Unusual Baby Names: Top choices under the radar
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:
girls
Heading In
Aurelia 250
Wren 250
Mercy 248
Astrid 246
Rory 246
Amalia 244 (though it was on in 2011; we think it will climb back)
Lyra 242
Remi 242
Sutton 240
Mabel 238
Noa 238
Liv 236 (touched the Top 1000 in 2011 and fell back out again)
Margot 235
Ellison 234
Faye 230
Emmeline 228 (though spelling Emmaline climbed onto the Top 1000)
Maren 226
Louisa 222
Gwen 221 (some may doubt that Gwen and Antonia, below, are heading back in, but we love them both.)
Antonia 219
Magnolia 218
Delia 215
Clementine 204
Cordelia 204
Ellery 201
Heading out
Stacy 251
Theresa 230
Penny 227 (though Penelope is rising)
Bonnie 222
Annette 213
Darlene 213
Pamela 213
Maryjane 211
Janet 210
Sally 205
Gretchen 201
boys
Heading In
Garrison 197
Baylor 195
Cortez 195
Ephraim 193 (is the world ready for a new generation of baby Ephraims?)
Royal 193
Grey 184
Lachlan 183
Bishop 182
Thatcher 179
Otis 178
Miller 178 (On the Top 1000 in 2011 but dropped off. We think it will resurface.)
Judson 177
Taj 172
Azariah 171 (see Ephraim and Enoch)
Canaan 170
Ford 170
Keller 170
Langston 168
Ulysses 165
Bode 163
Cormac 163
Stetson 163 (talk about a cowboy name!)
Magnus 158
Duke 154
Heading out
Gordon 194 (but we love this!)
Irvin 193
Clarence 190
Glenn 178
Ralph 178 (Love this too! Or at least I do; Linda, not so much)
Gerard 170
Dale 162
Norman 153
Photo by Elena Kalis. See more of her beautiful pictures here.
Want names that are much more unusual? Then look for the new Nameberry e-book, The Nameberry Guide to Off-the-Grid Baby Names, coming very soon to the new Nameberry Store!