Outrageous Baby Names We Can’t Help But Love 😍
Check out our guiltiest pleasure names and discover some truly original options you might just want to add to your list!
What’s the most outrageous name on your list?
I’m particularly partial to Wednesday for a girl – as a fun nod to my mum, Wendy. I think it’s genius! My husband thinks it’s nuts.
I also lobbied for Endellion as a middle or even an unexpected route to one of our favorite nicknames, Nell, but that got the side-eye too. Sigh.
But the name that really got us talking at Nameberry HQ this week is also our newest addition to the database! Meet the utterly adorable Panda 🐼
I actually met one “in the wild” a few months ago – it was short for Pandora and worn by the cutest little curly-haired tot you can imagine. Naturally, it was love at first sight!
Panda makes our list of the Top 10 Outrageous Baby Names You Might Just Fall in Love With, alongside some other seriously bold choices that just have that something about them…
The Best Source of Brand New Name Discoveries
Proving there’s truly no such thing as having “seen all the names” – although it’s a complaint we hear frequently from exasperated parents-to-be! – the Nameberry community has been buzzing with totally new-to-us names this week.
🇵🇷 First came this fantastic collection of rare Caribbean, Spanish, Basque and Catalan names from Berry @leafygreens – complete with audio pronunciations.
💎 Then @lavenderwitch brought us this incredible mega-list entitled Dusty Ancient Gems. If elaborate, ethereal, extravagant girl names are your thing, you need to check this out!
🌳 And the Berries have also been trawling their family trees for fascinating historic finds – from Saturnino to Salathiel to Seabury.
Names of the Week: Arlo + Vladimir
Our joint Names of the Week are inspired by two very different news stories!
The first is the triumph of 21-year-old British singer-songwriter Arlo Parks, who this week won the prestigious Mercury Prize for her debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams.
Arlo is already red-hot for boys – currently topping the Nameberry charts as the most viewed boy name on our site in 2021. But we think it’s about to take off for girls too!
Alternative spellings Arlow and Arlowe lend it a sleek surnamey flair, reminiscent of Harlow and Marlowe.
Meanwhile in Sweden, a couple have recently been banned from naming their son Vladimir Putin.
Their chosen name joins the ranks of outrageous picks like Pilzner, Q and Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 (pronounced “Albin”), all previously blocked by the Swedish authorities.
We’re with them on the Putin part, but Vladimir is a seriously charismatic Slavic option with many notable namesakes – both real and fictional – besides the Russian president. And how cool are Vlatko or Volodya for short? 😍