When Darin and I were looking for a name for our first child, we finally decided upon Sophia, because it means “wisdom,” because it’s beautiful, and because it’s not that common.
Well, two out of three ain’t bad.
Uncommon names aren’t so very much so anymore. The name Sophia is part of a trend towards old-fashioned feminine names — just today in the park there was a Sophie (of course), a Gabriella, and an Arabella. My niece Madeline is unlikely to be the only Madeline in her class.
There are quite a few Sophias out there, and even more Sophies. Fia gets called “Soph” and “Sophie” all the time; she usually stares at whoever’s calling her that until they use “Sophia.” The nickname Fia suits her so much — to me it speaks of being “defiant” and “fiery,” and reminiscent of the French word for proud, “fier.”
Boys don’t seem to have as wide a range of name choices. In Sophia’s preschool class there are two Maxes, and there are only 12 kids in the class. Max is over, okay? Same thing with Jack. Go to a playground, yell out “Jack!” and count how many kids turn around.
So far we haven’t run across too many Simons. In fact, so far: none. Well, except in Britain. Everyone who works on Teletubbies is evidently named Simon.
Some friends of mine named their boy Atticus, which is wonderful and unusual. Surprisingly, I have discovered three or four other Attici.
Today in the park there was also a boy named Seneca. A few years ago I knew a woman whose son was named Demetrius.
Other unusual names: I’ve met one girl named Symphony, a boy named Neo (I didn’t ask his mother whether she took that name from The Matrix or not), and a girl named Brontë, as in Charlotte, Anne, and/or Emily.
I have a friend whose stepson was named Ocean (I have since run into a few other Oceans) and whose son is Horizon. I thought Horizon was an odd name at the time, but you know what? Now I think it’s kind of neat. Also, they live in Northern California, where he’s less likely to get teased for that sort of thing.
There are several girls named Emerson. Where that is coming from I have no idea.
I like really unusual names. I realize this may not be a popular position. And I guess if a kid has a really weird name, then they’re open to teasing. But who can judge what a really weird name is?
There seems to be this school of thought that kids need “normal” names, like Anne or Jim. Joanne Jacobs says that she chose her daughter’s name “to avoid teasing in first grade and make it easier for her to run for president of the United States.” My college roommate said she had to choose names not only for President of the US but for President of Ford or some other Fortune 500 company.
Maybe if there were a wider range of names available, we wouldn’t have to worry about the teasing aspect.
And you know, I doubt Condoleezza Rice has suffered from having an offbeat name. Although filling in those little circles on the name portion of the SATs probably sucked.
One of my friends had a baby on December 4. She and her husband had very specific requirements in their name search: (1)Boy’s name. (2)Must not end in an “n”. (3)Must be an English noun.
An English noun? Think about that a second. How many people do you know with names who are nouns? A lot more kids than adults, I bet. I submitted a list of Anglo-Saxon professional names: Wheeler, Fletcher, Parker, Cooper….
Then ended up with “Griffin,” a very fine noun indeed. (Yeah, it ends in an “n”. Whatever!)
Comment by TLBenton — December 30, 2002 @ 8:44 am
Meaning of Rene’
De’Jon
Hardges
Comment by Rene' — February 1, 2003 @ 5:10 pm
My husband and I went through this all three years ago with the birth of our first child (whom we named Ella). We were living in Northern Cali. and I soon ran into about 6 other newborns named Ella. We had the name Max if it was going to be a boy. We have a list on our frig. of about 10 names but guess what, we are back to Max. I can bet you this, there will be no other Max like our Max. On top of that, it’s still a cool-ass name.
Comment by Colette — April 7, 2003 @ 8:06 am
I thought I was being very original giving my children unusual names. But, even when I made up a name I met someone who had made up the same name! My oldest daughter is Jillian which is becoming much more popular. My 2nd daughter is Lorien ( Lore-ee-un as in the forest Lothlorien in The Hobbit books). When she was born her pediatrician said that in 25 years of practice he had never had a Lorien. By the time we left his practice when she was 4 he had 2 Lorien’s. My son has an ordinary name….Craig! Of course, he is the only Craig in his school. Craig was a popular name in the 50’s and 60’s but not now. My fourth child is Avrielle (pronounced ohv-ree-elle/ short o sound). I made this name up after a character in a Bodie Thoene book named Avery. I met another lady who named her daughter Avrielle (ahv-ree-elle short a sound) after her husbands best friend Avery. Both girls have blonde hair and brown eyes…go figure. My 5th child is Kimbrell (Kim-brelle). I haven’t found any other Kimbrell’s. Kimbrell is an english surname. If anyone wants an unusual name maybe they should name their child Mary or Elizabeth. If I had been able to have another child I would have named them either Laragh (Lar-uh which is a town in Ireland) or Payton.
Comment by Susan — April 16, 2003 @ 10:46 pm
My wife named her daughter “Ocean” - I will have to admit, it’s a rare name out there…
Comment by Lord Orman — July 16, 2003 @ 1:51 pm
Wow, I’ve never heard of half of these names. I live in Scotland and my daughter’s name (Jamie-Louise) is considered very unusual!!! I love it and if I have another girl I’d like to call her Glenn.
Comment by Debbie — October 9, 2003 @ 2:55 am
my husband and I are expecting are first child. we think its a boy.My husbands name is ben and we would love to call our son Benson/Bensen, although we have been getting negative feedback!!!! what do other people think!
Comment by tara jerman — November 9, 2003 @ 2:43 am
Well, I gotta tell you, I associate the name Benson with a 70s sitcom starring Robert Guillaume as the butler to a governor (or something).
Comment by Diane Patterson — November 9, 2003 @ 8:24 am
it appears that alot of people have that association - I have in fact never seen the sitcom or heard of it untill recently. Is that a bad association. We live in Ireland.
Comment by tara — November 9, 2003 @ 9:18 am
It’s not a great association, mostly because the phrase “70s sitcom” makes most people cringe.
But if the show isn’t the first thing you think of, and it’s a name you really love, why not use it? My friend Tamar named her son Damian, and she was amazed at how many people brought up the movie The Omen (1976). I told her to point out to them that the number one boy’s name of the 80s was…JASON.
Comment by Diane Patterson — November 9, 2003 @ 10:24 am
Bensen is a cool name. I love rare names my name is Beatrix (the A is silent) but nobdy calls me that they all call me Trixie which is an awesome name. What do you think of the names Lilyella, Lilive, Joelle, Sorayah and Katalya (said Ki ta lee a)
Comment by Trixie — November 13, 2003 @ 12:03 am
Name your baby whatever you desire, and in my opinion the more unusual the better when ihave children I plan on naming them Jagger Lane, Devin Jade, Easton Rayder, and Walker Preston for my sons and My daughters will be Chlor rose quite common and savannah cole hope it helps but common names are so not cool Id rather date a guy named Taylor than Joe any day!
Comment by sheri — November 19, 2003 @ 12:50 pm
Hi,
This is a nice discussion that board you have created. I am interested in unusual names too. Don’t like mine too much - “Anusha”. Perhaps this is quite uncommon among the westerners. It is not common - yet almost so in India though. So I’d like to change it to Anoushka if I could!
I suggest you give a try at Indian names and see if you can make up an unusual name for your child.
Thank you for reading this comment.
Comment by Anusha — November 21, 2003 @ 2:53 pm
My name is Kara Nicole (pronounced Karahhhh, not the hard “c” sound.) When I was little no one had my name and EVERYONE pronounced it wrong, which was so very annoying!! I was always having to correct everyone and hated it. Now that I’m older I appreciate my name and even though I know many other Karas or Caras, I still feel very unique. After reading some entries, I just want to remind people that if a name moves you, that’s all that matters. Sooner or later you’ll come across a similar if not the same “unique” name. What matters is your child’s individuality.
Comment by Kara — November 22, 2003 @ 10:20 pm
I think that in this age, there is no end to the Jacks and Noras, Maxes and Samanthas, Taylors and Emilys. However, there also appear to be a great many children running around with more “unusual” names, the current trends are W.A.S.P.y surnames for firstnames, boys’ names for girls (particularly, Charles and James), and girls’ names for boys (Sascha). Oh, I almost forgot the trend toward ridiculous names, like Rambo or Rocco, or Bambina. My baby sister Alexis attends school with more than a few Alexises, but there are also: America, Bronson (a girl), Jul (a boy) and even a little Freedom. Although my name is fairly common, I wasn’t named after a grandmother or great-aunt; my mother’s favourite song was “Angie” by the Rolling Stones. Name your children names you like, won’t be embarassed shouting out the door or spelling out on registration forms, and most of all, one that suits the child!
Comment by Angela — December 5, 2003 @ 9:58 pm
Hello me and my husband are in a mixed realtionship and we have a wonderful 3 year old named Damon but we spell it like this (Daimon)
Which the name is not diff but the spelling is so he is special.
