Unusual baby names

[TerraForma]

Hi all, my partner and I are expecting and aren't sure of names yet. We don't know baby's gender yet, so are trying to come up with names for both.
We don't want anything extremely common, and it doesn't even need to be English, it can be a name from anywhere. What suggestions do you have?
So far we have
Aoife (EE-FA) and Elai, but I prefer both as middle names.

[daisypond]

I think Aoife is quite common. I know a few. (I'm in London). Not heard of Elai. You could look at the least common baby names lists someone has just posted, where fewer than 50 babies were called these names.

[Crowdo]

Atala

[TerraForma]

Where I am, I've never met or heard of anyone called Aoife and I'm originally from Nottingham and now in North Yorkshire. The name is Irish.

[TidyDancer]

Agree Aoife is quite commonly heard now. Never heard it used by anyone who isn't Irish though.

[Mammysin]

Saoirse ( Seersha) Irish for freedom
Dara ( dar (as in dark) - ah Irish for Oak

[daisypond]

Yep, Aoife is Irish. The ones I know have at least one parent who is of Irish origin, or in one case a grandparent.

[CherriesInTheSnow]

I really like Fia or Fiadh (Irish for wild/wild deer) but liked Faye better in the end. I still think it's lovely though :)

[ChocolateCrunch]

Eleri
Saskia
Cora
Willa

[CherriesInTheSnow]

I also love Anouk which is quite unusual. As well as Astrid.

[daisypond]

I know a few Saskias, as well, but all are teenagers. I was surprised to see it's not in the 100 most common girls' names for babies. Astrid is mentioned quite often on these boards, so that will be rising in popularity. How about Merle? (French/Scottish/Irish for blackbird), but it is a real name. I've never met a single one, and only know of the actress Merle Oberon.

[BikeRunSki]

Amos
Eliezer
Jabez

Zillah
Kerenza
Jacinth

[Cagliostro]

Astrid will be one of DD2's middle names :)

If a boy she would be Taliesin as DH has Welsh heritage. Just love it!

[EssentialHummus]

I really like Merle ^. I think Israeli names may also be a good shout if you want something unusual but easy to pronounce.

[Skyllo30]

Aoife is more common outside of Ireland now, one of The Saturdays named her child that. It's very popular in Ireland/those of Irish heritage.

[ememem84]

I wanted to call ds (due imminently) Winter or Hedley or Snowden or Helier. All very traditional names here. Dh vetoed all of them. I'm still toying with Thorin but we'll probably go for something more traditional.

[countycouncil]

Wren
Marley

[Smoliver]

If you like Irish names there's...

Niahm/Neve
Fiadh/Fia
Clodagh (pronounced Clo-Dah)
Ailbhe (pronounced Al-va)
Emer
Moira

[AgentCooper]

I know quite a few Aoifes but them I'm Glaswegian with Irish background.

One name I heard recently that I thought was amazing was Fiammetta (Italian for little flame) or Fiamma (flame). Don't know if it sounds awful to Italian ears - lots of Italians I know are perplexed by the current love of Arabella here as they think it's a real old lady name.

[Sugarpiehoneyeye]

Anais
Inga
Estelle/a
Caroline
Lucia
Kim
Zetta
Opal

[DuggeeHugs]

I'll second Anouk - lovely name!

[Keychanges]

Myrtle is a really unusual girl's name. Only know of one person with that name.

[manicinsomniac]

You've got quite a wide brief there. There's an awful lot of relatively unusual names.

Random selection:
Angelica, Astrid, Alyona, Amberley, Bronte, Bryony, Bronwen, Blair, Clarissa, Cassandra, Cerys, Camryn, Daphne, Danika, Delphi, Devon, Elianne, Effie, Eilidh, Everley, Fleur, Faith, Fira, Fallon, Georgette, Giovanna, Gloria, Genesis, Henrietta, Honor, Halima, Hadley, Ingrid, Irma, Iona, Inaya, Jocelyn, Juliet, Jocasta, Jessamy, Katerina, Karensa, Karizma, Kiki, Lorelai, Larissa, Lana, Livia, Miranda, Miriam, Mala, Mika, Natasha, Noelle, Nyah, Noa, Octavia, Ottillle, Odette, Ocean, Paloma, Pandora, Piryanka, Pepper, Quinn, Queenie, Rosalind, Ruth, Robina, Rowena, Sorrell, Susannah, Safiya, Saffron, Thalia, Theodora, Tamika, Taryn, Ursula, Una, Ulrika, Viola, Vanessa, Vashti, Venice, Winifred, Wilhemina, Wanda, Wren, Xanthe, Xenia, Xanthippe, Zia, Zeryn, Zillah

Adrian, Alisdair, Braxton, Brody, Christian, Crispin, Diego, Django, Ezra, Elias, Fergus, Fraser, Gareth, Gregory, Hamish, Hector, Inigo, Igor, Jesse, Joachim, Kester, Kenneth, Lachlan, Lawrence, Malachi, Merlin, Noel, Nikita, Orson, Obadiah, Patrick, Porter, Quentin, Quinn, Robin, Ruaridh, Solomon, Storm, Titus, Talon, Ulysses, Valiant, Victor, Wolf, Wilkie, Xavier, Xander, Yorrick, Yves, Zebediah, Zechariah

[Tealdeal747]

Eldon
Elwood
Malachi
Kai

Emer
Aurelia
Aphra
Caoimhe
Ailish

[Twoevils]

Iola, pronounced Eye-ola or in Welsh it is ee-yoh-la

[Ojoj1974]

My favourite names if j were to have another child...
Boy- Sholto
Girl- Saoirse