Fabulous Names We’ve Only Heard Once 🤩
Unique names from real birth announcements
This week I met an actual, real life baby named… Holiday! ☀️ 🏖️ 😍
Of course, as a total sucker for day names (Tuesday, anyone?) and quirky word names – especially those with a sunny disposition – I was embarrassingly unable to contain my excitement. (Tell me I’m not alone in this 🙈)
Sometimes, seeing a bold name used in real life is enough to bump it up from “guilty pleasure” to “hey, we could actually use this!”
Or, it can give you the confidence to choose that similar name you’ve always loved but thought was too out there. If Holiday can work, why not Loveday or Evening or Jubilee?
In more than half a decade of moderating the Nameberry forums and compiling the regular roundups of Berry birth announcements, the only predictable thing I’ve found about Babyberry names – the names our members have actually chosen for real-life babies – is their unpredictability!
Let’s take a look at some of the other super-rare gems we’ve only ever heard once in Nameberry’s fifteen-year history.
Amitai
Meaning “my truth”, this warm and lively Hebrew name is in regular use in Israel, but vanishingly rare in the US – given to just seven baby boys in 2022. In the Old Testament, Amitai or Amittai is the father of the prophet Jonah.
Djuna
Literature-loving parents might appreciate this offbeat choice, which combines an eye-catching spelling with an on-trend sound. Legendary writer Djuna Barnes is the first and best-known bearer.
Her father apparently invented the name from a combination of nuna, her toddler brother’s word for the moon, and Djalma, a character in the 1835 novel The Wandering Jew.
Hadewych
Pronounced HAH-da-veekh, this antique rarity is the Dutch form of Hedwig, a prominent name in medieval Europe but now most famously borne by a fictional snowy owl. Hedy is the cute retro diminutive, as in the iconic Old Hollywood actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr.
Floralie
Never recorded in the US despite its appealing and accessible sound, Floralie has seen rare use in France as an elaboration of Flora. It makes an interesting addition to the stylish bunch of Flor- names currently on the rise.
Miriwyn
Berry @gleefulduck based this beautiful choice on the Old English name Merewen, also spelled Merwenn, Maerwynn, Merewin and more. It means “famous joy”, which she explained “suits what I’m feeling since her birth perfectly” 🥲
Nikao
Pronounced ni-KAH-oh, this cool-sounding choice originated as a Greek verb meaning “win, conquer, overcome”. It appears several times in the Bible, which is what inspired our Berry @miren, but it has never been recorded as a baby name in the US.
Rocket
One of my favorite guilty pleasures since I first learned about Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy author Douglas Adams’ daughter Polly Jane Rocket (I mean… 🚀 🤩) But this little Rocket was a boy, given the equally edgy and adorable nickname Rocky.
Skandar
This super-cool Alexander variant (via the Arabic form, Iskandar) first came onto my radar thanks to actor Skandar Keynes, who played Edmund Pevensie in the Narnia films.
Now the hero of an acclaimed new series of children’s fantasy novels, Skandar and the Unicorn Thief, it could be about to catch on!
Villemo
Pronounced VILL-eh-moo, this name was coined by Swedish writer August Strindberg for a 1909 poem of the same name. He may have based it on Vellamo, a Finnish goddess of the sea, or on names containing the vil name element, meaning “will, desire”.
Zadok
Borne by several figures in the Old Testament, including the high priest of Israel who anointed King Solomon. Topically, it’s familiar in the UK thanks to Handel’s Zadok the Priest, which has been sung at every British coronation since that of King George II in 1727.
Despite its ancient roots, Zadok has a sharp and punchy sound that could certainly appeal to adventurous modern namers.
More Unique Babyberry Names
Here are some more highlights from the past decade and a half of Nameberry baby names – all used only once in the first-name spot.
Girls: Afton, Aleydis, Amoret, Bellatrix, Caledonia, Calypso, Deliverance, Dulcinea, Edelweiss, Ekko, Faralith, Fawn, Flannery, Galilee, Garnet, Gwenllian, Happy, Hilani, Iolanthe, Islington, Jerusha, Kalyani, Larkspur, Majken, Mhairi, Moon, Nimue, October, Parvati, Perola, Raizel, Sakura, Sinclaire, Tennessee, Trillium, Tulsi, Verti, Winnimere
Boys: Acre, Alpha, Aurelian, Bugsy, Caelum, Camus, Crusoe, Denholm, Devereux, Dov, Drummer, Ellington, Escher, Gatsby, Godric, Hemlock, Hercule, Huckleberry, Ischa, Joeby, Kainoa, Kuyper, Light, Maccabee, Monterey, Musashi, Perseus, Pfeifer, Pyrus, Rexford, Rohmer, Roux, Rowdy, Spyridon, Stryker, Tennyson, Valo, Wickham, Zebediah, Zoilo
This post was adapted from a newsletter shared with paid subscribers in October 2022.