Unusual name chosen for her son by actress Nia Long, who combined it with the even more unusual literary middle name, Zhivago.

Less commercial-sounding than Brand.

Also spelled Illtud or Eltut, his was the name of a 6th-century Welsh saint who founded the abbey of Llanilltud in Glamorgan. Illtyd Harrington was a British politician. The Welsh LL is pronounced like a palatalized TH sound in English.

Way out.

All names ending in ville are in nowheresville.

A family name that wouldn't appeal to many parents.

Referring to the ancient region of Nairi and its breathtaking landscape, Nayiri is a gender-neutral name in Armenia.

There are two lovely Portlands, in Maine and Oregon, but not many babies with their name.

Ancient saint's name used for cowardly cartoon lion.

Courtland, with its added U, is an English form of the Dutch habitational surname Cortlandt. Cortlandt was a village near modern-day Wijk bij Duurstede, Netherlands. Its name was derived from the Dutch elements cort, meaning "short" or "narrow," and landt, "land."

The Anglophile Howard.

Some will see this as spirited, others stuffy. The protagonist of the Edith Wharton novel The Age of Innocence was a popular and successful lawyer named Newbold Archer.

Courtlandt, with its added U, is an English form of the Dutch habitational surname Cortlandt. Cortlandt was a village near modern-day Wijk bij Duurstede, Netherlands. Its name was derived from the Dutch elements cort, meaning "short" or "narrow," and landt, "land."

Tiree is the anglicised name of the Scottish island of Tiriodh in the Inner Hebrides. It’s known as Scotland’s "sunshine isle", benefiting from an uncharacteristically warm and sunny climate and beautiful beaches which are popular with surfers and windsurfers. As a given name, Tiree is in rare but regular use in Scotland, England and Wales.

The most prominent person with this unusual geographical choice might be actor Cuba Gooding Jr., however, Cuba has a far longer history as a feminine name. Deriving from the island in the Caribbean Sea, it had a brief spell of popularity in the US at the end of the 1890s, when Spain lost possession of the island during the Spanish-American War. Used predominantly (though rarely) on girls throughout the last century, it has occasionally been given to a handful of boys too

Cortland, is an English form of the Dutch habitational surname Cortlandt. Cortlandt was a village near modern-day Wijk bij Duurstede, Netherlands. Its name was derived from the Dutch elements cort, meaning "short" or "narrow," and landt, "land."

As its parent name Roland comes back into style (yep, it’s happening), could there be an uptick in baby Rollies? Certainly as a pet form.

The name Persia derives from Avestan Parsa, the name of the Indo-European nomadic people who migrated into southern Iran in about 1000 BCE. Perseus feels more namelike.

Ballet dancer Misty Copeland may draw more parents to consider her surname for a baby girl — which at last count was 29% female.