Ovaries before brovaries. Uteruses before duderuses. Today is Galentine’s Day!
As we celebrate the female friendships in our lives, we’re also looking to the fictional friendships that have inspired us over the years. Since we always bring it back to baby names, our list today includes some especially-well-named gal pal duos and some that we will forever associate with their names.
So read on for some serious girlfriend (and baby naming) goals. And then be sure to call your besties and let them know how much they mean to you!
Ann and Leslie
Look no further than the Parks and Recreation ladies for the origin of Galentine’s Day. Powerhouse go-getter Leslie Knope and her “beautiful, talented, brilliant, powerful musk-ox” best friend Ann Perkins are aspirational gal pals and perhaps the true human love story at the center of the comedy. Name-wise, Ann is as classic as it gets, the name of queens, spunky heroines, singers, and scientists. It’s also a favorite “prefix” name: think Annalise, Annabelle, Annabeth, and so on. Then there’s sweet-spot Leslie, a Scottish name meaning “garden of holly,” which has historically been popular for both girls and boys. Besides our beloved Leslie Knope, there’s actresses Lesley Ann Warren and Leslie Mann; actors Leslie Nielsen and Leslie Howard; and fun fact, Leslie was the birth name of comedian Bob Hope and former president Gerald Ford.
Betty and Wilma
Prehistoric neighbors and friends Betty and Wilma have names that rock, now as much as they did back in the heyday of The Flintstones. Playful Betty is great as a nickname for Elizabeth, but it’s also great on its own. Then there’s Wilma, which has that “so old it’s new again” vibe. Similar in sound to the fast-rising Willa, Wilma is still laying low for the time being. But both names have tons of charm, and they’d fit in perfectly with the Millies, Ediths, and Billies in their classroom.
Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda
When Sex and the City first aired, the idea of following the lives of women as they navigated single life was revolutionary. But it worked, and despite (or because of) its controversy, the show locked the names of Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha, and Miranda into our collective consciousness. We think it’s pretty amazing how fitting the SATC characters’ names are, too. We’ve got quirky Carrie with the only “nickname name” in the group. While there are endless longer names for Carrie (Caroline, Carolyn, Carys, or Carina), the shortened form with the -ie ending just suits her. Then you have Charlotte, with a name as sophisticated as she is, and as classic in style as the character’s wardrobe. And there’s wild Samantha with the trendiest name of the bunch. Last but not least is serious and scholarly Miranda with her apt Shakespearean moniker.
Daphne and Velma
This mystery-solving cartoon pair truly can’t function apart; Daphne’s got the money and Velma has the brains. As you may know, Daphne is one of our favorite names. It’s a Greek mythological name and a botanical name meaning “laurel tree.” It’s familiar but still unexpected, a pretty perfect attribute for a baby name. And then there’s Velma. It’s hard to believe the name was once in the top 100 baby names, but Velma actually rode that wave from 1905-1917. Currently unranked, it fell out of the top 1000 US baby names in 1974. But the name actually has some present-day potential. We’re loving V names these days, and Velma gives us the vintage appeal of Thelma or Selma with that hot first letter. While Scooby Doo is the name’s strongest association, Velma can also evoke the vaudevillian Velma Kelly from the musical Chicago.
Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, and Shoshanna
First there was Sex and the City, then there was Girls. Also about an aspiring writer and her three friends in New York, Girls has been commended for representing the female, post-college, millennial experience with more frankness and idiosyncrasy than SATC. All four of the characters’ names are Hebrew in origin, but they have totally different vibes. In 2020, the biblical classic Hannah is exceedingly more popular than the rest. Marnie packs a load of mid-century modern style, as the namesake of 50s singer Marni Nixon and the title of Hitchcock’s 1964 psychological thriller, Marnie. And then there’s Jessa, whose most current association might be Jessa Seewald of TLC reality tv fame. Jessa makes a great present-day update to now “mom name” Jessica. The name Shoshanna might be most associated with fashion (not a bad association at all!), as it is the name of fashion designer Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss’s eponymous clothing label.
Jane and Elizabeth
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that sometimes your best friend is also your sister.” This was true for Jane Austen’s most famous heroine, Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Reflecting Austen’s own real-life dynamic, Elizabeth’s best friend was her eldest sister, Jane. Two of the most classic names we can imagine, these Regency-era names are still relevant, popular, and beloved today, where Jane is not plain but rather, classic and spirited, and Elizabeth is formidable yet flexible, giving us nicknames and alternatives in Liz, Eliza, Lizzie, Lizbet, Elspeth, Liza, Beth, and more!
