Help me avoid a common name!!

[rusmum]

Hello. I named my daughter Ruby Mae 4 years ago, when this name was still quite unusual, However it is now No2 on 'the list'. I hate this fact!!!!! I want to aviod this with number 2 due in July. I fancy Oskar but fear this may go the same way (Eastenders!!).and nave no girl ideas at all. Any ideas for unusual but not wierd names!!

hello...
i had my second child 11 weeks ago and we really struggled (me and hubby) to find a girls name we really liked and agreed on!
we had a boys name right from the start...Caleb Baden but as with my first child (who by the way is a Leon rex) we just couldn't agree on a name.
in the end my baby was a girl and we called her Mimosa Jae!
different but not too different.

isn't mimosa an alcoholic maxican drink? How very cool! I love it!

someone did tell me this but i only know that Mimosa is a tree/shrub with lovely little flowers (usually yellow but can be pale oink orpink) and apparently it has sensitive leaves!

opps should have said 'pale pink NOT pale oink!

I think I prefer pale oink pixiepins!

Cant remember how I did it but on the national statistics website they have the top names from 1901 which threw up some interesting ones. Number one was Mary. I just love that name - very simple and actually relatively unusual for babies today.

"The list" is helpful otherwise its easy to think you are being very original because you have picked a name that was rare when you were at school - then walk into your first baby group and realise that your original quirky name is actually abit universal. Felt for the mothers at my first baby massage group - only 6 of us and 4 were called Olivia.

yes flowers generally may give you some inspiration... www.give-presents-find-gifts.co.uk/wedding-flowers-meanings.html gives a list of flowers and their meanings...

baby Stephanotis anyone?

I had a Great Aunts called Ivy and Myrtle (although Myrtle hated her name and changed it to Winnie!)

Oh and family/friends who are primary school teachers are pretty useful for letting you know which names are over used. Around here every boy baby is called either Thomas or Jack and that is not an exaggeration.

you need to read the complete works of shakespere- that'll give you inspiration! Cordelia, Harriet, Portia etc for girls.

DH and I googled our chosen name for DS (first name and surname) and came up with a gay porn star. But we still went with it!

I reckon you would be safe as houses with any of the following:
Janet
Janice
Susan
Derek
All those Victorian and Shakespearean names are big or getting big. ditto French, Italian, Celtic. Go for an ugly 70s name, it is the only way

But I bet there are very few Colins about these days. Some more:
Gordon
Gerald
Trevor
Terence

Marius

i know a marious and ds4 was shortlisted similar (not disclosing incase of ds5!)

i know a marius and ds4 was shortlisted similar (not disclosing incase of ds5!)

darius?

My little girl is called Ida Blue - her first name was top of the lists at the turn of the century. I didn't want a 'popular' name but didn't want her to be an oddity either! So now she can be plain Ida f she likes or add the Blue if she's a pretentious teenager (like I was) The Blue bit of her name comes from my favourite Bob Dylan song.

So yeah, worth looking into old top tens of names!

I know a Marius but he is always 'Maz'.

Marius is a South African name for Mark, like Johan is for John

My father is Marius, and I think it's fab. We went for an old English name and were peeved when an Eastenders character appeared a year or two later with the shortening and up the popularity stakes it went! However I think the only thing you want to watch for are the "names of the year", it doesn't really matter if a name becomes common a couple of years later. We knew six or seven other lads with dh's name at university, and it really wasn't great. I have never met anyone with my name, and although I love it it is a pain always spelling it. Having said that I work in a very multicultural environment, so spelling names out is not in any way unusual! I think a happy medium is good. Generally avoid names from your grandparent's generation, as those are likely to be coming back into favour.

My dd is Harriet (shortened to Hattie) fairy unusual was number 77 on the list the year before she was born. Have come across two other Harriets since mine was born. My niece is Kezia and I have only come across one other Kezia. I know a girl called Apphia (pronounced a-fee-a) Couldn't think of anything unusual for a boy so went for Edward with ds. So rusmum has the thread given you any good idea's so far?

We agonized over whether to call our DD Zama - which means 'tranquil' in Sanskrit. At the last moment we bottled it as we thoughtit sounded like an Indian restaurant, and called her Priya which is pretty common but means 'beloved' so we're OK with it. Now we've got DD no2 on the way and the only name we have on th list is Zanti which means 'joy' in Sanskrit. BUT it's also a Greek island (diff spelling admittedly) - does this matter?? Does Zanti sound a bit like calling your child Fifi or Pixie??

i love Xanthe

my bOys are Sven, Yannic and Flynn, none of thsoe names have become common