Comment by Amy — December 9, 2003 @ 6:53 pm
When i was growing up everybody had my name. Now that i have children i wanted something a bit different. at the time that i was thinking of names for my four children, destiny tiger lilly and charity were all favourites so i went back to traditional names- even though my friends thought they were far too old fashioned for my new borns. When my first daughter, lilli-anna, was born my family and friends still thought of it as very old fashioned. However in her year at school there are 4 lillies! Mollie-Beth my second daughter also has 3 mollies in her class. My sons are Alfie and Archie! However i did want them to be called Arthur but people said it was on the verge of child abuse! i am expecting my fifth in a month!me and my husband love traditional names such as Maggie and Martha or Bertie but nowadays they are so common that we may pick something really simple like simon or jane!I don’t like these names such as Oralndo, Mortimer or Daytonana that i hear when i am out and about!
Comment by Linsey — December 16, 2003 @ 7:56 am
When I was a teen, I used to fantasize about marrying my boyfriend John and would constantly make lists of names I liked, some weird, some not so weird. Back then I liked: Rachele (pronounced ray-SHEL), Rae, Nicole, Alexandra for girls and Randall, Ryan, and Philip for boys. While in my 20s and 30s, I started to really love unusual names. Some unusual names I discovered by meeting people with those names: Women named Kendall, Corliss, Kaela, Lily, Niece, and men named Emery, Garrett, and Cash. My half-brothers were named Paris, Rome, Devon, and Trenton, and my half-sisters are Coquette and Shari. One interesting way to find a name for your child is to use genealogy. There were always unusual names in every generation, and you can peruse the message boards at rootsweb.com and genealogy.com to get ideas from the posts people write about ancestors from many different countries. They weren’t all Sarah or Wilhelmina. In my family, there was Emmeline, Rosaline, Mette (pronounced Metta), Helene. My MIL’s given name is Geronima (pronounced heh-ROW-nee-ma), and my aunt is Mieke (pronounced MEE-ka). I knew early on that I did not want to be a mother, but I still occasionally imagine what names I would have given my kids — especially now that I’m married with an unusual Italian surname, and my child-bearing years are coming to a close. Now I love the girls’ names Eve or Eva, Camille, Rowan, Juliette, Giuliana, Fae, Teresa (my middle name) and for boys I can’t think of one, except maybe Cary. Why is it so much harder to be creative with a boy’s name, unless you use an Anglo surname? One thing I think is important - don’t name your kid something that depends on spelling to get it pronounced right. Lots of people don’t spell very well, or listen very well for that matter. For example, the woman I knew named Niece told me that she was named after the city of Nice in France, because her parents had fond memories of being there. But they knew Americans would see it spelled that way and pronounce it “nice” with a long i like the adjective, and not the correct French pronunciation. So they spelled her name Niece to look more familiar and help people pronounce it the way they wanted to say her name. In other words, if you want your kid’s name to be pronounced “fa-MOLLY” don’t spell it FEMALE and then get mad when people get it wrong (there is a true story attached to that). Doing so will drive everybody and your kids crazy, too.
Comment by Nunyah — December 17, 2003 @ 12:52 pm
My daughter has two boys names, of course, Jack Vincent born in 1999. At that point it was just before the name Jack went haywire! Her second boy is Brady which I think is great. My Son has two boys and just had a girl in 2002. The oldest is named Nicholas, 2nd is Sean Patrick and my only grandaughter is Samantha Marie. They all fit their names after they are born. As a grandmother I have heard some unusual names but Michael is still my favorite!
Sharon from CT
Comment by Sharon Sinacori — December 18, 2003 @ 6:56 am
Hey - my boy’s a Jack! We haven’t run into THAT many of them. But, it’s true that there was Jack in the other kindy class, and a Zack in his own class, so that got a little confusing for the teacher.
But that’s not as bad as his friends, Owen and Cowen and Rowen (all boys) plus little Rowan down the block who is a girl.
Mostly we get people asking what Jack is ’short for’. “Are you Jack or John or James?” But he’s Jack - just plain Jack!
Comment by darby — December 19, 2003 @ 11:32 am
does anyone know somwhere online where i can find a list of names. interesting ones preferably…but anyones really. i think all the names mentioned are lovely. I’m 16 and pregnant, i’m keeping the child and would love it to have a very special name. Because it will be a very special baby.
Comment by catrina — December 19, 2003 @ 9:37 pm
I haven’t run into too many Marielle’s in my time. Although there are a lot of Mari’s and Elle’s. However, my husbands’s name is Adjective, and he is the only one either of us have ever met. We’ve been contemplating not too unsual names for our child, who we don’t yet know the sex off. Last week it was Annabella for a girl, and Gibson for a boy. This week we’re considering Japanese names, since his mother is from Kyoto. Midori (g) and Sanosuke (b)?
Comment by Marielle — December 25, 2003 @ 11:17 pm
For a guy with my name - i know how hard it is growing up with the teasing and such. So when I had two kids, I knew I had to name them good names that they can grow up with without the constant aggravation an unusual one gets. Believe me - there will be a lot. There are a lot of good names out there you just have to find them.
One thing that has been mentioned in your site was the possibility of giving children combination names. I thought that was great. You can always give them two names - Which would be unusual, too. Either of which they’ll grow into and get accustomed with and of course use.
I settled with these for my first two kids - Marc Gabriel and Michael Gerard. I think these are great names. I’m looking forward to giving my third child a combination name,too. It’s boiling down to a (b) Mason Grant or a (g) Michelle Gwen. Beats me - I still have to wait 6 mos.
Comment by Apollo — December 29, 2003 @ 6:51 pm
This is a great site! I have an unusual name, which I hated as a child. Chevonne is a big name to carry when you’re young! My kind parents changed the spelling from the original Gaelic form, Siobhan. Siobhan means Joan in English, and my mother’s name is Joan, so indirectly she named me after herself! I am getting married soon, and am obsessed with kids names. I like wierd, and I’m not afraid to admit it!! For a girl I love Sorel, and Astrid. Boys are hard, aren’t they? An old family name of mine is Rutherford, and I think that a boy with the nickname ‘Ford’ is pretty cool! My brother, Austin (my mother’s maiden name, popular now but he’s 27 and there were NO Austins when we were young) he LOVES the name Koi for a boy. I think that if you have an unusual name you are more open to your child having one also. I have now heard of a few Chevonnes (spelled however one pleases) but they are all about 12 and under. I like to think that I am partially responsible for at least a few of them around, as I promote my name to any pregnant woman I happen to speak to!! As for the name calling and such with a different name, I was made fun of (Chevron your town pump- a gas station in Britsh Columbia, Canada) Heavy Chevy (ouch!) and Chevonne Selectives (like the hair product, Salon selectives) and it didn’t bug me too much. I think that having 4 other girls with the same name as myself in one classroom would bug me more!! (I had 4 Sarah Elizabeths in a class in elementary.) I’m always on the look out for interesting names, and if I find a great website, I’ll pop back over here and let you all know. PS- do you think that Astrid is too dorky?
Comment by Chevonne — December 30, 2003 @ 1:32 pm
My boyfriend and I have trouble finding names we both like. Recently we agreed on Jayden, however now disagree on the spelling! How would you spell something that is pernounced “Jay-den”? He says Jaden, but I think too many people would pernounce that “Jah-den”. So I think it should be Jayden or Jaiden. What do you think?
Comment by Kim — January 5, 2004 @ 3:34 pm
Hi, my name’s Cindel which seems to be pretty uncommon and my sister’s name is Sayard, also told to be uncommon. We’ve always loved our names because they’re unique and special to us. We love talking about our futire kids names (just for fun. A lot of names which were posted on this site I find to be really common where I’m from, so maybe these names are common to you also, but we like them; For girls (for me): Skylor/Skyla, Island (short: Isla), Kayden, and Dakota. Boys: Raine, Parker, Ayden, and Rylie. My sister for girls: Rhode, and McKella. Boys: Kylin and Leif. hope you like them!!
Comment by Cindel — January 5, 2004 @ 9:14 pm
I love odd names.I knew a boy named Chance.They named him that because his mother took one more chance on getting a boy after two girls. A friend of mine had four girls and was trying for the fifth. When it turned out to be a girl she named her Bingo. Too cute. I didn’t go the route of unusual names for my kids, because of my husband. Eric Jordana, Robb and Evan. Jordana is an odd kind of name but I love it. So did my husband. I can’t stand the name Michael.
Comment by susan — January 17, 2004 @ 11:06 am
I love different names as well. My name is Angelica. I always hated it growing up but now i like it. I got married in august and hopefully having a baby soon. I love the name Dane for a boy and Sierra for a girl. I also love the name Schuyler…..(skyler) for a girl or a boy.
Comment by angie — January 20, 2004 @ 12:01 pm
Myself and my husband are thinking of names for our first born. For a girl Charlie, Rogue (yes, taken from the x-men, but I just love it!!)Sky or Marley (yes my husband is a huge bob marley fan), for a boy Marley (AGAIN) or Reece and I do like the name Dane posted recently by Angie.
Comment by Fiona — January 20, 2004 @ 11:46 pm
My only philosophy: Name a child out of love. Period. And always with concern for him or her… a.k.a., keep your ego in check. It’s not about you.
Comment by Michael S — January 28, 2004 @ 8:29 am
Why cant we stick to common names? Whats wrong with Thomas and Sarah? Maybe with unusual middle names???
I love Caitlin, Sophie and Megan, Matthew, Jamie, Joshua and Thomas
My name is Zoe, my brothers is Ashley, our cousins are Adrian, Stephanie and Sarah.
