Unique Girl Names: Uncommon, Unusual, Cool

A distinctive word name or a short form of the Italian Bonaventura, Venture could make a bold choice, similar in style to Journey, Story, Valor, and Worthy. While it has yet to rank for girls, it has been given to around 10 boys each year since 2020.

Made famous by Gossip Girl character Epperly Lawrence, Dan and Blair's boss at W Magazine.

Gwyniveth feels as if it could have stepped out of Arthurian, however, it is in fact a compound name, combining the Welsh element gwyn with Iveth, a French variation of Yvette.

A pretty and intriguing elaboration of Gal — made internationally famous by Israeli actress Gal Gadot.

The name of Noah's wife, a daughter of Rake'el (his father's brother), according to Jubilees 4:33 of the Old Testament Apocrypha. It may mean "mother of Sarai".

Gidget was the surfer girl who started it all. She was the subject of six novels by Frederick Kohner, and the 1959 film in which she made her theatrical debut, starring Sandra Dee, helped make surfing a popular sport.

A Puritan-esque virtue name with religious undertones — referring to being cleansed of evil spirits. For the bold namer, the built-in nicknames Liv and Livy feel approachable.

This name of a Buddhist goddess, a possible alternative to the trendy Maya, was chosen for their daughter by Laura Dern and Ben Harper. Jaya is simple yet unusual, a winning combination, and one of the out-of-the-box goddess names as well as one of the most easily translated Hindi names for girls.

Zippy and multicultural, Sarika can be considered a pretty nature name, referring to a myna bird in Hindi and Sanskrit and to a blackbird in Khmer (or Cambodian). In these contexts, it would be pronounced as SAHR-ka (Sanskrit) and saw-ree-GAW (Khmer).

A rare name from the Old Testament, Zebidah appears in the Bible as the wife of King Josiah and the mother of Jehoiakim. While it has yet to see widespread use, Zebidah combines a number of current trends: a spiky letter Z, a lesser known Biblical option, and boyish-nicknames-for-girls, including Zeb, Zebbie, Zippy, Ziggy and Zed — though Zadie and Zia could be others.

In the Bible, there is a reference to the Kerith Ravine, where God told Elijah to hide in order to be provided with water during a drought. There is also a Kerith in the James Michener novel The Source. A soft and gentle and very unusual addition to the category of biblical place names.

Kizzy was a character in Alex Haley's Roots; this and other Keziah variations were widely used among enslaved people. In Roots the name is explained by the hero Kunta as 'you sit down' or 'you stay put' in the Mandinka language meaning that 'this child would never get sold away'.

Intriguing combo of elements.

The Kazakh form of the Turkish name Aylin, an elaboration of ay meaning "moon". It is also used as a Norwegian variant of Aileen and as a Chinese combination of Ai and Lin.

If Erykah Badu can name her son Seven, why can't you name your daughter (or son) this? Eleven has recently gotten a lot of attention via the character on the TV show Stranger Things.

Like Silver, Golden is a shimmering, metallic color name, similar enough to the likes of Arden, Eden, and Gwendolyn that it might not over dazzle. It could work as an unexpected route to the vintage nickname Goldie or a less floral alternative to Marigold.

Not to be confused with the Aria/Arya name family, Arja is a variation of Irja, which ultimately is derived from Irene.

Deren is a name that could easily cross borders — and who wouldn't love it, with that whimsical meaning?

Unfamiliar Asian choice that can work for a parent in search of something really different.

Isela is a name used mostly by Mexican and Spanish-speaking parents, perhaps in honor of actress Isela Vega. It's believed to come from the Nahuatl word icel, meaning unique or only.