When we found out we were having a girl, we were relieved because we had at least a few options on names, where as we were stumped on boy names. After we started discussing it, we decided to add to our top 2 baby names list because we didn’t think this should be a decision taken lightly. DH and I have generally the same taste in names, but most of the names we like seem to be in the top 100 (something that I am against). We both grew up with reletivly uncommon, but classic names, and I would like the trend to continue. My name peaked in the 70s and has decline since then, and his name peaked in the 20s and has been pretty unpoplar since then. Our last name is german, really long (11 letters) and begins with the word “Bad”.
Our top 2 names are [name_u]Quinn[/name_u] and [name_f]Claire[/name_f]. [name_f]Claire[/name_f] after my grandmother, but it is extremely popular at the moment, and I think we want to keep it as the middle name because of that. [name_u]Quinn[/name_u] has been a name that both of us seem to come back to. I wish the names went well together as a combo, but unfortunately they don’t. Other names we like are [name_f]Lily[/name_f], [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f], and [name_f]Norah[/name_f]. All of which are in the top 100.
I’m sure there are plenty of beautiful unique names that I would love, I just don’t know where to start looking besides the name lists on websites (which usually are the top 10/100/1000 for the year)
Well, do be aware that names in the bottom of the top 1000 list or outside of the top thousand tend to be either misspelled or very polarizing (you either love or hate it). Popular names are popular for a reason–they’re pretty and people like them!
Here’s a few you might like
[name_u]Ruby[/name_u]
[name_f]Justine[/name_f]
[name_f]Clarissa[/name_f]
[name_f]Tabitha[/name_f]
[name_f]Wendy[/name_f]
[name_f]Lilith[/name_f]
[name_f]Beverly[/name_f]
[name_f]Corinne[/name_f]
[name_f]Delilah[/name_f]
[name_u]June[/name_u]
If you want a more comprehensive list, you can look at the raw data from the SSA. It lists all the names with the number of times used per year from most commonly used down to only used 5 times that year. It’s in text files that you can download here: Popular Baby Names
[name_m]How[/name_m] about [name_u]Quincy[/name_u] [name_f]Claire[/name_f] nn [name_u]Quinn[/name_u]? [name_u]Quincy[/name_u] is less popular, and sounds cute with [name_f]Claire[/name_f].
I also would try not to be too worried about names being in the top one hundred. [name_m]Even[/name_m] the most popular names of today aren’t nearly as often as names were in years past. For example, [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] was the most popular girl’s name of 2012 and was given to 22,158 babies, while [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] was the most popular girl’s name of 1981 and was given to 57,029 babies. 2012 #25 [name_f]Lillian[/name_f]: 7100 babies; 1981 #25 [name_f]April[/name_f]: 11402. I would be more concerned about how much you like the name, than how unique it is. Because even if you pick a really uncommon name by some fluke your daughter could end up being one of three [name_f]Paloma[/name_f]'s or [name_f]Linnea[/name_f]'s or whatever in her class.