If when you hear the words “adventurer” or “explorer,” you get the image of a macho man in a pith helmet on a quest to discover new lands, here are the names of some women that should turn that image around. These are just a few of the many bold females pioneers who dared to explore uncharted areas through time and space — any of whom might make a worthy namesake for your own little adventurous girl.
Alexandrine
Alexandrine Tinné was a Dutch explorer in Africa and the first European woman to attempt to cross the Sahara, in 1859. One of the more unusual names in the Alex family, Alexandrine has royal ties in several countries, and its variant Alexandrina was the first name of Queen Victoria.
Delia
Born in 1875, Delia Akeley led expeditions to Africa, studying the ethnography of such reclusive tribes as the Forest People pygmies in the 1930s, and exploring the Tana River in a dugout canoe. Delia, which started as a short form of names like Adelia and Cordelia, has long stood on its own. Despite its Greek roots, Delia projects an element of Southern charm.
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Osa
With her husband Martin, Osa Johnson was an American adventurer, writer, photographer and documentary filmmaker, studying the wildlife and peoples of East and Central Africa, the South Pacific and British North Borneo in the first half of the twentieth century. Osa is one of several three-letter o-names that had some usage in the late nineteenth century, ranking at Number 615 in 1881.
Valentina
Valentina Tereshkova was a Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman — and first civilian — to fly into space in 1963, orbiting the Earth 48 times. The exotic Valentina entered the Top 1000 in 1994, and since then has shot up to Number 129; it was picked by actress Salma Hayek for her daughter.