My mother is Lesley, my auntie is Eunice, my uncle is David. Eunice is about the most unusual but its still popular with the “oldies”
Comment by Zoe — February 11, 2004 @ 1:54 pm
Just to throw another name out there, My name is Guy, which is not that common, and I named My son Dude. I have never ran into another person with his name.
Comment by guy — February 26, 2004 @ 11:59 am
im from england and over here the name benson is linked with a brand of cigerettes benson&hedges so don’t go there whoever sed it b4. i like the name charlize and eliza for girls also jamie lee,rogue is also good. for boys im not sure it’s hard to not let boy’s names get to girly anyone got any idea’s. my friend is having a baby soon and likes the names christian, cameron and codie for boys wot do people think?
Comment by carly — March 2, 2004 @ 4:05 pm
I like the name Eden, like the garden of Eden in the Bible, for a girl, meanwhile I have a very hard time finding a name I can stick to for more than a day when it comes to a boy. I like unusual but not so unusual that my child could be made fun of. I’ve gone through Garbiel, Caden, Ezra, Levi, Benjamin, Noah and Ellis. Help!! hehe
Comment by Katrina — March 4, 2004 @ 4:42 pm
I love unusual names, and I want more than anything for my kids to have an unusual name, or at least an interesting one. I’m not really concerned on how many other people have the same name, as long as the individual knows that they are unique. I myself don’t think my name is too unusual, but not many people have it around here, and it’s not Joanne, so I feel unique. My favorite name for a girl is Evangeline(Ev-aan-jel-een) (not related to Evangelical or, which everyone who I’ve told the name too immediately refer to!) I also like Clementine and Comedi. For boys, I like August (augie for short) and Ender. A lot of the names mentioned on this thread are very good and have given me a lot of new ideas, thanks!
Comment by Joanna — March 7, 2004 @ 2:05 pm
**Hello everyone!** I think that you also have to remember the initials of the names that you choose…so that they don’t spell out other words unwittingly!! Also you have to take into consideration that if the name is shortened how it will go with the surname…I once knew someone who was thinking of Isabella but her surname was Clogg. (Isabella Clogg…no…its a bell!) ..she ended up called Isobel instead! They had also considered Sebastian Clogg for a boy…until I said it reminded me of industrial cleaning fluid…Seb Clogg. Mmm..didn’t go down too well that one! LOL…..My mum Beryl Christine was going to call me Storm, (I would have liked it, and it would have suited me too!) My late dad didn’t like it, so I am Michelle instead..which I love! ( I intensely dislike my second name of Lorraine but then my dad had wanted Helen instead of Michelle…Horrors!… so I am very happy really!) My sons are Liam Troy and Jake Ethan. Both of their first names were unusual until I put the birth notices in the newspaper and that was a big mistake!!…suddenly their names were in the top ten for the whole of the flipping UK! I could have turned the names around, as I love them too, but the boys suit their first names so much. My husband is Mark Edmund (which he hated until Edmund Black Adder was on the telly) my brother is Lee Curtis, (which I think is great!) my late grandad was Gerald Clement and my late grandmother was Frances Doreen but everyone called her Dorn, which for the era was unusual and I suppose most people thought it was Dawn!! Happy name hunting!!! Love Michelle x
Comment by Michelle — March 11, 2004 @ 1:07 pm
Just as an after thought!!!…When my niece Sarah was very young she couldn’t pronounce my name properly…and called me Auntie Hell. (She didn’t realise how right she was really)…and thinking on it now..perhaps my late dad knew all along and thats why he wanted the name Helen!!! LOL….Love Michelle xx
Comment by Michelle — March 11, 2004 @ 1:16 pm
Hi I’m Dawn! I think i have a pretty neet name because i’m a girl so a guys name is kind of cool? I always though naming a girl Charlie,Dawn,Andy or Joey would be cool huh? If your choosing names for a girl maybe go with Bailey or Bryce! NAmes like Emily, Mike and Erin are BORING! so spike it up
Love, Dawn
Comment by Dawn — March 11, 2004 @ 7:35 pm
some of you people have chosen really ugly names im sorry! but somone had to say it. The lady who suggested evangeline im sorry really makes me think of flange sorry….. also clementine why don’t you just call your kid orange and comedi COME ON again call her laugh and ender is just horrible it sounds like a half name that can’t even be shortened. Please think about what you are saying
Comment by Carly — March 12, 2004 @ 3:11 pm
I agree with carly, i mean who’d call a child such an ugly name as evangeline im sorry but im not sure that even is a name its like calling you kid charlesagon i mean whats up with that???
I also agree with dawn guys names are really cool for girls but dont try turning a guys name like Charles in something like CHarletta to make it a girl’s name that just ruins it!
Comment by Claire — March 12, 2004 @ 4:30 pm
I only like my name when people say it right, it’s Emmeline (said Emma- leane) not Emmaline, as so many people say! My boyfriend and i(Tymon) have mixed ideas on names, i like lily, he likes tai! although one we both agree on is ethan!
it’s such a tough decision to make because firstly your child has to live with the name that you have chosen and also if you decide after you have named it that you dont like it then your screwed!
Comment by Emme — March 14, 2004 @ 5:42 am
hey yall! my names Brett but i am FEMALE!
my middle name is Elise…i think Brett Elise sounds pretty together.
how do you pronounce the name Jordana?
thanks!
Comment by Brett — March 14, 2004 @ 6:16 pm
jordana is pronounced jor - dan - a. like the actress jordana brewster. i posted a comment earlier about my friend having a baby, she’s going to be a young mum so doesn’t want anything that sounds trashy for boys she like’s christian, cameron and codie what do people think? and thanks for claire’s comment agreeing with me ealier
Comment by carly — March 16, 2004 @ 9:01 am
hi, i have never come across anybody with my name or my son, my name is china’Jai (jay) and my boy is called ace , everybody who hears it always give me a funny look but i love it, its unusual. if i had any other children they too would have great names like ace, just cant think of any i like at the moment,
thanks.
Comment by China'Jai — March 21, 2004 @ 12:43 pm
I have always had a passion for names, early on in my life I hated my name. I always wished I was named something different and told my mom to call me various different names. Over time I grew to love my name because, unlike most of my friends, I’m the only Roxanne in my school. I love names and so far my future children will be called Logan, Flynn and River for boys and Baylee, Ella/Elyse or Shannon for a girl. Personally I think if you like the name then you should call them that name, not go by what other people like or don’t like, this is your child and at the end of the day you’re going to be the one writing their childs name on school forms, you’re going to be the one shouting the child in for dinner.
Comment by Roxanne — April 19, 2004 @ 10:02 am
We named our Daughter Caitlin Harvey Smith . . ..
Caitlin because it was a cool (and, to us new parents, uncommon) name; Harvey because it was the surname of my wife’s very unorthodox, fav. grandmother.
Caitlin - ‘KATE-LYNN’ - was great until, she was eight months old we went to Ireland (C. is Irish for Kathleen) and learnt the correct pronounciation of her name is ‘CAT - LYNN’.
It was too late to get our head around that one, though we did try for a month or so to change.
Then a year or so later we were at a very small beach in West Wales and heard a mum calling her 3-yr-old daughter over: ‘Caitlin.’ Her twin brother came also, in reply to ‘Harvey’!!!!!!
Comment by Erik — May 5, 2004 @ 1:40 pm
I don’t know why people get so bothered about choosing ‘unusual’ names, whenever I encounter such children my first thought is ‘their parents think a lot of themselves’. Apple! Brooklyn! Mercedes! Gucci! Why not go the whole hog and call your kids ‘Nouveau Riche’ or ‘Whole Hog’ for that matter.
One golden rule should be don’t call your child anything that needs to be followed by the words “Pronounced …” or “Spelt …”.
Comment by Ian — May 17, 2004 @ 12:33 pm
Hello, I’d just like to say that I think the girl that posted the names Evangeline and Clementine are really unique. Clementine is a little unusual, and it may not have a girlish ring to it, but neither do some really old classic names like Beryl, Beatrice, etc. however they are still pretty in their own ways. I love the name Evangeline, it’s different; I’ve only heard it a few times. And it’s also in the name of a song by one of my favorite bands, so don’t listen to anyone who thinks those names are ugly, they just can’t handle creativity!
Comment by Emma — May 17, 2004 @ 4:35 pm
My name has pretty much made me yawn all my life. It is all too common where I’m from. I like the names Krislaysa and Piper for girls. I’ve always liked Athens for a girl too. I like the names Beau and Miles for boys. Friends of mine (brothers) have those names, and I’ve never met anyone else w/ those. I know Beau is more common, but not spelled that way. Those are just a few more options. Hope you enjoy.
Comment by brittany — May 21, 2004 @ 9:40 pm
My boyfriend and I (Laura) are getting pretty serious, and so ive been thinking of childrens names.
I’ve always loved my Gran’s names. She was christened Eliza (eeh-lie-zah), but her sister could’nt pronounce it, called her Lyla (lie-lah) which stuck, and now she goes by that name.
I’m Scottish, and would like to call my kids Scottish names, however in my family we have a Siobhan (Sheh-vonn) a Vhari (Vah-ree) a Seonaid (Sho-nah)- all girls- and a Ruaridh (roe-rae)- a boy- and know through them that names that need to be explained all the time can be a hindrance.
