124 Super-Unique Baby Names You Won’t Hear on the Playground

Are you, too, exhausted by the Emmas and the Graces and the Caden/Jaden/Braden trifecta? Do you yawn (discreetly, of course) at the mention of the latest crop of Liams and Olivias? Surely there must be something else out there to name your child — something no other parent has scooped up yet? Please? Well, your baby-on-the-way might be a good candidate for a seriously unique baby name.

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Researchers at Nameberry (oh, yes, this is a thing — baby name research, y’all) have compiled a list of totally unique names. So unique, in fact, in the entire year of 2016 none of these names were even used once for newborns. So take that, Liam! Nameberry scoured this list of overlooked names (there were 5,000 to start) and whittled it down to 124 very unusual top picks.

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Be warned: These baby names are wacky. They’re not for the faint of heart, and there’s no guarantee they’ll stand the test of time. But, hey, there’s no guarantee your homemade craft beer will stand the test of time either. And you know what? Some of these are downright cool. We say: Live boldly! Name that hipster baby with abandon!

Here’s the list (with a few editorial comments from us to help guide you through the minefield).

For the girls:

1. Acantha (Flower? Poisonous snake? We don’t know, but we bet she’d rock Warby Parker frames at an early age too.)
2. Araminta (Future soprano in a traveling opera troupe?)
3. Artemesia (Why not just Artemis? Because the “-esia” lends that je ne sais quoi and slight nod to the wonders of modern anesthesia, clearly.)
4. Bee (Not Bea. Bee. As in Bumble. But skip the Bumble.)
5. Bluebell (An unfortunate choice this would be for a child who hates scampering in meadows.)
6. Branwen (Like Bronwen, except with more fiber in her diet.)
7. Calico (No comment. Not even a meow.)
8. Capucine (A delicious frothy drink or a frothing rabid monkey: You be the judge.)
9. Ceil (One of our editorial staff had an Aunt Ceil who sent her $2 bills wrapped in Christmas foil. So we are totally rooting for a slew of future Aunt Ceils.)
10. Chandra (Is it SH-andra? CH-andra? KH-andra? This is a child who will swing from chandeliers or candelabras if given the chance.)
11. Christmas (Welp. Maybe not the best choice if you’re Jewish or Buddhist.)
12. Cia (The spunky younger sister of angsty Sia.)
13. Circe (Dudes, pretty sure this is a witch. But, hey, maybe a hipster witch, so go for it.)
14. Coralia (Ooh, we like Coralia. Not as depressing as Coraline the movie. Coralia would selflessly scrub the invalid neighbor’s laundry on one of those 1930s corrugated tin laundry things.)
15. Daffodil (If you can deal with “Daffy” being your kid’s go-to nickname, have at it.)
16. Dancer (One of Santa’s reindeer and a real bear of a name for any uncoordinated little girl. Tread with caution.)
17. Diablo (You guys. You know that means “devil,” right? How cocky do you have to be to tempt fate like that?)
18. Eluned (EL-ew-ned? E-looned? No, seriously, we’re baffled too.)
19. Endellion (Pretty sure that is not really a thing, just a collection of vaguely French mouth noises.)
20. Eulalie (Have no idea how to pronounce it, but there’s something kind of quaint there. Thumbs up.)
21. Fifer (Play that funky fife, Fifer.)
22. Finola (Ooooh, this is the first name of a British soap star who started in the ’80s. Yeah, we’re that old.)
23. Franny (Meh. Not terrible, not great.)
24. Freesia (A bush! Great for landscapers’ offspring.)
25. Frostine (Oh, now. Elsa and Anna’s forgotten sibling? A low-carb frozen dessert treat?)
26. Grania (Midwest elite with access to wheat fields for photo shoots? This one’s for you.)
27. Hester (Likey. Old-fashioned as all get out, but solid and unflappable too. Hester gets the job DONE.)
28. Ianthe (If she does not grow up to be willowy and 5’10” and an avid reader of Greek mythology, things could bode poorly for this child.)
29. Jericho (For a girl? Really? M’kay.)
30. Jessamy (This one, with that soft Jessa start? Yeah, this one might have legs.)
31. Jocasta (Vague feeling this was someone very, very naughty in some myth somewhere. Again, tread with caution and do your research.)
32. Kalindi (Cultural misappropriation or random syllables pulled out of a Scrabble bag? We cannot say for sure.)
33. Kerensa (Almost rhymes with the very popular item of ’70s furniture, a credenza. For this reason, hard pass.)
34. Leocadia (Strong! Fierce! Lion-themed nursery is a must.)
35. Letitia (Stiff upper lip, this one. Will insist on cress and cream cheese sandwiches by age 5.)
36. Louisiana (Crawfish is a difficult nursery theme to execute.)
37. Lucasta (It’s not her fault she sounds like the Roman god of card games.)
38. Ludovica (Do not attempt this without a serious Slavic bloodline.)
39. Madrigal (Singer thing, right? Start the singing lessons fund immediately.)
40. Malou (Skip to Malou. Or you know. Don’t.)
41. Marcellina (If Ross’s monkey had been a girl.)
42. Mazarine (Mazzy is a pretty cute nickname, no lie.)
43. Melisande (Gorgeous, really. Not gonna hate on Melisande.)
44. Minette (Not too out there. Not too French. Not too fancy. Just right.)
45. Morwenna (Angry Celtic goddess making potions under a full moon on the moors?)
46. Nephele (You can’t fool us. This is clearly a body organ, something that dangles off the kidneys.)
47. North (Disqualified: North West and her mom Kim Kardashian West locked this down.)
48. Oberon (Oberon was a dude, peeps. Shakespeare lovers might want to consider for a boy.)
49. Ottoline (Well, no one will grab her monogrammed backpack by mistake.)
50. Perdita (Doesn’t this mean “hopelessly and existentially lost in this lifetime”? No? Okeydoke.)
51. Petronilla (Great to pair with Citronella, should twins run in the family.)
52. Puck (Shakespeare kept his audiences guessing with Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream — the cheeky, lovable elf was never referred to by gendered pronouns.)
53. Remember (No. NO. We do not want to remember.)
54. Rhonwen (For that ancestrally confused family who’s probably German but really wants to be Irish.)
55. Romola (a classic novel by George Eliot, ICYMI)
56. Samoa (Girl Scout cookie or Pacific island? If you like cookies and the ocean, possibly perfect.)
57. Sanne (San? San-NAY? You tell us.)
58. Season (Nice if noun. Weird if verb.)
59. Scheherazade (This child will be a great storyteller.)
60. Signy (Unfortunately close to “pygmy” in terms of rhyme scheme, but why not?)
61. Tally (Acceptable.)
62. Thaddea (Oof. So heavy for a teeny baby girl. The weight of it might crush her.)
63. Undine (A clever, saucy minx who will wind up in graphic design.)
64. Venetia (Italians, you are welcome to this one.)
65. West (See: Kardashian offspring. “East” and “South” are also off the table for you mere mortals.)
66. Whimsy (No. Just… no. You know we speak the truth.)
67. Winsome (See: Whimsy)
68. Zephyrine (When you can’t decide between “Zephyr” and “Something-rine.”)