Listen up, hipsters: these are the 100 most unique baby names ever

Life


Listen up, hipsters: these are the 100 most unique baby names ever

By Kayleigh Dray

8 years ago

As fans of Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief will no doubt be aware, “names have power”. They can let us know if there’s Viking blood coursing through our veins, indicate whether or not we have a successful career ahead of us, and (apparently) even determine our future happiness.

Above all else, though, our names help us to forge our own identity: they are a bright little flag for us to wave over our heads as we step out into the world – and, for many parents, it’s far preferable if that little flag is very different to everybody else’s.

Or, to put it more plainly, they would much rather that their child boast a unique name than share one with at least five other children on the classroom register. We’re looking at you guys, Amelia and Oliver.



With that in mind, baby naming website Nameberry has analysed each and every single one of the names bestowed upon babies in 2016 and compared them with their extensive database of ideas.

They’ve found 5000 names that didn’t make the cut for a single child last year and narrowed it down to the top 100 – which means that these are legitimately the most unique and unusual monikers around.

Then again, there may be a very good reason for that…

The most unusual baby girl names

  1. Acantha
  2. Araminta
  3. Artemesia
  4. Bee
  5. Bluebell
  6. Branwen
  7. Calico
  8. Capucine
  9. Ceil
  10. Chandra
  11. Christmas
  12. Cia
  13. Circe
  14. Coralia
  15. Daffodil
  16. Dancer
  17. Diablo
  18. Eluned
  19. Endellion
  20. Eulalie
  21. Fifer
  22. Finola
  23. Franny
  24. Freesia
  25. Frostine
  26. Grania
  27. HesterIanthe
  28. Jericho
  29. Jessamy
  30. Jocasta
  31. Kalindi
  32. Kerensa
  33. Leocadia
  34. Letitia
  35. Louisiana
  36. Lucasta
  37. Ludovica
  38. Madrigal
  39. Malou
  40. Marcellina
  41. Mazarine
  42. Melisande
  43. Minette
  44. Morwenna
  45. Nephele
  46. North
  47. Oberon
  48. Ottoline
  49. Perdita
  50. Petronilla
  51. Puck
  52. Remember
  53. Rhonwen
  54. Romola
  55. Samoa
  56. Sanne
  57. Season
  58. Sheherazade
  59. Signy
  60. Tally
  61. Thaddea
  62. Undine
  63. Venetia
  64. West
  65. Whimsy
  66. Winsome
  67. Zephyrine

The most unusual baby boy names

  1. Auberon
  2. Averill
  3. Bard
  4. Bas
  5. Basie
  6. Beach
  7. Cassio
  8. Cathal
  9. Corentin
  10. Drummer
  11. Eleazer
  12. Falconer
  13. Fenno
  14. Florent
  15. Gower
  16. Gulliver
  17. Hiawatha
  18. Humphrey
  19. Kassian
  20. Kermit
  21. Land
  22. Ludovic
  23. Merce
  24. Mingus
  25. Moe
  26. Nat
  27. Nicholson
  28. Night
  29. Osgood
  30. Pagan
  31. Per
  32. Pim
  33. Piran
  34. Placido
  35. Puck
  36. Rancher
  37. Raoul
  38. Roald
  39. Romilly
  40. Roone
  41. Rudyard
  42. Runyon
  43. Salmon
  44. Scorpio
  45. Septimus
  46. Sim
  47. Spike
  48. Story
  49. Taddeo
  50. Thibault
  51. Thoreau
  52. Tibor
  53. Traveler
  54. Trout
  55. Umberto
  56. Whistler

We’re seeing a running nature theme throughout this list: think flower names, like Bluebell, Freesia and Daffodil, subtle nods in the likes of Auberon and Oberon (names which mean, quite literally, ‘bear-like), and real-life critters, such as Salmon, Trout, and Bee.

While naming your offspring after a fish might seem strange, there’s no denying that animal names are becoming more and more trendy.

Zooey Deschanel’s children are called Elsie Otter and Charlie Wolf, Busy Phillips’ daughter is called Birdie, Nicole Richie is the proud mum of a little Sparrow, and Alicia Silverstone, Kate Winslet, and Cheryl Cole have all chosen the name Bear for their respective sons. Proving that, even when you go rogue and pick out an unusual animal name, it can still belong to five other kids on the playground.



As well as all the nature-inspired names, there are a few others on the list that caught our eye – not least of all Roald, as in the brilliant children’s author, Roald Dahl.

A Scandinavian name, Roald means ‘powerful’ – and is actually pronounced “Roo-all”, with the ‘d’ at the end remaining as silent as the grave.

Or, in other words, when you say “Roald Dahl” correctly, it rhymes.

Images: iStock/Rex Features

undefined

By signing up you agree to occasionally receive offers and promotions from Stylist. Newsletters may contain online ads and content funded by carefully selected partners. Don’t worry, we’ll never share or sell your data. You can opt-out at any time. For more information read Stylist’s Privacy Policy

Thank you!

You’re now subscribed to all our newsletters. You can manage your subscriptions at any time from an email or from a MyStylist account.