Only 16 Babies in 2020 England and Wales

Santana

Spanish, condensed form of Santa Ana

Santana is a saintly name...or Latin rock band. While traditionally masculine, character Santana Lopez on the show Glee showed the name's potential for a girl as well. Sound-wise, it feels like…

Althea

Greek

"with healing power"

Althea is a poetic, almost ethereal name found in Greek myth and pastoral poetry, associated in modern times with the great tennis player Althea Gibson, the first African-American to win at…

Hester

Medieval variation of Esther, Persian

"star"

The disgraced heroine of The Scarlet Letter 's name, after long neglect, just might have a chance at revival, following in the wake of sister-name Esther. We've characterized her elsewhere as an…

Eunice

Greek

"good victory"

Eunice is a New Testament name of the mother of Timothy, long associated with one of the Kennedy sisters, the founder of the Special Olympics. As high as Number 106 in the early 1900s, it lasted on…

Montana

Spanish place-name

"mountainous"

Overly trendy western place-name, as stated in the title of our book Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana.

Harriette

Harriette is a feminine name of Germanic origin, a diminutive form of Harriet, which itself is a feminine version of Harry or Henry. The name means 'home ruler' or 'ruler of the household,'…

Elma

Diminutive of Wilhelmina, German and Dutch

"resolute protection"

Historically a diminutive of Wilhelmina, Elma's parent name and soundalike sisters are slowly stirring back to life as the trend for vintage baby names continues. With Alma on the rise in the US,…

Etty

English diminutive or names ending with 'etta' or 'ette'

"little"

Ettie or Etty works as a nickname for any name with a prominent "et" sound, usually at the end: think Henrietta, Juliette or Colette. The -ette ending is a French diminutive suffix.

Posy

English

"a bunch of flowers"

A sweet, nostalgic nosegay kind of name, Posy has been long fashionable in England, a country of gardeners, but this pretty bouquet-of-flowers name is still rarely heard in the US, though it could be…

Tiggy

English diminutive of Antigone, Greek

"worthy of one's parents, in place of one's parents"

An energetic nickname name occasionally encountered in England, particularly among Telegraph-reading circles. It is traditionally short for Antigone, but nowadays it's just as often bestowed as a…

Estera

Polish, Slovak, Romanian and Lithuanian form of Esther

"star; myrtle"

Ranking in the Polish Top 200, Estera is a variation on the classic Esther. Possibly deriving from Ishtar, the Near Eastern Goddess of fertility, love, and war, or from Persian, to mean "star",…