My sisters are Amy and Lilian. I’ve only come across one other Lilian, she was forty years older than my sister.
My dad is called Blair, which I really like too. I’m not desperate to give my children unusual names, but names that give them character and which in twenty-years I won’t regret.
A friend of mine has been thinking of calling her expected child either pepper (girl) or babylon (boy). My only worry is that while these are quite cute names now, what about when they go to job interviews? would you hire someone called pepper to be the new lawyer at your firm? people do make assumptions on your intelligence etc based on your name.
In the States and Canada ,where I think the majority of these messages are coming from, unusual names aren’t unusual. So maybe the same kind of judgement may not occur.
In the end I think that I’ll call my kids names that will add character to their lives and which people can respect (and pronounce/spell)
Laura.
Comment by laura — May 23, 2004 @ 3:02 pm
After a month of going back and forth over boys names ( Roan (pr. rowan), Reuban, Robin, Harry, George, Max) for our newborn we have called him Jasper Thomas. Our friends think it a great name. Strong, artistic, colourful (he came with a downy cover of red hair)and uncommon. All 4 grandparents think Jasper is a dumb choice. They say it is the name of a miser, or a cad, or the name of a B-grade fence-sittin’ cowboy. We have told them to get over it and get used to it, and allow new associations to form, for their first grandson. I love the gem-names Pearl and Ruby for girls. What other associations do people have for Jasper?!
Comment by martin — June 4, 2004 @ 11:01 pm
We named our first daughter Shonda. We wanted something different. As a Dad I wanted Rhonda, but my wife wouldn’t buy it. When Shonda went off to college the school roomed her with an African-American girl because Shonda sounded African-American. They became the best of friends and roomed together for two years until they both moved off campus with other friends. We have since run into several Shondas or LaShondas.
Comment by John Piatt — June 7, 2004 @ 7:16 am
I’m from Germany and I love names like June, Jonah, Aidan and Anna. My niece is called Annelie Sué(life) and I love that name over all =)
Anne.
Comment by Anne — June 9, 2004 @ 6:23 am
i like strange names, my name is so boring their are three girls the same age as me where i went to school with the exact same spelling,it’s annoying,
Boys: Giles(from Buffy), Ellison, Harris, Draco(from Harry Potter), Reginald(my grandad), Xilas(pronounced zy-lus), Tino, Lore, Daek (day-ek)
Girls: Dominic, Chelsie(cousin), Maddison(cousin), Morgan(cousin), Summer,
Either: Cyprus, Crete, Cairo, Greece, Egypt, Harlow(the town i was born in)
My father accidently he wasn’t thinking at the time named my little brother who is now 10 James Arthur,
Rachel Amanda (my sister)
Ryan Derek Reginald (my brother got his middle names Derek from my dad, and Reginald from my grandad on my mums side)
James Arthur
Harry George (just harry like Harry Potter but he’s nearly nine so he wasn’t named after Potter)
James is such a common name their are three/four in my brothers class they had to choose different nicknames like my brothers been Jimmy since he was born and no one ever calls him James, so theirs James, Jimmy, Jimjon and Jamie.
Comment by Nicola — June 15, 2004 @ 4:18 am
i like strange names, my name is so boring their are three girls the same age as me where i went to school with the exact same spelling,it’s annoying,
Boys: Giles(from Buffy), Ellison, Harris, Draco(from Harry Potter), Reginald(my grandad), Xilas(pronounced zy-lus), Tino, Lore, Daek (day-ek)
Girls: Dominic, Chelsie(cousin), Maddison(cousin), Morgan(cousin), Summer,
Either: Cyprus, Crete, Cairo, Greece, Egypt, Harlow(the town i was born in)
My father accidently he wasn’t thinking at the time named my little brother who is now 10 James Arthur,
Rachel Amanda (my sister)
Ryan Derek Reginald (my brother got his middle names Derek from my dad, and Reginald from my grandad on my mums side)
James Arthur
Harry George (just harry like Harry Potter but he’s nearly nine so he wasn’t named after Potter)
James is such a common name their are three/four in my brothers class they had to choose different nicknames like my brothers been Jimmy since he was born and no one ever calls him James, so theirs James, Jimmy, Jimjon and Jamie.
Comment by Nicola — June 15, 2004 @ 4:19 am
MY children are called :girls ,paris ,tayler and kenzi.
and my baby boys (twins) are called,carlos and Cole.
Comment by Coley — June 21, 2004 @ 3:23 am
what are your favirote baby names
Comment by ciara — June 25, 2004 @ 1:47 pm
Hi guys, I’m Michelle,
i love unusual names and even though i’m only 13 i keep a list of my fav’s.
leilani is a fav for a girl pronounced lei-(as in floral necklace)lah-(as in the singing note)-knee(your knee)
Jessie and tyron (tie-ron) are favs for boys
i also like Letisha and Tenisha. (girls)
I think all of you guys are coming up with fabulous names. just don’t go to long because us kids these days don’t enjoy having to spend half a test time writing our name on the test, but at least you’d have a range of nicknames!
Now I’ve read all your comments Piper and Paris (for girls) sound good too!
Comment by Michelle — June 28, 2004 @ 3:04 am
My name is Jessica and all through school and college I always met someone else with my name. I now have three children (2 boys 1 girl). I think that because my name is so common that I wanted my children’s names to not be so common. Their names are Zavier Malachi, Omari Jai’meir(Jay-meer), and Sabriah(sah-breeah)Allana (allona). Mouthfull isn’t it. My husband and I are expecting a new baby girl soon and we are leaning close to the name Hope Kayla Jade. I think it is so beautiful and feminine and will suit our youngest child perfectly. I chose my children’s names based on what I like–not what’s popular today because names won’t always be popular. Whats popular to some people isn’t always popular to everone else. When choosing a name for you child just follow your heart because I know I did.
Comment by Jessica — July 9, 2004 @ 10:18 am
I love the debate and opinions posted here…Having a unique name helped me form my unique individuality and saved me from recieving any monagrammed tooth brushes or pencils for Christmas…Which in my opinion, is a big bonus…I also have initials that form an acronym, C.A.T which was not done purposely, but was such a great thing to discover when I learned how to read & write…Unique names are great, and I am blessed to have brother (Adrian: does that qualify as a unique name?) who loved the Ewoks and Cindel Towani when he was a six year old boy…Oh, and hello to the other Cindel who posted…Love the name
Comment by Cindel Ann — July 14, 2004 @ 1:14 am
The last name makes it touchy ..The accent on Cornell is the last syl re; corNELL. Most 1st names the accent is 1st re:SAM me. These two structures don’t trip off the tongue…..
SAMme corNELL. Easier to say if it were SAMme CORnell. So please take care naming your baby when sounding out first and last name together.
Jack Cornell…has that “klk Klk tween names
Ethan OR Quintin Cornell clicks off the tonque? Andrew Cornell??? Andy works O.K.eh? Help me out: : CARY! I love Cary Cornell. Too F’ ing cute? Lemme know. THANX
Comment by sam cornell — July 14, 2004 @ 11:26 pm
The last name makes it touchy ..The accent on Cornell is the last syl re; corNELL. Most 1st names the accent is 1st re:SAM me. These two structures don’t trip off the tongue…..
SAMme corNELL. Easier to say if it were SAMme CORnell. So please take care naming your baby when sounding out first and last name together.
Jack Cornell…has that “klk Klk tween names
Ethan OR Quintin Cornell clicks off the tonque? Andrew Cornell??? Andy works O.K.eh? Help me out: : CARY! I love Cary Cornell. Too F’ ing cute? Lemme know. THANX
Comment by sam cornell — July 14, 2004 @ 11:27 pm
My name is Marielle too!
Marielle Alexandra.
I LOVE names, I go through phases of liking a specific name…at the moment it is Elizabeth, and Mei (which means “beautiful” in Chinese.)
I am 14, and I love writing stories, so I often blame my looking in baby name books all the time on that fact–that is part of the reason, but the other part is just that I am fascinated by names…I don’t know why!
I think that they are wonderful, and when I do write stories they usually have 28 characters who have at least 3/5 names each.
It’s a weird thing to be interesed in I suppose…and I am certainly not planning on having a baby ANYTIME soon. I don’t even relate names directly to babies!
Anyway, so that’s just a snippet about me and my fascination with names…
Comment by Marielle — August 8, 2004 @ 11:03 pm
Hi..My name is Garla & I have only met one other individual with the same name. I was named after my grandfather Garl. I have 12 grandchildren with another boy on the way so I was helping explore names when I came across this site. Some of my grandchildren have unusual names so if you are interested they are as follows with F or M following name to denote female or male. Myranda(f), Savannah(f),Kelsey(f),Zonly(m),Nolan(m),Rory(f),Trevor(m),Baylee(f),Austin Colbert(m), Madison Chase(f), Cyrus Gowan(m),Ariel Mateija(Pronunced May-teig-a)(f)and for the new grandson names such as Thor, Cash, Harrison, Jameson,Jaegar,and new offerings popping up every day. Personally I was hoping for another girl so she could be named Lola Lee. That name just has been stuck in my head since the last girl was not named Lola!!! Anyways…fun site. Happy name hunting to all!
Comment by Garla Quarnberg — August 11, 2004 @ 10:04 pm
My son’s name is Clellan. Each year he starts school, his teacher calls to ask how to say it.
