My Ideas For Unique Girls' & Boys' Names

[BigFatBully]

I don't think I've mentioned on Mumsnet yet but I recently found out that I'm pregnant again!!

We are quietly excited and have the 12 week scan tomorrow.

We are wanting to keep the gender as a surprise for when they come along but we've been toying around with some ideas for unique names. We don't want to follow the crowd, we want a unique name that will also be presentable on a CV when they are older.

These are the names we've thought of so far. We wondered what you all think.

Girls:
Matilda
Lynne
June
Estelle
Martine
Louisa
Elaine

Boys:
Jonas
Antonio
Derek
Norman
Lawrence

Charlotte is about ten now, so I think you’ve missed that peak!

So you want an unusual name but with a classic vibe? Not a unique name eg one you just make up and doesn’t yet exist?

I think Elaine is lovely. Much nicely than Evelyn which is inexplicably popular. It reminds of Anne of Green Gables acting The Lily Maid.

Congratulations!

Girls-
My favourites are Louisa and June - lovely names and I don’t know any little ones with these names, but they don’t feel overly dated.

Matilda is popular round here so might not work to avoid duplicates.
Lynne, Martine and Elaine are dated to me. Estelle is pretty.

Boys-
I like Jonas and Lawrence from your boys ideas. The others really aren’t my taste!

Matilda or Louisa. Jonas or Lawrence. Elaine and June are ok and would bring some cute nicknames. The rest are really quite ugly. Lynne, Derek and Norman are particularly bad. You’re naming a real life person don’t forget. Poor teenage Lynne/Derek/Norman won’t thank you for those awful names when they’re being bullied.
I think we have very different ideas about what ‘unique’ means.

Matilda is the 30th most popular name in the UK. There's loads of them

I like Estelle, Louisa, and Jonas from your lists.

Names I like, inspired from your list ..

Martine
Louisa
Elaine
Matilda
Ester
Amanda

Derek
Lawrence
John
Wallace
Adam
Anton

Girls:
Matilda - lovely but quite popular
Lynne- not keen
June - love it
Estelle - nice
Martine - awful
Louisa- nice
Elaine - no
Boys:
Jonas- sweet slightly popular
Antonio - are you Spanish?
Derek - god no
Norman- no
Lawrence- maybe if you are quite posh

suggestions-
clementine
Delilah
tilly
esther
ovie
topher
lynus

Girls:
Matilda - don’t think this will be unique, it’s quite popular at the moment. Also I think of the Ronald Dahl version and the song, Heath Ledger’s daughter.
Lynne - no. I do know one, older lady.
June - again know one, older lady, could become part of the “old lady name” trend, though. Month names are being trendier I also know of an October (Toby).
Estelle - one at our school (I’m millennial age). Joeys agent from friends
Martine - Eastenders lady
Louisa - Nope.
Elaine - definitely not

Boys:
Jonas - cute, but “brothers”
Antonio - Banderas
Derek - both my grandads name
Norman - NORMAN PRICE! Psycho
Lawrence - Olivier

I like them all, but they're all popular names, just not for the current generation of babies. A lot of them are my mum's friends. Derek was my grandad, and I work with lots of younger Diederik/Dirk/Derik/Dereks so I like it. I live in the Netherlands, so about half of them are my mid-30s peers' names because fashionable English names because fashionable overseas when the English babies grow up (and vice versa). I'd add Neville, Maurice and Carine to your list as having similar vibes.

Matilda- lovely
lynne- no
june- no
Estelle- no
martine- no
Louisa- no
Elaine- no

Jonas- no
Antonio- no
Derek- no
Norman- no
Lawrence- no

you don't have a great list op sorry.

edited to add- these are not unique names!

Unique means one of a kind and none of those names are unique

Out of all of them I like Louise and Lawrence.

Girls:
Matilda - rather popular, too fanciful for my taste
Lynne - going against the grain here, but I quite like it
June - ditto Lynne
Estelle - not keen, can't shake the image of a pensioner
Martine - I would fully expect her dad/granddad to be Martin
Louisa - gorgeous, enough said!
Elaine - despite knowing a young teen named this, it sounds old and unattractive to my ear
Boys:
Jonas - I think it's lovely and a bit different without being try-hard
Antonio - would find a bit odd if not Spanish or Italian. Anthony?
Derek - with kindness, NO
Norman - ditto Derek
Lawrence - fabulous, though spelled Laurence if a given name

Oh, this is a disappointment- nothing unique about those names, I was expecting yoonique spellings.

I think Lynne, June, Elaine, Martine, Derek and Norman are incredibly dated and prefer the Laurence spelling, but appreciate it can be spelled either way. Antonio would be unusual if you didn’t have Italian heritage, but do like Anthony.

Martha and Jonas are the stand outs from your list for me, but….whatever you call the baby will be their name and will suit them. So go for what you like.

.
Girls:
Matilda - nice but common here
Lynne - no
June - Joni instead?
Estelle - love
Martine - no
Louisa - prefer Eloise
Elaine - no

Boys:
Jonas - posh
Antonio - meh
Derek - no
Norman - no!
Lawrence - prefer Leander

Think back to 50's 60's & 70's- name that were popular then,not quite made a comeback- and they will likely be the only one in their class/school

Linda/Lynda/Lindy
Jennifer/Jenny
Jane
Sally
Victoria
Amanda
Elizabeth

Timothy
Adrian
Hayden
Mark/Marc/Marcus
Peter

Mum's got a friend called Janet. I like the simplicity of the name.

I like Jane. There was a Sally in my class at school in the 2000s. I REALLY like Amanda.

Not keen on Timothy
Peter could be a contender.
I quite like Adrian too.

I quite like Carmel too and also Siobhan although we are not of Irish descent.

Not Derek or Norman. Poor kid.

Louisa and Jonas

Be careful of going for ugly names just to be individual. Remember, popular names are often popular for a reason.

there are plenty of lovely, normal names that aren’t in the top 100.

What type of name are you going for? You say unique yet all your names are common just dated. You've imo have chosen quite ugly names. There are millions more 'unique' names out there, that are nicer.

Are you having a laugh or misunderstanding the meaning of the word unique?