How To Find Unusual Names
Let me count the ways!
Here’s a little peek behind the curtain: sometimes it’s a challenge to find common themes in recent baby-name-related news. One celeb uses a classic name, another makes a way-out-there choice, a country releases its popularity list, a Redditor falls victim to name theft… got to get creative to find a link.
But not this week! Almost every story I’ve read features unusual, offbeat, downright interesting names.
And so many ways people find them, from digging in the data archives, to gender-flipping, to making a typo.
From recent starbaby announcements, the one that’s got us swooning is Novie Nell, a new daughter for YouTubers Zoe Sugg and Alfie Deyes. Instead of a quirky British favourite like her big sister Ottilie Rue, they’ve gone with something that’s almost unheard-of both sides of the Atlantic… and yet makes perfect sense considering the rise of Nova, Novalee, Jovie, Navy: it’s the missing piece.
Meanwhile, Olympic skater Ashley Wagner named her daughter Rosalie Starbird. I mean, what a middle name! Totally unique, yet it feels right for the naming climate: celestial, nature-oriented, and individual. I’d love to know why they chose it.
This baby isn’t born yet, but another YouTuber, Trisha Paytas (of Malibu Barbie fame) has announced that she’ll name her next child Elvis… whatever their gender. Now, Elvis as a girl name is vanishingly rare — it was last in the US charts in 2007, given to 6 girls — but again, it doesn’t feel out of place in 2024. A musical tribute name like Lennon and Bowie, and indeed Presley; a unisex sound like Hollis and Genesis; why not?
Speaking of gender-flipping, here’s an interesting list of “Girl Names for Boys” from Parade. Some are surely more male to begin with, like Kai and Adrian, while others like River and Oakley are pretty unisex. But there are some more bold suggestions, like Jane, Gina, and Willow for boys. Would you dare?
And more bumper variety packs of styles and popularity: twelve siblings include Marvelous, Modi and Martalya… but also Adam, Victoria and Amelia. And there’s also the mum in Northern Ireland who has Moses, Noah, and Cinderella. And the Canadian mom of Poet and Lottie.
At the other end of the scale, there are sibling names which are perhaps a little too similar. This list of basketball players’ children’s names includes Damian Lillard and his ex-wife Kay’La. Their children are Damian Jr, and twins Kali (KAL-ee, a girl) and Kalii (ka-LEE, a boy). Is anyone else thinking Kali and Kalii have the potential to get confusing?
If you’re looking for an uncommon name, the extended charts are a great source of rarities, but can be hard to find gems among the weeds down in the depths of the list. So I love lists like this one from HuffPost, of rare names from 1923. Some are genuinely wonderful, like Clemma and Everest. (Not so sure about Oval and Novice, though. So close to Novie, yet so different!) And this list of one unique name for each birth year, from Stacker.
Where else do unusual names come from? Sometimes from a typo. Shakespeare’s Imogen is the famous one — if the story is true — but there’s also Bruce Willis’s granddaughter Louetta.
Less flippantly, here’s a fascinating read by a woman who embraced the name Tama from her Inuit heritage, as well as the concept of atitsiak with a family member. It can be loosely translated as “namesake”, but is “more than merely sharing a name. It is much deeper, complex and spiritual.” It’s what we all know: names have power.
And on the other hand, if you don’t choose an unusual name? Just be prepared for the fact that in ten years’ time your daughter might be one of 14 Emersons at summer camp!
So if you had to pick one:
Nice