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100+ Unusual and Exotic Baby Names

100+ Unusual and Exotic Baby Names

by Pamela Redmond Satran

One of our favorite name nerd activities is combing the bottom reaches of the official US list of baby names to find choices that are both high unusual and eminently usable.

The focus of our search this time: Names with an international flavor, better known in Italy or the Netherlands, Tokyo or Tehran than they are in the US.

Yet they’re names that easily translate.  They may have never fully assimilated into American culture the way Aidan or Anya have, but they’re not completely unknown either.

If you’re looking for an unusual and exotic name for your little girl or boy, consider these 100+ excellent choices all given to 25 or fewer babies in 2014 — the exact number follows the name.[column1]girls

  1. Elowen 25

  2. Eulalia 25

  3. Verena 24

  4. Elspeth 23

  5. Cerys 22

  6. Gioia 22

  7. Rosita 22

  8. Cosima 21

  9. Isolde 21

  10. Celestine 19

  11. Saskia 19

  12. Fianna 18

  13. Gracia 18

  14. Ione 18

  15. Calypso 17

  16. Honora 17

  17. Lilou 17

  18. Carlotta 16

  19. Dominica 16

  20. Sigrid 16

  21. Paz 15

  22. Appolonia 14

  23. Clementina 14

  24. Elke 14

  25. Flavia 14

  26. Pema 14

  27. Electra 13

  28. Nuala 13

  29. Sinead 13

  30. Thesally 13

  31. Britt 12

  32. Federica 12

  33. Jessamine 12

  34. Letizia 12

  35. Mariposa 12

  36. Magda 11

  37. Sylvana 11

  38. Ondine 10

  39. Anthea 9

  40. Cressida 9

  41. Concetta 8

  42. Eugenie 8

  43. Ginevra 8

  44. Veronique 8

  45. Bathsheba 7

  46. Ottilie 7

  47. Bronwen 6

  48. Clemence 6

  49. Sandrine 6

  50. Sorcha 6

  51. Amandine 5

  52. Kyoko 5

[/column1][column2]boys

  • Artemis 25

  • Leviathan 24

  • Ferdinand 23

  • Helios 23

  • Laszlo 21

  • Clemente 20

  • Cecilio 18

  • Leonid 18

  • Cornelio 17

  • Edmundo 17

  • Auguste 16

  • Celestino 16

  • Florian 16

  • Francois 16

  • Gaston 16

  • Renaldo 16

  • Philemon 15

  • Rosario 15

  • Silvano 15

  • Stanislav 14

  • Silvio 13

  • Xerxes 13

  • Constantino 12

  • Gustave 12

  • Mattheus 12

  • Calixto 11

  • Franz 11

  • Milos 11

  • Archimedes 10

  • Florentino 10

  • Inigo 10

  • Melo 8

  • Primo 8

  • Sigmund 8

  • Stephano 8

  • Baptiste 7

  • Italo 7

  • Llewellyn 7

  • Ludwig 7

  • Paco 7

  • Yoshi 7

  • Fabiano 6

  • Kiro 6

  • Mercury 6

  • Naphtali 6

  • Romani 6

  • Sylvanus 6

  • Tulio 6

  • Urbano 6

  • Cosimo 5

  • Junius 5

  • Rolf 5

  • [/column2]

    Thanks to Josh Murray for research help with this post.

    About the Author

    Pamela Redmond

    Pamela Redmond

    Pamela Redmond is the cocreator and CEO of Nameberry and Baby Name DNA. The coauthor of ten groundbreaking books on names, Redmond is an internationally-recognized baby name expert, quoted and published widely in such media outlets as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, CNN, and the BBC. She has written about baby names for The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, and People.

    Redmond is also a New York Times bestselling novelist whose books include Younger, the basis for the hit television show, and its sequel, Older. She has three new books in the works.