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 I've been thinking of Flora lately.  And Felicia and Ophelia and other names with the "f" sound.  What's up with that, anyway?  I'm not usually into that sound, so I'm really taking notice.  There's Fern and Faye and Phaedra.  Short names and long names, they're swimming in my head whether they're common or not, English, French, Spanish - name the nationality and I've probably got one in there.   There's also Fleur and Fleurette and Flor, not to mention Serafina, Seraphine and Seraphina.   I read just last week on a baby naming board that a saint's name somebody was considering was Felicity, which reminded me of the (what seemed to be) long list of names the priest would read off at every Mass ages ago when I was a child.  Yes, Felicity was in there along with (was it Cleta?) and Agatha, like my great aunt, which reminded me of my grandmother's neighbor Felicitas, which led me to think of Felix and hence Felicia.   Along with Felicia came thoughts of Phyllis and Phylicia.

Some of the boys' names that come to mind are Efren, Efrain, Ephrem and Ephraim.  There's Philip, Phillipe and Felipe along with the female form Felipa.  There's also Refugio (for boys or girls) and Efigenia.  Some of these names I've only seen on TV, others I wonder if I just read about them once and they stuck, ne'er to come out till F came calling.  Others are part of the family tree where someday someone will want to re-use them.  Names, like fashion, are cyclical.

 One of the common names floating in my head right now is Stephanie which I've seen spelled Stefanie as well as Stepfanie.  There's Estefania, Stephane, Stephan, Stephen and Estefany. 

I've met women named Effie, Alfa, and Eufemia.  I was related by marriage to Epifanio, I've heard tell of a Fulgencio and I've read of an Ildefonso.  Hey, wait a minute, that reminds me of Alfonso who was my uncle Filiberto's roommate back in their bachelor days.

What other names are out there have the "f" sound?  Who knows, it might be just the right baby name for you.