Uncommon baby girl names?

[najs89]

Me and my partner are trying for our first baby, we are very much set on a boys name. However we are really struggling with baby girl names. He wants traditional and I want somewhat uncommon so we are sort of trying to find traditional names but with an unusual spelling or something 😂. I'd just want her to be the only one with her name in the class. He loves Amelia and I'm actually considering it but spelt like Emilia, does it look different enough or does it just look illiterate? I think Emilia is the most common name I'd go for (Sorry for any offence caused😳). Please please please suggest some names. We have to start looking now otherwise our child will be 12 still without a name 😂. Thanks for reading ☺️

Zilpha

Emmeline
Emilina

Emilia is a name (I know two!)

Xanthe
Persephone
Phaedra
Vivica

I wouldn’t say Emilia is uncommon or illiterate-looking - I know a fair few, and its well known to be an Italian name.

Adeline/Adelaide
Marissa
Calliope
Susie (never met a Susie under 40 personally so I’d class that as unusual for a baby)
Mary (traditional and uncommon)
Amabella
Elizabella
Marguerite
Evangeline

Just a random selection of uncommonly used names for you 😄

Emilia Fox - well known actress.

To me, Emilia is just as 'common' (widespread) as Amelia. Both are part of the current popular zeitgeist.

Odette?

I went to school with one (and an Odile, funnily enough, but much prefer the former). She was lovely, and so I have really nice associations of the name.

Athena
Jennifer
Vivienne
Ilaria
Marguerite

Valentina
Verity
Ottilie
Artemis
Astrid
Esther
Ingrid
Iona
Lillian
Cassandra

There are a lot of traditional names that are not commonly used. Maybe something like that could be a compromise. I wouldn't go messing around with spellings....your daughter would have to spend her whole life spelling out her name to people, which, trust me, is very annoying.

Names I'm thinking of are
Dorothea
Theodora
Ottile
Adelaide
Adeline
Agatha
Zinnia
Winnifred
Willa
Thelma
Roberta
Pearl
Ophelia
Meredith
Lois
Laurel
Iona
Honora
Cecilia
Harriet
Gladys
Genevieve

I don't think Emilia looks illiterate at all, because it is a name that already exists and has been around for many many years.

You say you want traditional, but maybe change the spelling, but the problem you will have there is, it will look different written down, but still sound the same when you say the name out loud (so your child could still end up with the same sounding name as another child in their class, regardless of how it is spelt iyswim)

Not overly unusual, but just some suggestions:

Romilly
Briony
Erin
Brooke
Rosina
Daphne
Lois
Estelle
Alana
Elayna
Kelsey
Rosalind
Polly
Juliette
Faye
Liberty
Patience
Delilah
Imogen
Nancy
Saffron
Georgia
Aliyah
Faith
Fern
Vivienne
Mabel
Ruby

Aurelia?

Emilia is a fairly normal name!

Keziah
Kerenza
Thomasin
Zillah
Merriel
Merryn

You’re never going to guarantee that she’ll be the only one in her class - there’s two Elodies in my son’s class, and an Eva-Rose and an Evie-Rose. My son is called Harry (most common name the year he was born) and is the only one in his year, but there are 2 Theodores

Viviana

Kirsty a classic name that is dying out.

Liana - Lee-ah-nuh

Emilia doesn’t look illiterate but it’s commonly used.

Emilia is ranked 36th in the UK so not uncommon. I know several Amelia and Emilias, and plenty of Emily's and Amelies too. All lovely names anyway!

You also aren't even pregnant yet, you have plenty of time and may find once baby is a reality to change your mind completely or naming trends have changed and what is uncommon now is really popular in a year. I knew one Ezra when DD was a baby and thought it was a lovely, unusual name but within a year it was really popular.

This was our taste in names too. We found DD1's name in a graveyard it sounds morbid but I sort of like that we've honoured an old lady somewhere by using her name for our daughter. Might be worth having a potter around some old churches.

Emilia and Amelia are not homonyms (Em-ill-iya v A-meel-iya) so be careful with that one. Also, with all the various similar names (Emilia > Emily, Emma, Emmeline Emmy and Amelia > Amy Aimee and Amelie) it's really quite popular at the moment, has been for quite a while.

Here are some other suggestions:

Melissa, Nerissa, Rosalind, Miranda, Mariette, Amanda, Nicola

Spelling a popular name in a different way doesn't make it unusual.
If you want unusual go with something like
Courtney. Lindsay. Melanie. Rachel.
Kelly. Jemma. Michelle. Deborah. Laura. Amy. Joanne. Pamela Janet.
Clare. Faye. Louise. Nicola.
I doubt you'll find 2 of them in the class

Rachel? Unusual. Not at all. Jemma and Amy are well used too.

Definitely stick with a traditional spelling. My best advice is to buy a baby name book and go through underlining possible names. Some names just don’t suit and I’m not sure many of us would go for baby Gertrude or Fanny these days! Even Pamela sounds very dated. At school we had loads of Susan’s. My DDs had loads of Emily’s and Emma’s and Jessica’s. Names do go in waves of popularity. I liked names few DDs had and you can read which are the most popular 100 names and avoid! Looking through a name book is great though. Such variety!

In DD1's class of 27 there are three Amelias, one Emilia, one Mila, one Mia and two Millie's. Gets confusing lol.

Loving the idea of scouring a graveyard for an old traditional name like a PP suggested.

Emilia is quite popular but it is lovely. How about:

Polly
Susannah
Esther
Lilith

Aurora is gorgeous and uncommon as is Kerenza.

Arabella, Annabelle, Anastasia, Angharad, Angel, Allegra, Athena, Amy, Brielle, Brianna, Cassia, Casey, Donna, Delilah, Deliah, Della, Delta, Doris, Dorian, Esme, Eliza, Elspeth, Elsie, Elenor, Giselle, Gianna, Arianna, Henrietta, Hallie, Hetty, Hadley, Imogen, Genevieve, Kayla, Leah, Layla, Lowri, Leanna, Leanne, Maya, Mila, Natasha, Orla, Penelope, Quinn, Rae, Savannah, Eden, Talia, Thea, Rhea, Willow, Vivienne, Melody, Star, Luna, Nova, Seren, Riley, Shay, Blair, Chelsea, Hazel, Callie, Calliope, Heather, Nicole, Joelle, Ayla, Bella, Rosalie, Theodora, Jemima, Yvette, Yazmin, Yasmine, Lexi, Trixie, Odette, Ottilie, Anya, Nia, Mia, Melinda, Belinda, Tiffany, Kylie, Chloe, Courtney, Kendall, Katrina, Catriona, Catrin, Rhianna, Lois, Tanya, Tori, Summer, Autumn, Winter, Jocelyn, Davina, Darcy, Darla, Jessica, Georgia, Georgina, Paris, Bristol, Atlanta, Mercy, Hope, Faith, Aliannah, Alannah, Aleah, Layne, Megan