Comment by Marcy Campbell — August 17, 2004 @ 7:43 am
I was given the Danish name Anne-Lise (pronounced Anna-Lisa) by my Danish mother. Which would have been fine if I’d grown up in Denmark. Growing up in New Zealand wasn’t quite so fine. Mostly I get called Ann-Lis, or Anna-Lis. Or some other hybrid, and never is it spelt correctly. Also in NZ everyone shortens names to nick-names, which is important to remember when choosing. My mother is horrified I’m only ever called Annie by my friends, but I kind of like it.
As for my children, with a fiance called Quintin we’ll definately choose an unusual name - as long as it has some relevance. Whilst as a young child I didn’t enjoy being different - as an adult, I love my name!
Tak Mor!
Comment by Anne-Lise — August 22, 2004 @ 8:37 pm
I prefer names that are more on the common side. I feel that a name doesn’t make a child special, it’s silly to think that naming your child some off-the-wall name makes them special. my kids are very special and they are Jacob Christopher, Caleb Jonathan and Abigail Grace. Pretty common. My friend is planning on naming her child Sebastian whether it’s a girl or a boy. I think that’s pretty strange but whatever.
Comment by Amy — August 25, 2004 @ 10:08 am
I always thought my name was different. My name is Carissa. I still have to correct people that there is no L in my name. Friends and family call me Cris for short, which I have always liked. When I have a child of my own I want name thats different but not off the wall strange. (A girl I work with has a daughter named Patches) My husband and I are thinking of starting a family of our own and are having fun discussing names. For a boy we like Brogan and a for a girl I like Finnley or Finnegan, he does not. What do you think?
Comment by Carissa — September 7, 2004 @ 2:23 pm
hey im Scottish and my name is comman as muck here. I probably know about 10 Frasers (fray-sor). Althou im yet to meet someone outwith the uk that can pronounce it! “Frasier” is what i am to every1 else it seems. Think its a cannadian variation that came about after all us scots shifted further west during the highland clearances!. An its from the tv. I like exotic names like
india, ocean, naomi, kate-lynne, mina (Mee na), Akira, lillya (lilly-Ah) and erm ..nathalie. For some reason i can only decide on girls names, althou ocean would prob work for both.
Comment by Fraser — September 7, 2004 @ 4:31 pm
when I was 17 my thoughts for future childrens’ names were “Paisley” and “Ocean” “window?” my friends still tease me on these although i still sort of like Ocean (yes, like The Atlantic) guess I’ll wait for a pet of some sort. my first child was to be named taylor (boy or girl) after he was born the name lost all appeal so he wound up being Jeremy (Wiliam) and our little girl is Dana (Michelle) I think we did o.k.
I once tried to give my husband the knickname scooter but that didn’t take –in a big way so now he’s “pumpkin” (Personally I think he was better off with scooter)
Comment by teri — September 8, 2004 @ 11:08 am
I’m from England and I was given the name Anouska (no ‘h’) by my mother who lived in St Petersburgh for a while.
I hated it as a kid but now at 22 i’m quite glad i have a more unusual name (despite the old granny’s all saying ‘oh, don’t you have a beautiful name, luvvie’!!)
I think AnousHka is more common as people often manage to fit the ’ssh’ sound in there somewhere- it’s tempting to correct people but I usually end up sounding a bit pretencious!
Apparantly it’s a Ukraine name, not Russian, but whichever way, I’d recommend it as a nice individual name which is always remembered. Xx
Comment by anouska — September 9, 2004 @ 4:34 am
I’ve always thought it sort of funny that there could be so much controversy over a name. Hours, months, days, and heated arguments for a /name/.
Though, that said, I have become quite the name-obbsessed myself. There are some common names (Rebekah, Danny/Dani(girl), Dawn, Alexandra) that I like but I also hate it when my conversations go like this: “I saw sarah at - ” “which sarah?”
I like the name Ender (I think my affection for this name stems from reading the children’s book “Ender’s Game”) and I don’t think of it as End-er. I just dont. It never crossed my mind infact that it could be interpreted that way until my sister pointed it out and declared she wouldnt want to be one of my kids. But I know lots of people who (including my whole family) think that it’s stupid.
Apollo, Alectra, Daemon (nicknamed Dae), Atticus, Loralei, Aspen (not after the place, I like the tone), Leiloni, Alekona (boy/girl), Kel(could be short for Keladry), Alanna, Jerome (nicknamed Jem), Mattais, Forest, Lilliana, Jagger, Evan (girl, common but it’s my friend’s sister’s name and i love it), Andy (girl), and since I could go on and on I’ll end with Glennon (girl).
I hope that when/if i were to have kids in the future that I would not let my judgment cloud and have my child inherit something like Apple, Espn (after the sports channel, dont laugh it’s true), or Candy. My friend’s sister is named after her parents. Don and Janine, hence the outcome: Donine. Possible child cruelty. Donine thinks her name is hideous. Not that i can blame her.
Personally, I’ve met a reasonable amount of “allison”s but not too many. Although I wasnt too fond of it, I rather like my nickname ‘Ali’. Though, speaking of weird names, I was named after a restaurant “Ali’s”. I can only be thankful it wasn’t “Applebee” or “McDonalds”.
Comment by Allison — September 16, 2004 @ 2:56 pm
I have a somewhat unusual name that I’ve only heard a handful of times in my life- mostly boys. It is Jarin and my mother came up with it starting with a J- a trend in my family- and adding sounds until she found one she liked.
It must be because I’ve had a unique name all my life that I want my children to have stand out ones as well. My husband and I are trying to pick out baby names (although we arent QUITE there yet) and so far have decided that the old biblical names for a boy are the only ones we can agree on. Our favorite one now is Elijah (I’ve already decided to call him Eli for short) Cute, huh?
My favorite names for girls are Ava and Jocelyn, but I’m having a harder time selling him on those.
Comment by Jarin — September 18, 2004 @ 9:00 am
hello my name is summer bierly, i think that this column is very good it teaches kids not to hate there names but to also like them. take my name for EX. its summer aleah joy bierly and people make fun of it, but as the years went by i started to like my name and i wouldn’t know who i would be if someone named me someone else well that only my name. WELL IT WAS NICE TALKING TO YOU GOOD BY
Comment by summer bierly — October 12, 2004 @ 3:47 pm
Hi, My name is Myranda. I can never find the meaning of my name i was wondering if you could help me?
Comment by Myranda — November 20, 2004 @ 5:18 pm
For my daughters, I used the names Ariana (ah-ree’-ah-na), Kyra (rhymes with here-ah), Cosette(cohz- eht’), and Siobhan (shuh-bawn’) The latter we are constantly told is really pronounced “shih-vawn/” but we are Americans.
Comment by rhonda — December 9, 2004 @ 8:49 am
I have make countless attempts at trying to search for a valid meaning for my name, Marielle, which is very uncommon in my eyes.
I’m 18 and a freshman in college…. only met ONE marielle in a school of 35,000+ and her name is spelled Mariel !!
But to all the Marielle’s that may come across this page…. our name is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and there isn’t a single adult I have met (save maybe 4) that have not told me i have a very pretty name!! Be proud!!
Comment by Marielle — December 23, 2004 @ 9:12 pm
Hi everyone, I just wanted to share with you some of my favourite names most of which are kind of unusual, here in NZ anyway! for girls:Mishca, Azaria, India, Brie/Bree(not really unusual)and for boys:Jayden, Leo, Levi, Nico, Chase, Taylor(v. common actually!!) and Bailey. Actually they don’t seem 2 unusual after some of the others posted on this site but I love them anyway. I think those pple who said that they thought naming kids ‘weird’ names was really mean r WRONG, I love the names posted on this site and I think it’s far better to have an unusual name than one just like everybody elses(eg. sarah, jessica)so keep them coming !!!!!!!bye
p.s wud love feedback on what you thought of my names
p.p.s to the person who named their son Jasper, don’t worry the grandparents will get used to it! I think it’s a v. cute name!
Comment by Maria — December 25, 2004 @ 10:07 pm
Hey,
I have some friends and there whole family has weird names.
The grandparents are Risto and …
Kids are Milo, Kiirsti, Timo …
Grandkids are Leilani, Dania, Tatiana, Tiare, Savannah, Josiah, Elijiah, Marita and many more.
I can’t remember all the names but they are all really weird. It’s hard to pronounce some of the names like Kiirsti, which you you say like gearstick.
Weird hey!!!!!!!
I love weird names and I plan to name all my kids strange and wonderful names. I have My heart set on Lilliane Maree!! Does anyone think that is awfull??? PLease comment
From Michelle
Comment by Michelle — January 7, 2005 @ 3:08 am
Well I think the name Evangeline is beautiful. I was a little confused about Dawn saying she had a guy’s name?? Dawn is a girl’s name are you thinking of Don? Prounced differently. Aurora is another version of Dawn it means sunrise or day break.
Some of what people said cracks me up because they think they are making names up like or being creative. Most of these names are old but they are not making them up. Evangeline has been around for a long time. As has Clementine. Beauford (beau) too! Also there are names that have been made up before if you look through your geneology as someone pointed out. Looking through mine I see Adine, Dulce, Ransom, Gentry etc etc.
