[name]Hi[/name] there. My husband and I are expecting our second child, our first little girl. We have a son named [name]Leopold[/name] [name]Xavier[/name]. [name]Leopold[/name] is my mother-in-law”s maiden name, so it has family significance, and we just really liked [name]Xavier[/name] for it”s sound. For our daughter we”re looking for a name that”s light, graceful, a bit romantic- something you could envision on a ballerina. I was a ballerina for a long time and teach dance now and I”d love for my (probably only) daughter”s name to reflect my love of ballet, even if she doesn”t become a ballerina (though hopefully she will!). From personal experience, my name is [name]Jamie[/name] and I always wished I had a more feminine, elegant name like many of the girls I danced with. Some names we like are [name]Francesca[/name], [name]Arabella[/name], and [name]Diana[/name], but we”d like to expand our list a bit.
Thanks for the responses so far! I ran a bunch of these by my husband and we really like [name]Nadia[/name], [name]Madeline[/name] (but maybe too popular for our liking), [name]Lydia[/name] and [name]Genevieve[/name]. I forgot to mention that I have a love of all things French, so we might consider using a French name, and that our last name is [name]Mallory[/name], so a lot of names ending in “y” sound awkward. Keep 'em coming!
Yes, great suggestions so far! Here are some more ideas (sorry for repeats):
[name]Adriana[/name]
[name]Amira[/name]
[name]Anastasia[/name]
[name]Antoinette[/name]
[name]Aria[/name] or [name]Ariana[/name]
[name]Bianca[/name]
[name]Della[/name]
[name]Fiona[/name]
[name]Giselle[/name]
[name]Juliana[/name]
[name]Lucia[/name]
[name]Mirabel[/name]/[name]Mirabelle[/name]/[name]Mirabella[/name] (though [name]Mirabel[/name] [name]Mallory[/name] is kind of hard to say)
[name]Nina[/name]
[name]Paloma[/name]
[name]Paulina[/name]
[name]Sylvia[/name]/[name]Silvia[/name]
[name]Tanya[/name] or [name]Tania[/name] (diminutives of [name]Tatiana[/name])
[name]Tatiana[/name] (means fairy queen-is such a great ballerina name in my opinion!)
[name]Victoria[/name]
[name]Yvette[/name]
Best wishes to you! I am a big ballet fan, by the way.
[name]Clara[/name] is the ultimate little ballerina name. I like it with [name]Mallory[/name]. I like the English (not American) pronounciation best – when the first vowel rhymes with “are.”
[name]Odette[/name]. This is a great choice, even if you aren’t looking for a ballerina name.
[name]Aurora[/name]. Again – just a good choice and [name]Rora[/name] is darling for those tomboy moments.
My favorite names pulled from my French facebook friend’s page:
Cl”o
Oc”ane
[name]Adelaide[/name]
I like [name]Diantha[/name] better for your purposes than [name]Diana[/name].
As you don’t like [name]Jamie[/name], I won’t propose my favorite ballerina names; [name]Darcy[/name] and [name]Arden[/name].
[name]Grace[/name] always seemed the perfect Ballerina name to me, for obvious reasons. I also like the idea of using the names of influential dancers as baby names- Ailey is my personal favorite, but I’m sure names like [name]Katherine[/name], [name]Anna[/name], or [name]Martha[/name] would work too. [name]Noa[/name] means “motion,” so that may be one to consider. To me, names that sound like they could be ballerinas are:
[name]Jessamine[/name]
[name]Rosario[/name]
[name]Mariella[/name]
[name]Tatiana[/name]
[name]Sophia[/name]/[name]Sofia[/name]
[name]Giada[/name]
[name]Noemie[/name]
[name]Leila[/name]
When I think of ballerina names, I think of some of the best dancers I knew with more original names while growing up and training in classical ballet. Some that I can remember are:
[name]Larkin[/name]
[name]Margo[/name]
[name]Grayson[/name]
[name]Alexandria[/name]
[name]Oren[/name]
[name]Gianna[/name]
[name]Laurel[/name]
[name]Mia[/name]
The first two names that came to mind were [name]Arabella[/name] & [name]Giselle[/name], both quintessential ballerina names for me… I won’t add too much since you’ve already got so many great suggestions but here are a few more for you to consider…
A very beautiful, successful ballerina (she is/was with the Russian Ballet) I know of…her first name is [name]Alina[/name]. There’s also [name]Gelsey[/name], but I think [name]Alina[/name] sounds much better with the surname [name]Mallory[/name]!
Best,
L.
This is probably a little too out there for most parents, my sister (also a ballet dancer) tells me that if her baby is a girl, her name will be Apollina, after [name]Apollo[/name], the [name]Roman[/name] name for [name]Dionysius[/name], who is of course, the god of dancing, amongst other things. There’s also a beautiful history of ballet called [name]Apollo[/name]'s Angels - it’s beautifully written, well worth the read for any ballet and/or history lover! The Greek muse of dance has a name that comines dance and chorus - it’s clunky and unusable: Terpsichore. [name]Don[/name]'t name your baby Terpsichore! I quite like the sound of Apollina (ah-poh-[name]LEE[/name]-na), it’s light and airy and to me sounds like dancing, but I’ve had [name]Rosa[/name] waxing lyrical about it for months, so I’m a bit biased.
Other mythological dancing names include [name]Castor[/name] and [name]Pollux[/name]/Polydeuces, but I am at a loss to tell you how to anglicise or feminise those. This link Streetswing's Dancer History Archives - Dance Mythology / Greek etc - Main Page gives a history of dance, but mythology is my area of expertise and I can tell you most of those links are tenuous at best - [name]Hera[/name] may have danced for joy once, in one play, but she was in no way associated with dancing.
Hello!
[name]May[/name] I suggest Cadwyn? (welsh for locket) I think it would be a lovely name for a ballerina and the nn [name]Caddie[/name] is cute for a baby/toddler.
I also think a flower name such as [name]Rose[/name] or [name]Dahlia[/name] or [name]Violet[/name] (Possibly [name]Violetta[/name] nn [name]Lettie[/name]) could work.
Personally, though, I think [name]Ariana[/name], [name]Annabel[/name] and [name]Elise[/name] are your best bets. I’ve always loved [name]Elise[/name] as it’s my sisters mn and it has the added bonus of being the french version of [name]Elsie[/name]. The nick-name potential is also great with [name]Elle[/name], [name]Ellie[/name], [name]Lissie[/name] and [name]Lee[/name].
I like [name]Isadora[/name] and [name]Allegra[/name] for a dancer. [name]Isadora[/name] for [name]Isadora[/name] [name]Duncan[/name] and [name]Allegra[/name] means “quickly, lively tempo”. And I believe they both work with your last name. [name]Isadora[/name] [name]Mallory[/name]. [name]Allegra[/name] [name]Mallory[/name].