June, Rose, Waverly, and Lena
The daughters of the original Joy Luck Club have enviable-now names, even though the book first came out in 1989. You have floral beauty Rose, then vintage classics June and Lena, and a name with surname style in Waverly. A fun fact about June: her birth name in the Joy Luck Club is Jing-Mei. In the film based on the book, June/Jing-Mei was portrayed by actress Ming-Na Wen, who would return to ER in its 6th season after leaving it in the 1st to reprise her role as Dr. Chen. She insisted then to be known not as “Deb” as she had been first known, but by her birth name . . . Jing-Mei.
Khadijah, Regine, Maxine, and Synclaire
Before Friends there were New York best friends (and frenemies) Khadijah, Regine, Maxine, and Synclaire living it up in Living Single. Khadijah (also spelled without the final “h”) has a rich history that gives the stunning moniker some substance. We love the -ine ending of both Regine and Maxine, which is a trending suffix for female baby names that contrasts the rise of the -a ending names of a few years ago. Synclaire is a spelling variation of the surname Sinclair, and it works equally well for baby boys and girls in 2020, with Claire being an easy nickname option.
Lorelai and Rory
The mother/daughter duo of Lorelei and Rory Gilmore in Gilmore Girls is known for lots of fast-talking girlfriend banter and an unconditional love that is Galentine’s Day worthy. These gal pals are virtually inseparable, and they even share a name! Both named Lorelai, a variation of the German name Lorelei, the daughter goes by Rory. The show brought the name into audience’s ears and is still probably the name’s strongest association. And the multi-generational characters (grandma “Trix” on the show is also named Loralai!) show off the versatility of the name.
Lucy and Ethel
Once the most watched show on television, I Love Lucy left a comedic legacy, inspiring future comediennes with its brand of female slapstick. The show’s dynamic duo, Lucy and Ethel, are known as much for their crazy schemes as their enduring friendship. Ethel was always by Lucy’s side as she navigated one chaotic adventure after another. The name Lucy is back on the popularity charts in a big way, currently ranked as the 51st most popular female name in the US. And that doesn’t include all the baby Lucilles out there who are using the nickname Lucy. Ethel, on the other hand, is far from a 2020 favorite. Still outside the top 1000 as of the most recent data, the name has loads of potential. Hazel has skyrocketed up the charts, and Mabel is currently making its way up. Ethel is a great undiscovered alternative and could be close behind.
Mary and Rhoda
Seventies icons and best friends Mary Richards and Rhoda Morgenstern were single, independent working gals in Minneapolis, but they were more than just that. In a time when you rarely saw women represented without dependency on a man, they were trailblazers that would become icons. And what name is more iconic than Mary! It reigned supreme as the most popular name for females for over 400 years until Linda usurped it in 1947. Mary is probably the traditional name of all names for girls, but for parents looking for an update, Mary is full of possibilities as a root name (Marion, Miriam, Mary, Mariah, Mara, just to name a few) or as a prefix name (Marianne, Mary Jane, Mary Beth). Then we have Rhoda, whose most famous association is the Bronx girl herself from The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The name is older than that, showing up in the bible and the novel Vanity Fair. For an update on the name with the same meaning (“rose”), parents don’t have to reach far to the fresh-sounding unisex name, Rhodes.
Minnie and Daisy
This mouse and duck duo sports some seriously on-trend names. “Nickname names” are back with a vengeance, and Minnie is a vintage pick that hasn’t yet hit the mainstream. Clementine, Minerva, or Wilhelmina are fun full-name options to get you to nickname Minnie. And then there’s the floral Daisy, which is moving up the charts but less dramatically so than flower-inspired cousins Lily and Violet. Disney has given us loads of baby name inspiration, but these gal pal names are two of our favorites.
Rose, Blanche, Dorothy, and Sophia
While these four ladies will always be the Golden Girls, they could just as well be preschool besties. In recent years, the names Sophia and Rose have soared in popularity, becoming mainstream favorites for all types of parents. Dorothy and Blanche aren’t there yet, which makes them perfect, trend-forward choices for parents looking for a baby name that’s a bit ahead of the curve. While these four names together scream Golden Girls, independently they don’t have super strong character associations, making them just as fitting on a playground as they are on a Miami lanai.
That’s our list of the best Galentine’s Day baby names! Let us know what other gal pals you’d add to the list. And on this Galentine’s Day, thank you for being our friend!