Also about the gender thing, are you all aware that Carol, Ashley, Cary, Tracy, Robin, Stacy and many more actually started out as boy’s names?
Also of note is that people seem to think that their names are unusual for the time, often this is not so. Take for instance the name jaden, it is very common at least where I live. Almost every name listed here I run across weekly. I am not saying that they are not lovely names or that you shouldn’t use them. They are just not unique any more. Including the name UNIQUE. If you want to see how common your baby’s name go to SSA and put in the baby’s name it will pull up the rank of that name for the past ten years.
Comment by Tina — January 13, 2005 @ 11:48 am
what does the name Tenisha and Marquisha mean ?
Comment by Tenisha — January 21, 2005 @ 4:51 pm
I have viewed all of this site and have not seen any of the names listed that I came up with which are…Lexis,Emerald Jade(Jade for short),Willow,Simon,Emma Lee. DXoes that help anyone?
Comment by Tricia Vincent — January 30, 2005 @ 10:33 am
I named my daughter Paz, which means “fine gold”, the best of the best.
Comment by Talya — February 2, 2005 @ 3:04 pm
Actually, I’m fairly certain Paz means “peace.”
I don’t know where you live, Tricia, but here in the US “Lexus” is a luxury car; while I have heard that certain luxury names are becoming popular, I just can’t see naming a kid after a car.
Simon? That’s one I’m fond of for some reason…:) Incredibly common across the Pond though.
Comment by Diane — February 2, 2005 @ 5:08 pm
Hi, does anyone have any opinions about the name ESME. It’s a girls name I’m considering, it is very old, not a new made up one! I’m just a little unsure about the pronuncation. I think it is french and often see it with an accent on the last e . I would love to hear any comments Thanks, Sam from Canada P.S we already have a Maya and a boy named Giacomo (Jack)
Comment by samantha — February 18, 2005 @ 8:20 am
Um..well my name is Taormina…after the city in Sicily…my parents never gave much thought to it and the consequences of substitute teachers taking attendance…but oh well
Comment by Taormina — March 8, 2005 @ 7:15 pm
My boyfriend and I want Annalicia Alohi’lani Tiare for a girl and Maximos Blake Noa for a boy.
Comment by Alexandra — March 9, 2005 @ 8:40 am
Hi, my name is pretty common but spelt differently, Ashli. But I like it.But I love the names: Carlin (for a boy or a girl) Angus (for a boy) and Ruaridh (for a boy). What does everyone think?
Comment by Ashli — April 3, 2005 @ 10:18 pm
Just an FYI to the person who said she liked Athens for a girl. Athens was named after the Goddess Athena, and Athena is an actually name.
Comment by Madycyn — April 5, 2005 @ 10:57 am
Here’s my feedback: I think esme is pretty. I think it’s pronounced ez-may. And I dont think its French. The accent was probably added to help people pronounce the e. Next, I would definatly ignore the comment diane made about “here in America, (say it like a hillbilly) Lexus is a luxury vee-hicle!” Lastly, for Ashli, I can appriciate the uniqueness of your names, but angus can be a particularly harsh name for your son especially if he’s a little chubby, ( Angus beef) As for Carlin, It reminds me of carl (a name i never really cared for) and Ruaridh definatly seems like a indian name. I dont have feelings about it one way or another. It would be up to your son to give that name its greatness!
For me, Im due Oct 1st. Ive always enjoyed all kinds of names but its so different when you have to name someone! So far these are the favorites- Holden, and Archer. Jolie (zho-LEE), Soleil (so-LAY), and Solenne (so-LEN). I lean twards english boys names and french girls names. Any favorites out of these? Any least favorites? Thanks.
Comment by Karinne — May 3, 2005 @ 9:53 am
Hi guys,
I detested my name as a child, Alexia 2 me sounded like a car manufacturer or a seedy brothel. After a while however, the nicname lexie came around and i love it! I never wanted alex as a nickname as it was quite common but i have yet to meet another lexie!
My 2 Children Lily-Ella and Hayden both hate their names so im hopeful that someone will give them nicknames they learn to love. I still adore their names though!.
Comment by Lexie — May 16, 2005 @ 3:11 am
Hi, my name is Nataliya. It is very common among slavic names, so I never had a problem with it. My Mom calls me Natasha, but ever since I moved to Canada people have been trying to give me a nick-name Nat (too lazy to pronounce the whole thing?). I really don’t like it, so my co-workers know that by now, and even if they say “Nat” sometimes they always apologize, which I really appreciate.
As for my children names I really like Andrew, I just have a problem with Andy, wich he will be called here in Canada. I also like Joshua and a short version of it Josh. Andrew Jeremy would be cool, I think, ’cause he can be A.J. I like Elijah, too. For girls I always think about Grace (Gracie for short), or Angelina. I just don’t want it to be too obviuos (think Angelina Jolie). Apple is a nice name, too, but not for the regular kid. If you are a Gwineth Paltrov daughter - than it’s OK. It’s Hollywood, what can I say. They sure can do things that I woudn’t dare. I also want my child’s name to be “normal” when we go back home for a visit (that would be Ukraine). So that’s my thoughts on the subject. If anyone knows a god web site with the names and their meanings, please write the address. Thanks so much.
Buy to all.
Comment by Nataliya — May 20, 2005 @ 1:30 pm
fav girls names: Rio, Ava, Sierra, Southern, Grace, Anais, Ananya
Comment by angele — May 30, 2005 @ 10:05 pm
My name is Peta. As a child I hated it as I had to say “I am a girl” each time I said it. But now I really love the name when it is pronounced properly. It is pronounced Peeta, not PetER. It has a soft A at the end, so is not masculine at all. I like boys names for girls, but I think it would be overkill if I used a boys name if I have a girl, eventhough Peta is not a boys name. (I really dislike the name Petra though.)
Comment by Peta Stockton — June 8, 2005 @ 1:57 pm
Hi, my name (Kristen) i would say is normal and 4 some reason ppl hardly ever pronounce it right. But anyways, I have always liked odd names like for girls: Zarah, Moretisha, and Mekah. for boys i like: Kurtice (Kurt for short), Shane, Draco, and Vladamire (don’t ask why). and i also like these names: Rayne, Storm, Thunder, and Ezra. Plz tell me what you all think of them. Thanx, bye.
Comment by Kristen — June 16, 2005 @ 3:22 am
Hi
My name is Laura-Marie. I have always loved my name and I have already decided what I would like to call my children.
girls: Rain-Caitlin, Kara-Isabel
boys: Nathanial, Liam
I really love all these names and I hope that people here in Germany will be able to pronouce them. But who cares, I want these names. I´m especially fond of Nathanial.
Comment by Laura — June 19, 2005 @ 11:27 am
Hi. I have to say, I love unusual names. I forced my parents to call our dogs Freya and Mishka. Both names I think are beautifull. When I’m older and I have children (hopefully) I would like to call the boy, if i have one, Nathaniel and the girl, dito to boy, Roxanne. I love both names. I would never give my child a popular name like Charlotte, Matthew, Lucy or Thomas. I think these names are terrible and anyone that calls their children by these names should be shot!
Comment by Mandy Young — June 25, 2005 @ 8:55 am
I was just wondering if anyone knew the meaning of the name Anouska? i have searched and found a couple of different meanings.
Comment by sTEVE — June 28, 2005 @ 10:45 am
Hi all, I’ve had fun reading through these names. I’ve been battling for some time to pick names that really “get†me. Before naming a child I want to really LOVE the name myself. Personally I love unique names, but not really into off-the-wall ones. My mum’s name is Noella (No-ella as opposed to Noela). Her middle name is Lorraine (which she also gave me) and I think the two together sound elegant. Mum’s only ever met one other Noella. She said that as a kid it was a very “grown up†name, but came to love it as an adult. Her mother, who originally insisted it wouldn’t be shortened, ended up nicknaming her Noni (not sure where that came from!).
I once met an American woman (I’m Australian) called Glee which I thought was different. I know a woman who’s family is French and her mother is Marielle (and I agree with the earlier comment that it’s a beautiful name), her aunty is Michelen (Mish-il-en) and her little niece is Zellie (which I love). My brother has a little girl called Liberty, which I think is fabulous.
My name’s not unusual but it was when I was growing up in a small town. The boys often teased me – “Daniel Boon was a man…â€Â!! But it didn’t really worry me (and makes me laugh now). In a way they’re acknowledging that you’re a bit unique, and I think that’s a good thing. Also teaches kids to face a bit of adversity. I like my name but sometimes find it a bit long (pronounced Dani-elle, not Danyell). Usually I get Dani and Dan, which I like. It’s good having “options†– when I want to be serious or professional, I’m Danielle, and with family and friends I’m Dan or Dani.
I really like some of the names on this site. I especially like Cash, also Rogue, but I’d use that for a boy! I like strong names for boys like Steele. Also like Rush and Hudson. I like female names that start with E or A, they’re often elegant.
Comment by Danielle Rodgers — July 2, 2005 @ 10:31 pm
To Kristen: I like the names Rayne & Storm. A friend of mine has a dog named Thunder, so I wouldn’t think of that as a childs name. Rayne was on my short list when my wife and I were expecting. We didn’t go with it though. We named our children (2 girls & a boy):
Brynna - Celtic/Gaelic and it means HILL.
