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Unusual Baby Names: Top choices under the radar
Unusual Baby Names: Top choices under the radar
Nov 7, 2024 2:49 AM

  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

  Enoch 192 (see Ephraim)

  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!

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