When I was pregnant I loved the name Winslow. I also loved Amos (not below top 1,000, but close). My husband didn’t like either and we had girls. Their names are around 300-400 in popularity pretty consistently and I’ll say it’s nice. People are familiar with the names but they’ve never had a child with the same name in their class. There’s one other child with my older daughter’s name at their school, none with my younger daughter’s name.

Susannah
Willa

Albert

One of my daughters is named Erica, but I also really like Heather. Funny enough, the two names are related - turns out they are nature names.

I realized I left a name off my list earlier in this thread - Renee. Really not sure why that one fell out of favor.

I like the spellings Neal or Neil, but that was probably going to be our boy name if we’d had one

I also adore the name Vaughn, but my husband wasn’t a huge fan

Also considered Connell and Jay

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Evangeline
Theodora
Valentina
Sabine

Only Sabine is outside the top 1000. Valentina is top 100!

I know two Theodoras and three Evangelines. No Valentinas but it feels so in keeping with many of the major trends in girls names (multi-syllabic with multiple nn options, romantic/musical).

Everyone thinks they are being original but even the people picking "unusual" names are following trends. They are just less popular trends! It's the same impulse though. Humans are pack animals.

Ignoring some of the misspellings and well-known but dated names (Dwayne, Sharon, etc.) there are some interesting options here for girls:

Ellery
Annelise
Coralie
Edie
Linnea
Geneva
Lula
Libby
Susannah
Beatrix
Marielle
Cecily
Gillian
Cressida
Corinna
Allegra
Caris/Carys
Zinnia
Aviva
Jessa

Of course, if you want to go more traditional, there's also Erica, Heather, and Lindsey.

Things get a little more unusual for the boys but still some cool choices:

Alder
Cassian
Ansel
Vander
Decker
Vaughn
Leif
Niall
Bram
Mac
Penn
Anson
Lake
Rafe
Eben
Aram
Booker
Gannon
Stellan
Ned

Mabel

You can't go wrong with Mabel. If she's pretty it'll seem like an ironically classic choice. If she's plain and chubby it'll will seem like a sweet appellation for a regular girl from another era--still classic.

Also: Jane. Same reason.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Evangeline
Theodora
Valentina
Sabine

Only Sabine is outside the top 1000. Valentina is top 100!

see also The Rape of the Sabine Women. I wouldn't want to be reminded of that by random literate people.

Anonymous wrote:Modern ears? Is that a special feature of ears, or some sort of upgrade that can be purchased?

LMAO! +1

Cecile

My daughters’ names are both out of the top 1000 and I honestly think they fit in just fine with other names in their classes and activities. They aren’t wacky or ugly or out there. The only complaint I can figure out about my younger daughter’s name is that it seems to be seen more as a mom name now because it was more popular in the 80s/90s, but it has a similar feel to so many of the current top names.

Anonymous wrote:Modern ears? Is that a special feature of ears, or some sort of upgrade that can be purchased?

Are you being intentionally obtuse? Names go in trends, and "modern ears" just refers to the way that some names sound appealing to people now and others sound old fashioned or arcane. But whatever, name your kid Balthazar or whatever. It doesn't matter.

Modern ears? Is that a special feature of ears, or some sort of upgrade that can be purchased?

Anonymous wrote:Charlene
Camille
Liesl
Sabrina
Cassandra

Camille, Sabrina, and Cassandra are all in the top 1000. Cassandra was almost our pick. Love the other two.

Honestly, most names outside the top 1000 sound bonkers to me. I could see them working in specific situations, but when you read a bunch of them in a thread like this, you realize that these names are unpopular for a reason. They aren’t overlooked, they are just too out there and don’t sound right to modern ears.