Kirra - Celtic/Gaelic and it means Dark Lady. Her middle name is TAKODA which is Native American and means FRIEND TO EVERYONE.
Bret - Celtic and it means Britain.
We have been extremely lucky because there isn’t one Brynna (pronounced BRIN-A, Kirra or Bret in their class. Whenever we tell somebody our childrens names, they always say that the names are beautiful and uncommon. Nobody has ever heard of the name Brynna, which makes us feel really good.
We also liked: Shaye, Mckayla, Cheyenne & Athena.
Comment by Jeff Taylor — July 4, 2005 @ 11:32 pm
hi, I personally cant stand when boys have girls names, Taylor, Tyler and please I dont mean to offend anyone ., except someone mentioned she would rather date a Taylor anyday compared to a joe… I dont know but where I come from Joe is a cool name, Taylor definitely is more for girls , and a little too waspy for my taste.. but I do like strange and exotic names for girls…
I love the name Lola=well thats my daughters name and let me tell you, we got some negative feedback from some not all family members… but I didnt care.. now whem i tell people her name there pretty impressed … My son definitely has a traditional name Salvatore, and thats how I like it for boys….
Comment by danielle — July 8, 2005 @ 10:25 am
I am 42 and so is my husband. We are trying to get pregnant and are hoping for a boy? I have a 16 year old daughter Caitlyn from another marrige. My question is are there any boy names out there and if I had a girl I would name her Sand. What do you think about that for a boy, I am a surfer……….
Comment by alicia weld — July 9, 2005 @ 3:14 pm
omg! i love unique names soooo much. some of my favorites are…
girls-Madylen payge~Braylen Cassity~Roan kaye(said like rowan) ~lakelynn renee’~brooklen elizabeth~ & maddison chayce
boys-~caleb~hayden ross~trevor neal~lucas tristen~thomas cade~hayden ross
i really want to have 3 kids (2 girls and 1 boy)
i would like to name my oldest daughter lakelynn renee’. my next daughter will either be brooklynn elizabeth or madylen payge. i want my youngest (which will be a son)to be named trevor neal.
i love names soo much!!!!
Comment by uniquename1 — July 9, 2005 @ 8:13 pm
Me and my husband are thinking of names for our baby boy who i will be giving birth to soon. My name is Jakaline (said jack-a-line) any my husbands name is Vactor ( like Victor but pronounced with an a ) we were thinking of putting our names together with my first 2 letters and my husbands first 2 letters. If we do this it would make the name Java we think it is a cool name and nobody we know has that name. We would like to hear some of your comments to see what you think about the name Java.
thanks
Comment by Jakaline — July 10, 2005 @ 11:14 pm
I have 4 kids, a pair of twins (boy and girl) and 2 other girls. My oldest girl is called Amiel(said am-e-ell) and my younger girl is calld Angel. When we were thinking of names for our twins we wanted names that would clash just like our friends who named their twin boys Toby and Tom. Of course this is harder to do with boys and girls so we finally decided on Caley and Cody. I will be having my 5th child soon if it is a girl we will call her Abigale, if it is a boy we will call it Cary
i would love to hear your comments
Comment by Karen Kallahar — July 10, 2005 @ 11:21 pm
i will be giving birth to a boy or girl very soon and we cant think of any names can you please help me. I dont like popular names like Emily or Max,i perfer to have unusual names but not to unusual. I would love to hear some comments from you and please help me find a good name
Comment by Susan Sapling — July 11, 2005 @ 4:12 pm
I will be having my baby on February 1st, 2006 (that’s the due date of course) but me and my boyfriend come from totally different backgrounds. He’s Chinese and I’m Canadian plus 1/8th of Japanese *my biological father is Japanese* but anyways because of the two different backgrounds we have decided to have the first name as a Canadian name and the middle as a Chinese name. So if we have a baby girl we are going to name her * Oceianna Yumi * and if we have a baby boy we are either going to name him * Jayden JIA-din *.
Comment by Tamara — July 13, 2005 @ 12:14 am
what does this name mean??
Comment by vhari — July 15, 2005 @ 9:37 pm
Hi my name is Renee from Australia. I stumbled on this site as I named my sone Jessee and my daughter J’kayla (Jakayla as I have just found out) I came up with the name J’kayla or so I thought until a friend told me her friends daughter had that name. Upon searching the internet I have found a web site, a doll and many more sites with the name Jakayla (spelt different but that was my plan for uniqueness as well as is Jessee my son). I have a step daughter her name is Satika which we thought was also made up but again found site with this name. I am yet to come across the same spelling of J’kayla as I have used but I’m sure in time. Love all the names. Kids love unusual names I think, My daughter gets called Jack or J’k which I love and so does she (when she’s in the mood) otherwise it’s J’kayla only. Well thoughts from Australia keep the names coming it’s great to have a site for unusual names. By any chance does anyone know the meaning and origin of both J’kay;la (jakayla) or Satika?
Comment by Renee — July 16, 2005 @ 4:20 am
Hi all, its me again. lol Well i thought i would run a couple of names by ya’ll. Well i was talking 2 my friends when i realized ya’ll may think some of their names r ckooll. Such as my best friend’s name is Melancholy, her boyfriend’s name is Bridges, and my aunt’s name is Katina not Katrina. Well hope ya’ll like the names, plz give me some feedback on em and 2 Jeff Taylor, ur kids have beautiful names and thanx 4 the comments on mine. Well byes.
Comment by Kristen — July 21, 2005 @ 12:25 am
I love the names Ender and Clementine. My husband has vetoed Clementine though. I also like Irelynn, Ariana, and Lorien has just been added to my list. I fell in love with the name Aidan, but it has become so popular, I’m not sure where I stand on it now. I have a ton of girls names, but I need a good boys name instead of Aidan.
Comment by Holly — August 3, 2005 @ 5:52 am
i am pregnant, due in march, and live in the uk but love all the american baby names. if i have a girl i will love to call her ‘leilani’ (which means heavenly child) and if i have a boy i will love to call him ‘zachary.’(zach)
i have been to vegas several times and i guess this is where my obsession comes from. i also love corey for a boy and kaitlin or kaleigh for a girl.
at the end of the day you will be saying their name for a very long time to come, so you have to love it!!
Comment by louise — August 18, 2005 @ 8:17 am
my names is esme and i would like to know what it meens and where it comes from if you know please reply to my email addie (adress)
i do not like my name because everyone at school looks at me weired when they ask me what my name is.
Comment by Esme — November 10, 2005 @ 10:38 am
My supervisor’s grandchild’s name is Indigo Skye
Comment by Cathy — January 4, 2006 @ 11:29 am
Hi, Im Brianna Nicole with a long a sound on the first a in anna. Im still young but if I were to have a boy his name would be Dawson Lakelyn and a girl would be Kiersten Elizabeth or Payton Richelle.
Those are my top picks for boys and girls. Another boy name is Keaton James. Another girl name is Valery Montanna.
Comment by Brianna — January 13, 2006 @ 6:49 pm
When I have a little girl I would like to name her Ashlyn Marie. It is a combination of a lot of things. My dads sister’s middle name was lyn and she died before I got to know her. He says that she was really cool. My mom’s name also starts with an A so it would be cool for another girl with an A name. Also my moms middle name is Marie. Fo a boy I like the name Logan Thomas. Who knows kids are a long way off for me.
Comment by Amanda — February 12, 2006 @ 10:05 pm
hey i just think that unique names are cool-my name is pretty strange and i have always been very happy with it!!!! I dont know about in Scotland but i know that here (in America) if you named you daughter Glenn she would hate you for the short time that she had that name before she changed it herself!
Comment by Kylin — March 14, 2006 @ 8:07 am
My mom wanted to name me India with no last name or middle name or Paidyn-which when i have kids I will name my little girl-and always thought that those names where really cool even though i have never tired of my own name
Comment by Kylin — March 14, 2006 @ 8:10 am
Hey, another Marielle passing by! I was just searching for the meaning of my name and to my surprise I’ve found many pages where they claim that it means…….bitterness! Can you believe that?! Such a beautiful name with such a meaning. I guess i’ll just go with the one page that says that it means “Wished for-child”
Comment by Marielle — March 22, 2006 @ 5:38 pm
The names that I plan to name my children are as follows beginning with the girls: Margo, Stella, Margarita, Addison, Clementine, Lynk, Riley,Moli, Scarlett, Milan,Cozette, Arden, Aurora And the Boys: Ender Holden, Dieter James, Tyler Roscoe, Afton, Landon Achilles, Micah, Stolden,Skylar.
Comment by Britlyn — May 22, 2006 @ 12:27 pm
I like unique names, like for instence my name Trinity, i meen how many people have that name?
And my daughter, Cheryl, that is a really old name and i dont see many Cheryl’s around!
Comment by Trinity — June 11, 2006 @ 5:35 pm
Hi, my name is Siobhan-kind of rough growing up with that but I’m turning 20 on the 14th so I’ve come to deal with it now. When i have a daughter i want to name her Cadence Jade. I’m not too sure about a boy yet….
Comment by Siobhan — July 7, 2006 @ 11:17 am
I love a lot of the names here. I just found out I shall be with child soon and I’ve always had a name for a girl *Nova* and since my husband likes Ashley it will be Nova Ashley.
