By Pamela Redmond Satran

Looking for truly unusual and distinctive baby names?  Then we have an amazing collection for you: thousands of names never in the US Top 1000 collected in the very first Nameberry book, The Nameberry Guide to Off-the-Grid Baby Names.  Here is a sampling of a dozen of those wonderful names; for thousands more, download your copy of the book today!  

Read More

By Linda Rosenkrantz

Every year, a small number of new names manages to move onto the Top 1000 list for the first time ever.  Sometimes this marks the beginning of a climb up the ladder, other times it’s a name that will linger in the nether regions, and sometimes it might prove to be a one-shot wonder—perhaps an eccentric spelling picked up by just enough parents  to make the grade.

In 2011, for instance, we saw the debuts of such nouveau names as Elliot for girls, Aviana, Blakely, Juniper, Liv, and Temperance; Bowen, Brecken, Flynn, the musical Crosby and Hendrix, the presidential Nixon and the Ivy League Princeton.

But how about the recently released list?  Of the forty-five possibilities, here are the Nameberry Picks for the twelve most promising newbies of 2012.

girls

Azalea—Though there were fewer than three hundred baby girls given this name in 2012, it has now definitely crossed over from the wilder fringes into the main flower garden.  Azalea embodies a delightful combination of the fragrant floral with a shot of z-infused energy.

Read More

The big news in baby names this week has been the Most Popular Names 2012: Top 1, Top 10, Top 100, Top 1000.

But swimming just below the surface — not quite on the radar but not truly off, either — are dozens of more unusual baby names poised to find wider favor….or dropping from view.

Many Nameberry favorites exist in this limbo of baby names, including choices such as Aurelia and Wren for girls that missed making it into the Top 1000 by a single point.

Of course, that may bring relief rather than disappointment to many parents.  If you want to name your baby Magnolia or Clementine, Bishop or Langston — or already have — you may tremble on surveying the new Top 1000, hoping your favorites stay off the list.

We looked below the Top 1000 for girls and boys and found those names within 50 points of the cutoff that we felt were heading back into style, along with those sailing off into the sunset.

In raw numbers, 251 girls received the Number 1000 name Katalina while 197 boys were named Number 1000 boys’ name Dangelo.  The numbers after each name below represent the number of children given that name in 2012.

One note on the names we say are Heading Out: Some of these may appeal to parents in search of a name with Geek Chic or an unusual classic.  Hello, baby Ralph!  Or….dare I suggest….baby Pamela?

Here, the names just under the Top 1000 coming into style and heading out:

Read More

Here, with the kind permission of  writer Jonathan Anker, we’re reprinting his humorous take on the possible future effects of  megapopular names; it appeared first on the hlntv.com site.

Dear Jacob and Sophia,

You should know that your mother and I spent the better part of both her pregnancies agonizing over your names. We did the bookstore thing.  Surfed Nameberry til we fell asleep. Many nights. Had wayyy too much fun on NameVoyager and Nymbler. Talked to friends, made mental notes of names we heard shouted at playgrounds and malls.

We tested out hundreds of candidates to see how each sounded with our last name, what possible nicknames there were, teasing likelihood for each, whether we enjoyed alliterative names or hated them. And in the end, we happily selected Jacob and Sophia — or Jake and Sophie depending on whether or not you’re in trouble. And for that, we’re sorry.

Read More

Kelli Brady, creator of NameFreak!, combined spelling variations to come up with the real top 50 names on the new US popularity list. Her results show some names vastly more popular than it seems and a new Number 1 and Number 2 for boys.

Some names might actually be more popular than the SSA list shows because it ranks each spelling of a name separately, rather than counting all spelling variations — Sophia and Sofia, for example — together. To see how popular a name actually is, I have gathered the various spellings of each name in the 2012 Top 1000 and come up with a new Top 50 for each gender!

Why do I call this the Playground Analysis? Well, when you are on the playground with your kids and you hear a name, you don’t know how it is spelled, but you do know how often you hear it.

For girls, the top 5 do not drastically change, but Zoey jumps from #20 to #7. Adalyn, Elena, Kaitlyn and Madelyn make huge gains after adding all of their various spellings.

Note: The main name listed is the spelling given to the most babies in 2012 (SSA Rank is in parentheses). The others are in alphabetical order. Opinions vary on how different spellings are pronounced. I went with my best judgment.

