Baby Names So Far Out They're In

A thirteenth-century Tuscan saint, patron of homemakers, Zita is the kind of name that sounded really creative in an earlier era.

This jazzy old name could make a comeback, the way Josephine and Ella have. In England the name was popularized by Queen Victoria's daughter Princess Louise Caroline Alberta, after whom her governor general of Canada husband named the North American province. Jazz singer Alberta Hunter was a noted bearer.

Mabli is the sweet Welsh form of Mabel; like its English cousin, it’s starting to make a modest comeback in Wales as part of the trend for vintage baby names from a century ago.

Quitterie is a quirky saint’s name which is considered très chic in France at the moment. St Quiteria was a 5th century virgin martyr who was killed after refusing to renounce her Christian faith in order to marry.

Short, simple, gentle, undeniably Welsh but easy to spell and pronounce – there's a lot to like about this underused gem. In the States it's been almost exclusively female, perhaps due to the greater familiarity of Gwen, but it definitely feels like a candidate to reclaim for the boys.

Pim is traditionally a male nickname in the Netherlands, but its relative obscurity in the US would allow you to get away with using it for a daughter.

This buoyant name has the same bouncy rhythm as Rafferty and Barnaby, but is virtually unused. It has plenty of literary cred, too: characters in The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter and Thomas Hardy’s The Return of the Native have all borne the name.

The name Esca appears in Rosemary Sutcliff's 1954 historical adventure novel The Eagle of the Ninth, which is set in 2nd century Roman Britain. Esca is the name of a freed slave who accompanies his ex-master Marcus Flavius Aquila on various adventures. He was portrayed in the 2011 film adamptation The Eagle by English actor Jamie Bell.

An attractive North Carolina unisex place name, Raleigh's soft sound is particularly appropriate for a girl.

Upper-crusty nickname occasionally used in Britain, particularly in 1930s novels featuring significant garden party scenes, but eclipsed here by Carrie et al.

Scottish actor Dougray (born Stephen) Scott made us aware of this name when he took on his French grandmother's surname as his stage name.

Pascoe was popular in medieval times and is definitely deserving of revival, especially for a child born in the Easter season. Other spellings are Pasco and Pascow.

Madelief is an uncommon name but not unheard of in the Netherlands, where 123 girls were called Madelief in one recent year. With its soft sounds and similarities to all those "Madeleine" type names as well as names ending in "eef/eev" sounds (Aoife, Eve, Genevieve), Madelief has potential in English-speaking countries to be a fresh and pleasant change from Daisy, Margaret and Madeleine.

Rarely used surname, associated with humorous poet Ogden Nash.

The original Zooey, hero of J.D. Salinger's Franny & Zooey, was male, but nowadays the name is more closely associated with actress/singer Zooey Deschanel. With Zoe at number 31 for girls and Zoey in the Top 50, the related Zooey feels more female than ever. But it's distinctively quirky for either sex.

An interesting and attractive bicultural choice--the Hebrew version is used for babies born in spring, when turtledoves arrive--especially as a middle.

Magenta is a vivid Crayola color name, that could make a vivid, colorful choice. It was named in 1859 after the Napoleonic Battle of Magenta, a town in Northern Italy.

The kind of serious old-school name that sounds appealing again; perfect for the intrepid baby namer. More commonly spelled Rosamund but highly unusual these days in either version, with fewer than 20 baby girls named Rosamund in the US last year while Rosamond didn't even register with five.

Annis and Anice are both antique variations of Agnes that have fallen out of use, perhaps because of pronunciation problems (ANN-is, or an-EES?)

A classic variation of the name Isidore, both Isadore and Isidore were equally popular at their peak in the 1910s. They were historically used among Jewish families — Isidore and Isadore were often used as Americanizations of Jewish names such as Israel and Isaac.