The BEST Unique Baby Names
Hidden gems outside of the Top 1000
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — people are allergic to popular baby names these days.
Our DMs are filled with people looking for unique alternatives for popular names like Charlotte and Theodore (hint: look here), and parents asking if names such as Uma and Roscoe are going to be the Next Big Thing (you’re safe).
If you, too, are suffering from this popular name allergy — er, anxiety — this newsletter is for you.
But first, a message from our friends at CBR®!
As a mom, you naturally want to do everything you can to protect your baby's future health. That's why preserving the powerful newborn stem cells found in your baby's umbilical cord can be such an important step. The stem cells from cord blood have the potential to treat over 80 serious conditions, including certain types of leukemia and lymphoma.1
Discover why #1 OB/GYN recommended Cord Blood Registry (CBR) is the #1 choice of parents2 for preserving their baby’s cord blood and tissue. Visit cordblood.com to learn more about the healing and regenerative potential of newborn stem cells.
Best Names Beyond the Top 1000
I totally get it. As a baby name expert, I too have developed an allergy to popular names. As much as I appreciate the choices in the Top 1000 (Clover! Ira! Alma!), I’m not sure if I could give one to my child.
But if you want a name outside of the popularity charts, you have to do your research. It can be hard to find the time to trawl the extended data, looking for hidden gems outside of the Top 1000.
Good news: we’ve done it for you. Our collections of the Top Girl Names Below the Top 1000 and Top Boy Names Below the Top 1000 list over 100 rare (but totally usable!) names broken down by sex and number of births.
And if you want even more uncommon names, check out our list of the Best Unique Baby Names (all given to fewer than 25 babies) — newly updated for 2022!
The Top Names in Each State 🇺🇸
Back to popular names! The top names in each state were just revealed, and a lot of new names returned or debuted on the map — Sophia, Harper, and Aurora for girls, James, Theodore, and Asher for boys.
Valentina is the rarest name that ranks Number 1 — it’s in first place in Puerto Rico — as it is Number 56 nationally. For boys, Asher, Number 19 across the US as a whole, made the biggest jump to rank first in West Virginia.
Our maps show the most popular names in each state, and you can visit our blog for more information on year-to-year trends and unique names in states’ Top 5s.
More Fun Things
We talk to the parents of Aadya Dash — named after a Hindu goddess 🌏
This name debuted on the charts in 2022 👢
Sneak peek 🔭
Coming up on the blog next week:
Playground Analysis 2022 — aka the real top names of the year, all spellings combined
Spanish Names Trending in the US — names that are trending among Spanish speakers
The Top Unisex Names of 2022 — our exclusive analysis of names that are popular for both sexes
Mayani, H., Wagner, J.E. & Broxmeyer, H.E. Cord blood research, banking, and transplantation: achievements, challenges, and perspectives. Bone Marrow Transplant 55, 48–61 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-019-0546-9
Internal data on file.