girls

1. Sophia (1) – Sofia
2. Isabella (3) – Isabela, Izabella
3. Emma (2)
4. Olivia (4) – Alivia, Alyvia
5. Ava (5) – Avah
6. Emily (6) – Emely, Emilee, Emilie, Emmalee
7. Zoey (20) – Zoe, Zoie
8. Chloe (11) – Khloe
9. Madison (9) – Maddison, Madisyn, Madyson
10. Aubrey (15) – Aubree, Aubri, Aubrie
11. Abigail (7) – Abbigail
12. Mia (8) – Miah
13. Madelyn (67) – Madalyn, Madalynn, Madeleine, Madeline, Madelynn, Madilyn, Madilynn
14. Lily (16) – Lillie, Lilly
15. Layla (31) – Laila, Lailah, Laylah, Leila, Leyla
16. Hailey (32) – Hailee, Haley, Haylee, Hayleigh, Hayley, Haylie
17. Addison (14) – Addisyn, Addyson
18. Riley (47) – Rylee, Ryleigh, Rylie
19. Elizabeth (10) – Elisabeth
20. Natalie (17) – Natalee, Nataly, Nathalie, Nathaly
21. Aaliyah (36) – Aleah, Aleigha, Alia, Aliya, Aliyah
22. Avery (13) – Averi, Averie
23. Kaylee (34) – Caylee, Kailee, Kailey, Kayleigh, Kaylie
24. Arianna (49) – Ariana, Aryana, Aryanna
25. Ella (12)
26. Brooklyn (29) – Brooklynn
27. Amelia (23) – Emelia, Emilia
28. Allison (38) – Alison, Alisson, Allyson, Alyson
29. Hannah (22) – Hana, Hanna
30. Kaitlyn (118) – Caitlin, Caitlyn, Kaitlin, Kaitlynn, Katelyn, Katelynn
31. Mackenzie (71) – Makenzie, Mckenzie
32. Kylie (59) – Kiley, Kylee, Kyleigh
33. Peyton (53) – Paityn, Payton
34. Lillian (25) – Lilian
35. Evelyn (27) – Evalyn, Evelynn
36. Leah (33) – Lea, Leia, Lia
37. Charlotte (19)
38. Sarah (43) – Sara
39. Grace (21)
40. Harper (24)
41. Katherine (64) – Catherine, Kathryn
42. Gabriella (37) – Gabriela
43. Anna (35) – Ana
44. Samantha (26)
45. Alyssa (44) – Alisa, Alissa, Elisa, Elissa
46. Brianna (51) – Breanna, Briana, Bryanna
47. Victoria (28)
48. Makayla (69) – Mckayla, Michaela, Mikaela, Mikayla
49. Adalyn (198) – Adalynn, Addilyn, Adeline, Adelyn, Adelynn
50. Elena (139) – Alaina, Alayna, Elaina

For boys, Aiden and its various spellings (there are NINE) take the top spot away from Jacob, and Jackson jumps from #22 to #2! Jacob doesn’t show up until #4 after all the spellings of Jayden. And Kayden and Dominic look like the names with the biggest gain.

boys

1. Aiden (10) – Aaden, Adan, Aden, Aidan, Aidyn, Aydan, Ayden, Aydin
2. Jackson (22) – Jaxen, Jaxson, Jaxon
3. Jayden (7) – Jaden, Jadon, Jaeden, Jaiden, Jaidyn, Jaydon
4. Jacob (1) – Jakob, Jaycob
5. Mason (2) – Maison, Masen, Mayson
6. Ethan (3)
7. Noah (4)
8. William (5)
9. Liam (6)
10. Michael (8) – Micheal
11. Kayden (99) – Caden, Caiden, Cayden, Kaden, Kaeden, Kaiden
12. Alexander (9) – Alexzander
13. Matthew (12) – Mathew)
14. Elijah (13) – Alijah
15. Daniel (11)
16. James (14)
17. Anthony (15)
18. Caleb (32) – Kaleb
19. Benjamin (16)
20. Christopher (23) – Cristopher, Kristopher
21. Joshua (17)
22. Andrew (18)
23. David (19)
24. Joseph (20)
25. Logan (21)
26. Lucas (27) – Lukas
27. Christian (33) – Cristian, Kristian
28. Landon (34) – Landen, Landyn
29. Gabriel (24)
30. Brayden (39) – Braden, Bradyn, Braeden, Braiden, Braydon
31. Samuel (25)
32. Jonathan (35) – Johnathan, Johnathon, Jonathon
33. John (28) – Jon
34. Ryan (26)
35. Dylan (31) – Dillon
36. Nicholas (49) – Nicolas, Nickolas, Nikolas
37. Isaac (30) – Issac
38. Nathan (29)
39. Carter (36) – Karter
40. Cameron (54) – Camren, Camron, Camryn, Kameron, Kamron, Kamryn
41. Connor (59) – Conner, Conor, Konner, Konnor
42. Isaiah (42) – Isiah, Izaiah, Izayah
43. Luke (37)
44. Owen (38)
45. Gavin (40) – Gavyn
46. Dominic (70) – Dominick, Dominik, Dominique
47. Jordan (48) – Jorden, Jordyn
48. Wyatt (41)
49. Colton (65) – Colten, Kolten, Kolton
50. Henry (43)

What do you think? Does this sound about right? Are there any surprises?

Kelli Brady is a stay at home mom of two who needed an outlet for her name obsession. She found it at NameFreak!, a blog dedicated to a wide variety of name-related whims and fancies. You can also follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Read More