Johnson] because I see Jamie [Jaymi in her case] as a nickname), and Aoife (Beautiful Irish name, pronounced like Eva but with an f sound. Personal favorite, probably gonna call them Evie for short). There is also the Greek name Javian for a boy, which I used as a replacement for Jayden (called Jay Jay by his sisters and their friends, and will be ’til he dies), Damian (twelve-year-olds don’t like being called Dami even by their sister, mostly use Ian or just Damian), and Anthony (human name, real name is Eyani. Goes by Anthony or Ant. Hates Eyani [means little wing, so kind of an insult to him] and Tony [no idea why he’s fine with Ant though]).
What can I say? I am a writer. It is our job to know a lot of names and what they mean.
Thanks for these. I love the name Hannah. Your posts rock!