Unique baby names: how to find a rare name you'll still love

Unique girl names

Uncommon but easy to say and spell — the sweet spot for most parents.

• ✦ Liora
• ✦ Wren
• ✦ Isolde
• ✦ Marlowe
• ✦ Seren
• ✦ Odessa
• ✦ Juniper
• ✦ Elowen
• ✦ Thea
• ✦ Saoirse
• ✦ Imogen
• ✦ Calla

Unique boy names

Distinctive without feeling made up.

• ✦ Caspian
• ✦ Ezra
• ✦ Lachlan
• ✦ Thaddeus
• ✦ Ronan
• ✦ Idris
• ✦ Bastian
• ✦ Cormac
• ✦ Emrys
• ✦ Anselm
• ✦ Zephyr
• ✦ Tobiah

Unique unisex names

• ✦ Rowan
• ✦ Sage
• ✦ Ellis
• ✦ Arden
• ✦ Remy
• ✦ Indigo
• ✦ Lennox
• ✦ Shiloh

How to tell if a name is really unique

A name can feel rare to you and still be in the top 100 nationally. Check official baby-name statistics for your country (in the US, the Social Security Administration publishes yearly rankings). A name outside the top 1,000 is genuinely uncommon.

Also say it out loud with your surname, imagine it on a job application, and check that the initials don't spell anything awkward.

Search by origin, meaning and era

The NamesYouLove baby name finder has thousands of names you can filter by gender, origin (Irish, Hebrew, Japanese, Sanskrit and many more), faith tradition, meaning, era and starting letter. Set Popularity to "Rare & unique" to skip the names everyone else is choosing, and pick "First + middle name" to see full combinations.

• ✦ Rare names from old family trees often feel fresh again.
• ✦ Nature and mythology names are popular sources of unique picks.
• ✦ Shortlist 5, then live with them for a week.