Boys names are harder personally I want the name Chaos, Damian, Atom, or Orian but he wants something more……normal. I know the reality of naming a child Chaos would not be so good but it just sounds cool to me.
We both like science type things and the names people have on this forum so far are great.
Comment by erin — July 14, 2006 @ 11:11 pm
Growing up in the USA as a girl named Shannon, I can tell you it wasn’t too fun. “That’s a boy’s name”, or “you don’t look like a Shannon.” Ha - if they only knew it was a mucky river in Ireland… My dad named me Lisa Shannon (double ugh), but my mother wanted to name me Angelina Sophia (she’s Italian, my dad’s family is Scot-Irish). My mother’s father called me by my full name, and when he died, that tradition died with him. Besides, he was the only one to call me by my full name. My children, 2 each, are named pretty traditional names: Victoria Maitlynn (Mate-y), Jon Trace (husband and I are/were diehard race fans / Dale Earnhardt fans, and his car # was 3… three, tres, trace…), and twins Jack Anthony (Tony) and Lauren Grace (Gracie). When I was a little girl, I wanted to name my daughter Marigold, after a story I read in grade school. Don’t know why, but it stuck with me for years. Then baby number one came along and Marigold was the furthest from my mind. As an aside, don’t leave it up to your husband to give the nurse the spelling of your child’s name for the birth certificate. My best friend’s husband misspelled their first daughter’s name - and now the 12 year old is plagued with Brittanny instead of Brittany. Their youngest daughter is Kaitlyn (rhymes with her best friend’s (my oldest’s) name Maitlyn!) Someone also mentioned the anagram thing too. I was LSB (sounds like LSD, or Lesbian), and the monogram was even worse for an overweight teen - LBS! I looked through my own genealogy at names, and I remember a lot of the names of my dad’s aunts and uncles. Some families stick with a single letter. In their case, they used E. As in Ellis, Elmer, Escaline, Ernestine, Edgar, Edward, Earlayne, Erie and Eunice. Oh yeah. A friend named her kids all J names: Jessica Marie(Jessie, since she was a huge Rick Springfield fan), Jonathan Michael and Jillian Madeline. I attended school with a girl who was one of 8 girls, all with K names: Kelva, Kerri, Karla, Kristine, Kathrine, Kimberly, Keisha and Katrina. Other names I’ve liked: Addison, Josephine, Gillian, Laird, Tucker, Mason, Annabella and Egan.
Comment by Shannon — July 27, 2006 @ 1:19 pm
As a guy, I got teased plenty with my name and was often assumed to be a girl too - starting new schools (that type of thing) was painful. I even got assigned to a girls school trip once when the boys and girls went to different places. So I guess I am biased, but my wife and I will be naming our children more traditional names that do not blur gender lines.
Comment by Kristen — August 31, 2006 @ 8:27 pm
My husband’s name is Nayland. I’ve never met anyone with his name before and I love it. My step kids names are Izabeau Sophia and Dante Valentino. We are thinking of the following names for any kids we have in the future; Alexander Cruz or Aidan Christopher for boys and Zoey Elizabeth or Georgia Christine for girls. I have a girlfriend whose name is Shalon (Shal-lyn). I think that is pretty and very unique.
Comment by Karen — October 19, 2006 @ 11:59 am
Go to http://www.behindthename.com/. I love their forums. It’s one of the best places to get name ideas. The guy who started the site really looks into the names before he puts name into the database so the names are all real names there, and the database is still huge.
Also names are usually popular from 10 to 20 years, then become less popular so it’s easy to tell which names are going to be popular and which aren’t. Go to http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/ it’s the best place to find out which names are popular at least in the US.
Comment by Marisa — October 23, 2006 @ 4:48 am
My son’s name is Easton Edwin - Edwin after his late grandfather. We’re pregnant again and I like Abygayle for a girl, or Isabel, but that is almost getting too popular now. I like to keep things a little different:)
Comment by Lisa — November 2, 2006 @ 7:17 am
According to the book “Freakonomics” the higher you are on the socio-economic scale (income, education, etc.) the more unusual your children’s names are. The lower you are on the socio-economic scale, the more likely you’ll pick names that were popular 10 years before. Interesting!
With a name like Jane Smith, I wanted unusual names for my kids. But their names ended up being pretty popular. Where I live, there are a lot of children named Willow, Hayden, Cedar, Alder, Juniper, Emerald, Clancy, Brogan, Trinity, Ayla, Solana, Sonora, Anais, Dawson, Lawson, Sailor, Lyric, Kellar, and even a Fisher.
When I was younger, I always wanted a daughter named Anndrew and just call her Drew. But my husband wouldn’t buy it. We ended up naming our daughters Kyra (keera) and Rylie. If we have another, I told him we’d have to name them something that has a Y as the second letter pronounced with a short i sound, like Dylan, Lyndsey or Sydney. Then we’d have all the Y pronunciations covered! It’s interesting that most girl names started out as boy names, like Lauren and Shannon. Riley is more popular for girls than boys now. I’m just glad the McNames trend is slowing down (McKenzie, McKayla, etc.)
Comment by jane smith — November 4, 2006 @ 12:46 am
Hello everyone. My name is Desiree, and my husband and I are expecting a little boy at the end of December. We are thinking about naming him Gratian Mannix Gomez, and I just thought I would ask for some opinions. This seems like a ligitimate site to post this asking for an opinion, since so many were previously stated!! I loved some of the names on here, but my hubby is VERY picky, and everything I mentioned to him was shot down! Hopefully I will get some responses!! Thanks for your time!
Comment by Desiree — November 15, 2006 @ 2:12 pm
My name is Ashley. I was born in 1985 and I have a brother named Michael who was born in 1984. My parents, believe it or not, thought our names were pretty uncommon when they named us that. After we started school they then realized that they had chosen the most popular names of those years. Then, when my sister was born in 1990, they decided to name her Kayleigh… only to discover that name’s rising popularity.
Oh well 0/3.
Since my boyfriend is French, my children will have a French last name. So were thinking Sophie (Phie for short) Hélène and Joël Denis. My grandmother’s name was Helene (like H-leen), so I thought the French version would be cute. My mom wants a kid named after her and her middle name is Joyce, so I thought maybe Joie (joy in French) would be a cute name too. And my boyfriend’s friend is named Joel (English version), so we thought we’d French it up and call our kid Joël (Jo-elle), Joë (Joey) for short.
Those aren’t unusual names, though, but it’s an unusual twist.
Comment by Ashley — December 7, 2006 @ 12:46 pm
I dont like the name sohea jack is sooo much better buy the way you sould not make fun of someones name you can say i dont like thet name but thats it dont go all over the plase and say JACK I bet only one kid would tern aroud someone made fun of my name becuse it means bitter I told the teacher and she sent them to the princable they got in troble and one more thing i ont like the name sohea
Comment by maria — December 25, 2006 @ 8:51 pm
GRETTINGS….MY INITIAL POSTING IS #64 FROM 2004. The new granson is named Cooper Jaeger Max Love. With 13 grandkyds now ….I don’t think there will be any more. I always hoped for a grandson named Zane or Akiva or grandaughter named Piper or Beauty. I think it is good to have distintively different names but not something that would make the child an oddity. Perhaps some one is looking for names will like Zane, Akiva, Piper or Beauty and use one of them. I’ve been trying to think of an unusual name for the surfer gal. She wanted a boys name. How about something from surfer talk, brand of board, a surf manauver or along those lines???
It took years for me to to truly like my name snd now am appreciative for the family history used in developimg my name an get alot of comments on my lovely but unusual name. My first married name was Hill and when the first son was born my ex was determined the child was going to be named BUNKER HILL. Thank goodness the alternative name of Gavin prevailed.Bunker Hill–what a burden to bear,
Well happy name hunting to all the perfect name sleutes on this site. May you find name Nirvana .Bye for now, Garla Q. or just GG to all the kyds.
Comment by Garla Quarnberg — March 21, 2007 @ 12:27 am
My name is Shonda. I always enjoyed being the only Shonda because I never had to be referred to as “Shonda G.” or “Shonda #2″ in class. (Some classes would have 3 Ashleys, so the teacher would dub them “Ashley S.” or Ashley with glasses) I always get compliments on my name, but it doesn’t have an origin. (Unless you consider it a form of the name “Shawn, Sean, Shon…” So when people ask, “Oh that’s a pretty name, what’s the origin?” I just say, “My mom!”
Growing up with a unique name has been a blessing!
Comment by Shonda — April 5, 2007 @ 6:42 pm
I know a better site then behindthename. Go to: http://www.namepedia.org/ It’s a lot more professional then behindthecrap
You can find there famous people, meanings and lots of intresting stuff.
Comment by Anna — June 2, 2007 @ 9:32 am
Hi, I’m the mother of a Marielle. Fascinating to find so many Marielle’s in one place! I have never met anyone who didn’t like the name I picked for my daughter. And almost everyone who meets her comments on what a beautiful name it is. I also prefer the meaning “wished-for child” to bitter. It fits - she certainly was wished for. We actually picked it because another meaning for the name is “little Mary”. I am named Mary and my husband wanted to name her after me. My mother is also named Mary and I thought three Mary’s in a row was a bit confusing. I have never regretted the choice of “Marielle”.
Comment by Mary — December 1, 2007 @