Modern Baby Girl Names // Our List for Maggie

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Modern baby girl names are so fun! Check out the list of names that we almost chose for Maggie – some old, some new, some in between.

modern baby girl names
list of girl names

love talking baby names. And now that we’re done having kiddos I get to do it with my other friends who are still having babes. But! I came across this sticky note the other day, where Ryan and I had kept a running list of all of the names that we were tossing around for Maggie.

I thought it was fascinating (I put it in her baby book), and asked on Instagram if people would be interested in seeing the rest of the names we were considering. The answer was a resounding YES so here we are! Our list of modern baby girl names for Maggie, with a little bit about how we ended up with her name: Marguerite Elaine.

Before you dive in, be sure to check out our list of modern baby boy names! And follow me on Pinterest for a ton of baby and kid inspiration. Also, our ultimate baby registry post is a must-read for new parents!

Modern BAby Girl Names

List of baby girl names

Jayne
Magnolia
Greer
Nola
Olive
Poppy
Piper
Gemma
Greta
Clementine
Maggie
Cyd
Betty
Sawyer
Quinn
Emmerson
Gigi
Gwen
Marguerite
Roxy
Mable
Flora
Merritt
Violet
Eliza
Viola
Maude
Dinah
Juno

CAN YOU EVEN BELIEVE THIS CRAZY LIST?! It’s all over the place. At one point, we thought we had thoroughly decided on a modern baby girl name which is not on this list whatsoever: Coraline Costa Foy. Costa is my maiden name (and also Henry’s middle name) and we were totally settled there for a sec. We were going to call her Coco for short. And now we have a dog named Coco. Bahahaha! So here’s a bit about our name journey.

Factoring Family Names in when Choosing a Baby Name

My sister and I are the end of our family name, so our maiden name dies with us. That’s why we gave Henry my maiden name for his middle name. And for the same reason, I wanted Mags to have a middle name that was a family name from my side.

So early on, my mom’s name was a frontrunner for Maggie’s middle name: Elaine. After we decided on that, we started thinking in terms of a first name that would sound right with it.

First, I had thought that I would love the name Olive — it was my grandmother’s name, and I’ve always just thought it was sweet. (And a little different than all of the Olivias that are around these days.) It felt like other modern baby girl names, but with a vintage twist.

Next, we asked Henry what we should name the baby when he was a little one year old guy, and out of the blue he said Poppy. I think he just strung some syllables together, but I kind of fell in love with that name too.

our Short List of Modern BAby Girl Names

So Olive and Poppy were always on the short list (even though we crossed Poppy off on the sticky note, ironically). I was deeply in love with Greer but Ryan just about vetoed it from the start because he said it was hard to say. Although I understood his point, I was still pushing for it. Then, one day we thought of Marguerite because we loved Maggie but not Margaret. That one kind of got stuck in our brains and we kept coming back to it.

We would sit on the names for a while, cross some off, add some on, and it was making us crazy! We just couldn’t figure it out, which was so different than our experience naming Henry. That one was easy right from the start.

Maggie came right on her due date, and that day we went to the hospital still not really knowing what we would name her. Finally, we just decided to take our favorites from our list of modern baby girl names (Olive, Poppy, and Marguerite), and just figure it out when we saw her.

How We Chose Our Baby Girl’s name

And I swear, I’ve heard people say this, but we saw her and we just knew. She was Mags. Sweet Marguerite. To look at that little baby, it was almost silly to us that we had ever been considering any other name. And now it just suits her to a tee. I love the more formal version that she can grow into if she likes, and I love the shorter versions like Maggie and Mags.

Actually, this kid has more nicknames than I can count (Maggie, Mags, Marge, Margie, Maggie Moo, Moo Moo, Mega, and so many more). I can’t wait to see what she wants to be called as she gets older.

So! I’m dying to know: what are the modern baby girl names from the list that you love/hate? I’m so curious!!! And I’d love to hear any fun name stories about your own name or your kids names! xoxo

P.S. If you’re planning for baby, check out this fun baby shower DIY idea!

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14 Comments

  1. We also knew right away for our first. Beatrix was uncommon but not unheard of. We knew of three strong Beatrix’s. And it was a little edgier than Beatrice. I wanted Althea for my daughter’s middle name because it was my beloved grandmother’s name. We’re trying for baby #2 and I’m obsessed with finding a name we can be sure of. We have two girls names, but four boys names. Arlo is so trendy now but we love it. My husband likes Quentin but I waffle on that daily. We like Echo for a boy or girl. And I like Bodhi but it sounds like a nickname. (Bodhisattva is a little too much though.) Hopefully we’ll just know like you did with Maggie!

    1. Oh, also, as a fellow gal with a one-syllable last name, that adds a curve. It’s gotta sound good. Love Marguerite, Violet, Gemma, and Clementine!

  2. Love that you entertained “Flora.”

    We have Walter Gene and Penelope Glenna.
    We never found out genders when we were pregnant so we had two names.
    Naming Walter was easy. He’s named after his great great grandfather and his middle name, Gene, is my late grandfather’s name.
    For Penelope we had a super short list. Our middle name was always Glenna for my husband’s late paternal grandmother, a sweet, true matriarch.
    Colby
    Sydney
    Penelope
    I’ve loved the name Penelope since I was young and we call her “Penny” most of the time. Or as Walter calls her, “My Penny Girl.”
    When we were pregnant with Penny, we were tempted to find out what we were having because we already had a girl name from when we had Walter, and we thought if we didn’t have to go through the trouble of choosing another name, that could be nice. But we like the thrill of not knowing so we made another list:
    Jed
    Weston
    Graham
    Everett
    We always knew the middle name would be after my husband’s father, Rodney. We chose Everett Rodney. Instead we have Penny and boy are we glad!

    1. Glenna has got to be one of the all-time great middle names. So perfect. And I can’t believe he calls her “My Penny Girl.” Melt my heart!

  3. Violet, Poppy, Gemma, and Olive have all been on our girl list too! Some maybe still on the list this time around 😉

  4. If I was a boy I was going to be named Michael or (wait for it) PLATO.
    Greek, much? LUCKILY I was NOT a boy and my mom wanted to name me Calliope after my YiaYia but she actually hated her name so it got moved to the middle. Which bums me out now. I love it!

  5. We must have floated a hundred names for our twins! We had a 4-syllable last name to contend with, so that was tricky. Tess has been my favorite girl’s name forever, but my husband wasn’t remotely interested in that name. Before we found out their genders, we landed on Alice Josephine and Mae Soledad for girls and Nathan James and Wilson Paul for boys (the middle names were all from each side of the family). With a boy & a girl, we settled on Alice Mae and Nathan James (James is my father’s name & we figured a fair compromise since Nate would have his Grandpa Paul’s last name). The names ended up being perfect for each kid! Naming your kid(s) is no joke! Chelsea, there are too many names I adore on your Maggie list to count!!

  6. Aside from the fact that clearly it would be adorable to have a tiny west coast Cyd running around, you picked the perfect name for both babies. I LOVE Margeurite!!!