350+ Best Unique Baby Names
- Alabama
Origin:
Place-name; ChoctawMeaning:
"vegetation gatherers"Description:
Alabama is a hot southern place-name, picking up from Georgia and Savannah. This is not a geographical name come lately, though--there have been girls named Alabama dating back well over a century.
- Hiraya
Origin:
TagalogMeaning:
"imagination"Description:
Dreamy name occasionally used in the Philippines. The fashionable "raya" sound may garner some more attention for Hiraya.
- Holsten
Origin:
German or Dutch surnameMeaning:
"dweller in the woods; hollow stone"Description:
Cool new surname option and rarer alternative to Halston, which is skewing more and more feminine. Holsten has origins as a surname in German and Dutch. The German form is a variation of Holstein, from the elements holt, meaning "wood," and sete, "tenant." The Dutch Holsten comes from the place name Hoolsteen, composed of the elements hol, meaning "hollow," and steen, "stone."
- Hartford
Origin:
English surnameMeaning:
"deer ford"Description:
British habitational surname that calls to mind the Connecticut capital
- Maxima
Origin:
Latin, feminine variation of MaximusDescription:
Max names were one of the hottest trends for boys in the mid-2010s, and are still very popular. The girl versions haven't seen so much love, unfortunately. (Or fortunately, if you love them and want them to stay rare!) Maxima got some attention in 2015 when Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan used it for their daughter, but few parents have copied them.
- Zenna
- Night
Origin:
Word nameDescription:
An ubercool and mysterious name, brought to you by director M. Night Shyamalan.
- Yomi
Origin:
JapaneseMeaning:
"land of the dead"Description:
The Japanese word for the land of the dead. It's not quite Heaven nor Hell, although it more closely resembles the latter. It's also the name of a video game, which is likely why five baby girls were named Yomi one recent year.
- Kestrel
Origin:
English, bird nameDescription:
A kestrel is a bird of prey. It has good potential as a strong girls' name, similar to Falcon for boys.
- Tavi
- Poe
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"peacock"Description:
Hip new middle-name choice, conjuring up the gothic tales of Edgar Allan, and current single-named pop singer Poe.
- Omni
Origin:
MormonMeaning:
"all, universal"Description:
The name of a prophet in the Book of Mormon, coinciding with a Latin prefix meaning "all, every".
- Crusoe
Origin:
Literary surnameDescription:
Crusoe, as in castaway hero Robinson, is a literary invention by author Daniel Defoe. The character says his name is an Anglicization of the German Kreutznaer, which may be a place name or mean a crossing of the river Nahe. Short form Cru was given to nearly 50 boys in a recent year.
- Harvest
Origin:
English word nameMeaning:
"the season for gathering in agricultural crops"Description:
Harvest has been occasionally used as a name since the eighteenth century, originally as evenly unisex, though it tips a bit in the girls' direction in the contemporary US. Given the rise of such popular baby names as Harper and August, plus new word names from Heaven to True, Harvest sounds more possible now than ever.
- Girasol
Origin:
SpanishMeaning:
"sunflower"Description:
Girasol is a Spanish nature name, meaning "sunflower." As sun-related names — such as Soleil, Sol, and Sunny — heat up, we may see more of Girasol.
- Raffaella
Origin:
Italian variation of Hebrew RaphaelaMeaning:
"God heals"Description:
Raffaella is the Italian form of the lovely name Raphaela, the female version of the angel's name Raphael, gorgeous in any spelling or international variation. Raffaella is one of the most appealing Italian baby names for girls.
- Maui
Origin:
Hawaiian, Polynesian mythologyDescription:
The name of the second-biggest (and third-most populous) island in Hawaii was one of the fastest-rising boys' names of 2017. A major factor was surely Dwayne Johnson's character in Moana, the Polynesian demigod named Maui, a mythological trickster who slowed the sun to create the days. (It fell back to normal levels in the following years.)
- Yates
Origin:
EnglishMeaning:
"gate"Description:
A preppy English surname. Newscaster Megyn Kelly used it as a middle name for her son in 2009.
- Hodge
Origin:
Variation of Roger, GermanMeaning:
"famous warrior"Description:
Hodge is a medieval English nickname for Roger, which was brought to England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Roger isn't ready for a comeback yet, but we'd love to see the resurgence of Hodge, which never was a common choice in the US.
- Miara
Origin:
Jewish surname, meaning unknownDescription:
Miara is a Jewish surname that has sparingly been used as a first name since the 1990s. It is likely of Mizrahi Jewish origin — from North Africa and the Middle East — and evidence of the surname goes back to at least the 19th century.