Best Baby Names Below the Top 1000
Each year when the new list of the most popular baby names appears, the first names we look at are, well, the most popular. The Top Ten. The top names in each state. The Top 1000, which is as far as the SSA publishes direct on its site.
But the names don’t stop there!
In 2019, the Top 1000 names in the USA were given to about 77% of all the boys born, and about 68% of girls. That means thousands of children with a name below the Top 1000. And thousands of names floating below the radar.
It took 256 births for a girl name to appear in the Top 1000 (a three-way tie between Ariadne, Dixie and Naya), and 208 for a boy name (Rome making its debut).
So we’ve looked at unique names with under 200 births to find the best names you should know about. There are 400 unique girl names and unique boy names here, grouped by number of births. They include a wide range of styles, sounds and sources, but they’re all reasonably familiar and straightforward, on-trend (or with potential), and pretty rare. In other words, right in that elusive sweet spot many parents are looking for.
Oh, and none of them were in our 2018 list beyond the Top 1000! But most of the names there still stand, so check them out for further inspiration.
151-200 births
Girl Names
- Addie
- Adela
- Amberly
- America
- Andie
- Bayleigh
- Betty
- Brenna
- Cambria
- Carson
- Cassie
- Dina
- Elara
- Elinor
- Elliette
- Elowyn
- Empress
- Grecia
- Gwyneth
- Inaya
- Jersey
- Kaira
- Kalea
- Katerina
- Keren
- Klara
- Lilyanna
- Litzy
- Macey
- Malka
- Marian
- Mariella
- Memphis
- Nadine
- Nyra
- Rhiannon
- Roslyn
- Ryder
- Sally
- Saniyah
- Serafina
- Silvia
- Susanna
- Tabitha
- Tala
- Tia
- Tilly
- Yarely
- Yusra
- Zella
Boy Names
- Abner
- Aspen
- Aurelio
- Benaiah
- Benedict
- Benton
- Bilal
- Brayson
- Cashton
- Channing
- Coleman
- Danilo
- Eliam
- Elmer
- Ernest
- Frankie
- Gannon
- Gianluca
- Gilbert
- Granger
- Gus
- Guy
- Hakeem
- Harper
- Imran
- Jenson
- Karim
- Krish
- Kruz
- Laith
- Link
- Lucien
- Lyric
- Marley
- Matheo
- Meir
- Nazir
- Norman
- Palmer
- Payton
- Pharaoh
- Pierre
- Ramiro
- Riggs
- Rodolfo
- Shlomo
- Slade
- Viaan
- Zeus
- Zev
101-150 births
Girl Names
- Arwen
- Audra
- Avril
- Bernadette
- Bowie
- Chiara
- Cielo
- Constance
- Dalila
- Devorah
- Doris
- Emme
- Esmae
- Evangelina
- Ever
- Geraldine
- Giada
- Giulia
- Graciela
- Harlem
- Havana
- Irina
- Italy
- Jannah
- Joan
- Jude
- Karolina
- Khadijah
- Lettie
- Lidia
- Lucie
- Maite
- Maritza
- Milagros
- Miller
- Mona
- Naia
- Noelia
- Odessa
- Pippa
- Sia
- Sybil
- Symphony
- Tahlia
- Venus
- Violetta
- Xochitl
- Yamilet
- Zaynab
- Zyla
Boy Names
- Arden
- Aubrey
- Bailey
- Baron
- Brighton
- Broderick
- Caius
- Carmine
- Cornelius
- Cortez
- Dev
- Eitan
- Eleazar
- Eros
- Francesco
- Freddie
- German
- Hasan
- Haven
- Huxton
- Ismail
- Izan
- Jahseh
- Jarrett
- Josias
- Kelton
- Khaled
- Lucius
- Luther
- Massimo
- Milton
- Montana
- Nehemias
- Nikko
- Oskar
- Perseus
- Quinten
- Ramses
- Ranger
- Renzo
- Rowdy
- Sheldon
- Siddharth
- Sultan
- Sunny
- Vladimir
- Wren
- Yeshua