Nameberry's Favorite Unique Names

As all good Anne of Green Gables buffs would know, Avonlea is the fictional Canadian town created by L. M. Montgomery that Anne Shirley considers home. The literary creation inspired a real Canadian town to adopt the name. Avonlea would make a lovely literary choice for any baby, and would fit in with the Ava and "-lee" naming trends right now.

Both a place name and a masculine given name in the Old Testament.

A smooth and velvety Gallic choice first heard here as the heroine of the movie "Chocolat."

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.

A spin on Calia or Calla, with a lot of fashionable sounds.

Lush and unusual.

Modern name based on the Latin for "sun", with a bright and pretty sound.

A distinguished English and Irish surname, probably deriving from the Old Gaelic name Fearsithe, meaning "man of peace". It's also possible that the surname derives from a place name now lost to history, in which case the meaning would be "fairy meadow" or "fairy mound", from Gaelic fer "grass" or for "hill, mound" plus sithe "fairies".

This romantic, ethereal name sounds straight out of Arthurian legend but is in fact a modern hybrid of Guinevere and Lili.

A name with a less conventional animal meaning, rescued by the reputation of the Greek courtesan Phryne (more beautiful than Aphrodite, one of the wealthiest women in classical Athens) and the charming character Phryne Fisher from Australian author Kerry Greenwood's detective series Phryne Fisher's Mysteries, set in the 1930s. In the series Phryne is a wealthy Melbourne woman, but goes beyond her class and gender stereotypes - she can fly a plane, drives her own car and sometimes wears trousers. However, while displaying bohemian panache, she manages also to maintain style and class. With the Greek pronunciation of the name (FREE-nee), Phryne could be an alluring, unique alternative to Phoebe, although most English speakers would default to the FRY-nee pronunciation.

Rarely used on its own and irrevocably tied to former House Speaker Gingrich -- who was christened Newton.

A fairly common Hebrew name without much crossover potential.

Inessa is a truly multi-cultural name, heard in Spain, Germany and Russia, and is related to the names Agnes and Ines/Inez.

Voltaire is the nom-de-plume of François-Marie Arouet, who became noted for his witty and satirical takes on enlightenment philosophy and Western society. Voltaire's most famous work, Candide, used satire as a vehicle to advocate against religion, monarchy, greed, and for tolerance, freedom and reason. It is said that his moniker was a variation of his sister's family nickname "le petit volontaire" (the determined little thing).

In Greek mythology Asterion is the name of the Minotaur — also called the Minoan Bull — who lived in the Labyrinth in Crete. Asterion was the child of Poseidon and the queen of Crete.

Sunshine was seen as a quintessential hippie name of the 70s, reaching as high as Number 536 in 1975. Now such names are making a bit of a retro comeback, seen, for example, as a character on Glee.

Unique and unusual as a nickname and a stand-alone name, Loie is a vintage choice worth reviving. It is traditionally used as a short form of Lois and Louise but would work as a nickname for any Lo- starting name, or even names such as Laura, Eloise, and Charlotte.

A prominent character name from the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, derived from an Arabic word meaning "(water) droplet" ⁠— Katara belongs to a water tribe.

An attractive Irish surname that is used more often among girls — likely due to the feminine associations with Kerry.

Embroidered lace hankie of a name, used in a Thomas Hardy novel. That literary cred lends some gravitas.