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Names from warrior women of modern times (Hillary), ancient times (Wei), or both (Diana).
If your looking for strong girl names with powerful meanings, we've got you covered. From female warrior names from modern times (Hillary) and ancient times (Wei), or both (Diana), to fierce girl names that mean brave (Matilda), ahead is 30 powerful girl names.
- Alexandra is the name of many queens and princesses from Russia to Spain to Yugoslavia. Queen Alexandra of Denmark was Queen Elizabeth II’s great-grandmother. The name means “helper” and “defender”.
- Amelia is a German name meaning “work”, or, with a 2021 framing, “werk”. Amelia’s are out there to get it done. Case in point, Amelia Earhart.
- Audrey means “noble strength” and has strong links to actress and philanthropist Audrey Hepburn who was a tireless advocate for children's rights. In the ‘80s, as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, she spent time on missions in Ethiopia. She received the United States' highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1992.
- Briana means “strong”, “virtuous” and “honorable”, therefore she would make a good judge.
- Catherine is another royal name, but the most famous was the Empress of Russia, Catherine the Great. And if you've seen Elle Fanning’s portrayal of the headstrong queen in The Great, you’ll know she was a top-to-toe badass.
- Carla sometimes means warrior and other times means the whole dang army. Epic.
- Coco sounds melodic and cute, but it also conjures imagery of Coco Chanel, a fashion legend and woman who did things her way, and everyone followed.
- Diana is one of the most powerful names there is, from Wonder Woman to Princess Diana to Diana the roman goddess of the hunt, wild animals, the moon, childbirth and children, it’s a name to live up to.
- Hedy is a triple threat: unusual, cool and associated with an actress from Hollywood’s first century who had her priorities straight. Hedy Lamarr hustled from Austria to become one of MGM’s biggest stars in the ‘30s and then developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes in WWII, the principles of which laid the foundations for Bluetooth, GPS technology and Wi-Fi.
- Hermione means “messenger”, but we all know Potter would have got absolutely nowhere without his gal pal Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series. Don’t even get us started on Ron.
- Hillary derives from the Latin word for “cheerful”, but it’s a name so strongly connected with Madame Secretary, presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is undoubtedly one strong woman.
- Irena is the name of the 8th century Empress of the Byzantine Empire who became the first woman to rule it. She did so by gouging out her own son’s eyes so that he was unfit for rule, but that’s just the fine print.
- Isa means strong willed and is destined to be a boundary pusher.
- Iwa is a Japanese name representing strength and meaning rock. Nothing’s more solid than a rock.
- Juno was Jupiter’s wife, chief goddess and the original real housewife. Juno represents fertility, marriage and female wealth. She may have been the counterpart of the god of gods, but she made sure she was independently powerful.
- Louella means “famous battle”. It was also the name of the founder of Hollywood expose and gossip reporting, Louella Parsons. Parsons created a career that didn’t even exist when she was a little girl, and your little Lou can too.
- Louisa means “fame” and was the name of the author of Little Women, Louisa May Alcott. A text that means a whole lot to a whole lot of women.
- Malika is an Arabic name that means queen or female ruler. Malika al-Fassi was a Moroccan writer and nationalist who was also the only woman to sign the Proclamation of Independence of Morocco in 1944.
- Matilda was the name of William the Conqueror’s queen. It’s a German name that means “mighty in battle”. When the going gets tough, Matilda gets going.
- Maya is the name of the American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou. It is also connected to comedic actress Maya Rudolf who is a feminist icon thanks to her portrayal of the Hormone Monstress in Netflix’s Big Mouth.
- Natalia is the alias of Black Widow in Marvel’s Avenger series. In the recent films Natalia is cool, kind and a weapon, but she’s also played by Hollywood’s highest-paid actress, Scarlett Johansson.
- Nova means “new”, and Nova Peris was the first Aboriginal Australian athlete to win gold at the Olympics in 1996 as part of the women’s field hockey team. After sports she went into politics and represented the Northern Territory in the Senate.
- Phoebe means “bright” and “shining”. In Greek mythology, Phoebe was the daughter of the sky and the earth, and became grandmother to Apollo (god of the sun) and Artemis (goddess of the moon).
- Shiko is a name with Japanese origins, that means “strong woman”. Precisely translated, it’s more like “woman made of stone”, but stone is pretty darn strong.
- Sloane is the anglicized form of an Old Irish clan name that means “little raider”. It’s often given to the characters who don’t do things a certain way just because they’re told to. She’s your little revolutionary.
- Stevie means crown (‘cause she’s a queen) and is the name of Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks, still one of the coolest women to make music.
- Valentina is another name that means strength and was the moniker of Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space and the flyweight champion fighter Valentina Shevchenko.
- Valerie is a French name meaning health and strength.
- Victoria is Latin for victory, and the name of many royals, including Queen Victoria who managed to be successful in love and career.
- Wei is a Chinese gender-neutral name that means brilliant. Empress Wei of the Chinese Tang Dynasty was the second wife of Emperor Zhongzong. During his rule she was in charge of government affairs, and she tried to overthrow him.
Still deciding? Read our guide on how to choose a baby name.
