According to a number of studies, it takes more time and effort for parents to choose a name for a girl than for a boy. Of course, priority is given to the beauty of the name. A lot of people use names that can be called international (Emilia, Olivia, Eliza) or that have become international despite their origin (Alice, Alina, Aileen, Diane).
In most families a girl’s name consists of two parts. This is mostly true of Catholic families. The first name is official (for communication and documents), the second one is personal, used by relatives and at home. In Spain official female names can consist of two names and surnames, but girls are actually given as many names as their parents want.
There is a great variety of meanings behind female names. They can be the names of flowers (Lily and Dahlia), natural phenomena (Ainur, Eliana, and Zarina), character traits (Catherine and Maria), and even government positions (Carolina).
According to the world statistics, the name Anna holds the leadership in the number of girls and women with this name. Another popular name, Maria, has been recently snapping on its heels but couldn’t get to the top. With that in mind, the names Anna and Maria can be considered the most popular female names in the world.
But you shouldn’t think that every other girl will be called like this. Each country has its own list of beautiful female names, most of which are rather popular in their country although they may be of foreign origin.
One of the latest trends is using laconic short names or hypocoristics of a full name (Lina, Mia, Kira). The name Emma has now become popular all over the world, although a while ago it was not considered an official name and was used only as a short form of other female names. Girls are more and more often given the name Mia that appeared as a short form of the name Maria and became widely used in the last decades of the 20th century.
See also man names ☞