Think You’ve Found A Top Secret Baby Name? Think Again

So you think you’ve found a secret baby name.  One that nobody has ever discovered before.  Or a sleeping gem neglected by other baby namers.

And maybe you have.  But the distressing news is that a lot of the names that parents think are secret finds are really being scoped out at the same time by a lot of other parents.

How do we know? Because we’ve analyzed which names are spiking the highest in nameberry views at the start of 2011 compared with 2010, and among the biggest risers are obscure picks and long-neglected classics.

What makes these names suddenly so hot?  For the most part, it’s hard to say.  All we can tell you for sure is that they are hot — a lot hotter than you might guess.

Here, the 50 hottest obscure names and how high their traffic has jumped:

Girls

Abriana – 5700%Elara – 4700%Aerin – 4400%Abalina – 3900%Rosabelle – 2300%Aminta – 2000%Lotte – 2000%Circe – 1633%Louella – 1400%Noor – 1375%Laney – 1367%Ailbhe – 1333%Abba – 1233%Aleah – 1233%Natalya – 1142%Finula – 1057%Xiomara – 1050%Elisa – 1025%Gwendolen – 1020%Effie – 1000%Yael – 967%Adecyn –920%Waverly – 900%Marcheline – 900%Regina – 880%

Boys

Cael – 13,300%Imre – 7900%Calix – 5900%Linton – 5700%Henley – 4000%Javan – 4000%Uriel – 4000%Hartley – 2700%Caelan – 2400%Peregrine – 2050%Willoughby – 1933%Brice – 1466%Larkin – 1083%Leland – 1050%Rider – 1025%Ptolemy – 1000%Dawson – 775%Lysander – 760%Alasdair – 700%Bruno – 678%Kane – 667%Gage – 650%Geoffrey – 650%Barry – 600%Leonard – 589%

Thanks to nameberry intern Rob Harclerode for research on this piece.