Quirky or classic traditional British names

[tillytoothfloss]

We are looking for ideas for traditional British girl's names - both familiar and not so familiar. All suggestions welcome as I don't know the origins of most names and couldn't really tell you if they are British or not!

[MagdalenaAlec]

I am French (but DH is British) so probably far from being an expert in this field but here was our list:
Adela, Adele, Adelaide (nn Ada) (n#2 choice)
Alice, Alix
Antonia
Annabel, Arabella
Ariane, Ariana (nn Aria)
Beatrice, Beatrix
Clemence
Constance
Edith, Ethel
Elisabeth, Elsa (can work as a nickname I believe)
Eugenie
Esther
Honoria
Iris, Isis
Octavia (our n#1 choice)
Sybil/Sibylle
Violet/Violette

Hope it helps!

[Psammead]

Felicity
Penelope
Beatrice
Dorothy

[Psammead]

Although those are mostly Greek/Latin in origin. Do you need actual British British names? Or just names that have been assimilated over time?

[MoonHare]

Harriet, Emma, Emily, Charlotte, Audrey, Cressida, Cordelia, Rosalind, Miranda, Cecily, Anna, Alice, Jane, Catherine, Victoria.

[Stellan]

Are you looking for British-style names or Welsh/Scottish/Irish/English names?

Assuming it is the former...

Flower names including
Iris, Lily, Violet, Rose

Feminisations including
Caroline, Charlotte, Josephine, Harriet, Henrietta, Georgia, Georgina, Antonia, Clementine, Louisa, Alexandra

British royal names including
Anne, Sophia, Adelaide, Victoria, Alice, Helena, Beatrice, Louise, Mary, Amelia, Elizabeth, Augusta, Maud

Vintage names including
Ada, Adele, Clara, Claudia, Edith, Emmeline, Esther, Camilla, Florence, Sybil, Millicent, Marguerite, Cecily, Cordelia, Christabel, Isadora, Imogen, Juliet, Felicity, Hazel, Honor, Iris, Ivy, Lillian, Lois, Pearl, Penelope, Rosemary, Stella, Alice, Vivienne

Biblical names including
Abigail, Anna, Chloe, Dinah, Elizabeth, Eve, Hannah, Jemima, Joanna, Julia, Leah, Lydia, Mary, Martha, Miriam, Naomi, Phoebe, Rachel, Rebecca, Ruth, Sarah, Susanna, Tabitha

As I think this is actually what you're really after, the top names from Telegraph birth announcements in 2011 were
Florence
Isabel
Isabella
Charlotte
Isla
Alice
Emily
Jemima
Matilda
Daisy
Olivia
Amelia
Elizabeth
Poppy
Annabel
Sophie
Arabella
Martha
Flora
Lily
Lucy
Rose
Beatrice
Eleanor
Emilia
Ottilie
Abigail
Chloe
Clementine
Harriet
Jessica
Kitty
Phoebe
Sophia
Ava
Freya
Molly
Violet
Willa
Amelie
Evie
Georgina
Grace
Henrietta
Honor
india
Iona
Katharine
Madeleine
Ophelia
Tabitha
Zoe

And from the Times, they were
Emily
Isabel
Alice
Matilda
Sophia
Charlotte
Isabella
Sophie
Freya
Martha
Florence
Beatrice
Flora
Poppy
Amelia
Eleanor
Lara
annabel
Arabella
Chloe
Emilia
Emma
Isla
Jemima
Olivia
Ottilie
Amelie
Daisy
Elizabeth
Francesca
Georgia
Rose
Ava
Catherine
Cecily
Clementine
Coco
Grace
Holly
Honor
Imogen
Iris
Josephine
Kitty
Lola
Lucy
Maya
Phoebe
Scarlett
Violet

[toomuchteaching]

Stellan do you mind posting where you found those lists?

[BikeRunSki]

Alice keeps popping up. It might be used a lot in Britain, but it is Teutonic/Celtic origin. It's my name, so it is the only one I can comment on!

[melliebobs]

We called 11wk old DD Nancy

[Stellan]

toomuchteaching - They were collated by, and available on, this fantastic baby name blog: britishbabynames.typepad.com/

[toomuchteaching]

Stellan you have found me a new obsession! I love that blog. I asked because I was surprised to see DD in the top 10 Telegraph list (not surprised it was there as such, just by the rank) but it turns out that still only means 14 announcements with that name, and one of them is her!