101 unique names

Fairly popular a hundred years ago but out of the US charts since 1978, the quirky yet edgy Roscoe feels very much in step with the trending o-ending boy names popular now, such as Milo, Hugo, and Otto. A Top 1000 choice in the UK (albeit near the latter end), it could make a cool alternative to Ross, Russell, Robert, and Ronan.

Archer is an Anglo-Saxon surname that feels more modern than most because of its on-target occupational and Hunger Games associations. And it's a nice way to bypass the clunky Archibald to get to the cool nickname Archie.

Rugged but gentle at the same time, Cassian is a saintly and stylish choice that was derived from the name Cassius. Before 2017, it was an obscure choice, given to a tiny handful of boys each year. As of 2023, however, it's become one of the top ten fastest-rising names in the US, more than doubling in usage since 2022 and edging closer towards the Top 500.

Bennett is Ben with a bow tie, kind of a cross between Benjamin and Beckett. It's been trending up on the popularity charts in recent years, and its choice by The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's Jane Krakowski could shoot it even higher.

Magical and powerful, but gentle and approachable too, Emrys is a Welsh name which may be worth considering if you're looking for something less common that Dylan, Evan, or Morgan. An offbeat epithet of the wise wizard Merlin, it's currently in the Welsh top 100 and in the England and Wales Top 500 over all.

Orion is a rising star, with both mythical and celestial overtones.

Shepherd is an occupational surname with a pleasant pastoral feel. It was chosen for their son by the Jerry Seinfelds, which might inspire others to follow their lead.

Emmeline is an Emma relative and Emily cousin that is destined for greater use in the wake of the megapopularity of those two names. A recommended Nameberry fave, Emmeline hopped onto the US Top 1000 in 2014 for the first time ever. While it is genuinely an old name, it was rarely used a century ago; only 17 baby girls were named Emmeline in 1915, the same number as were named Ernie!

Cecily is as dainty as a lace handkerchief. Cecily has a wide assortment of namesakes. One Cecily was the mother of King Richard III, whose beauty gained her the title "the Rose of Raby," Cecily Parsley is a Beatrix Potter bunny, Cecily Cardew is a character in The Importance of Being Earnest, and the author of the Gossip Girl books is Cecily von Ziegesar.

Macho to the max. But with the rise of x as a fashionable letter anywhere it appears in a name, ala Jaxson or Maxon, we may be hearing more of Axton.

Linnea is an attractive Scandinavian name that derives from the renowned 18th century Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who developed the Linnean system of classifying plants and animals.

Popular in the first half of the 20th century, Leland briefly fell out of favor in the late 90s. After a short break from the US charts, it returned in the mid-2000s, with actor Brendan Fraser choosing it for his youngest son, possibly making it feel cool again. Given to around 500 boys each year, Leland is in the Top 600.

Leif is one of the most recognizable Scandinavian names, thanks to Icelandic explorer Leif Erikson, and is still one of the best, with a pleasant aural association with the word leaf.

A quaint and quirky flower name, until recently considered a bit too prim for most American classrooms but brought back to life in recent years by the attractive character of Primrose "Prim" Everdeen in the Hunger Games series. In the Top 300 girl names in England and Wales and on Nameberry, Primrose remains rare in the US, but is made more accessible by a raft of sweet nickname options, including Rosie and Posy.

A name with some sterling qualities, most associated with the British currency and silver markets. Sterling has several recent TV associations, with characters Roger Sterling (on Mad Men) and Sterling Archer (on Archer), and actor Sterling K. Brown (on This is Us).

Effortlessly cool with a hint of the mystical, Phoenix rolls a lot of trends into one: it's a place-name and a bird name, it ends in the stylish letter x, it's got in-built nicknames, and it's unisex too. Familiar but not over-popular, Phoenix ranks in the US and UK Top 1000s.

Calla is a botanical name that is much more distinctive than popular Lily or similar Callie. Rarely heard today, it did appear in the popularity lists in the last decades of the nineteenth century.

A locational surname with its origins in the North of England, occasionally also used as a first name. Notable bearers include actor Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things) and author and filmmaker Dacre Stoker, the great-grandnephew of Dracula author Bram Stoker.

Cosette is best known as the heroine of Les Miserables. In the Victor Hugo novel, Cosette was the nickname given to the girl named Euphrasie by her mother. Although Hugo invented the name, some etymologists believe it's a spin on Colette, originally a female short form of Nicolas.

Meadow's upward popularity trajectory certainly suggests that the name has transcended its connection to The Sopranos.. In the US, more than 750 baby girls were named Meadow last year, a number we expect to keep rising.