Uncommon baby girl names

[PlanBea]

Hi Mumsnetters,

Baby girl is due in August, and is currently nameless. The top pick name is Elodie which we love, but the rise in the 'El's puts me off this a bit especially if people are likely to nickname her Ellie and she's one of 10 in her class. When DS was born, we were going to use Erin if he was a girl, and while we still like it I'm not as in love with it as I was.

Other names we like (but probably not enough as a first name)
Violet
Clara
Imogen
Paisley
Madeline - unlikely to use this as I'm not keen on something with lots of spelling variants
Zara
Autumn

I lean towards names with a touch of uncommon but still easy to spell and pronounce as my name is one people don't immediately know how to pronounce. I'm not worried about picking something 'rare' but also not a top 10 name. Due to surname beginning with an O I don't want to use B or H for the first name and give her the initials BO or HO!

My DD is called Wren

Eloise
Esther
Marguerite
Kerenza
Celeste

Zara

Nina

Marni/ Marnie is awful!

Lauren ?
Marianna ?

I work in education and have known children with all of the names in your OP in the last year. I find that vintage names and 'kooky' names (Ellodie, Winter, River, Edith, etc) are very over used atm. The amount of parents I speak to who think they have chosen the most crazy kooky unusual child's name and it's just Arlo, Arthur, Jackson or Lilly-Mae!

The safest bets are names more popular in other countries- Cora, Celeste, Valentine, Lois, Dorothea are less likely to be used in England. There's also an option to look at names in other languages and find the Anglicised version. Sylvie, Magda, Angelica, Marta for example are anglicised popular Polish names. Also, look at names that were popular 20-30 years ago, less likely to be used now by the current generation of mums, so could be unusual. https://www.babycenter.com/baby-names/most-popular/top-baby-names-1998

Melody?

I love Zara and Imogen from your list.

On similar levels of 'uncommon-ish but reasonably well known names':
Asha, Anika, Alanna, Adele, Amy, Anya
Bronte, Belinda, Bryony, Bethan
Clarissa, Calista, Cassia, Cerys, Carys, Cleo, Cherry, Claire
Daniella, Diana, Damaris
Elora, Evadne, Erica, Effie, Esther
Fenella, Fern, Fleur, Faye, Faith, Fiona
Giselle, Gemma, Gretel, Giovanna
Hester, Honor, Hebe
Iona, Ingrid, Inez
Jacinta, Juniper, Joelle, Juno, Jessamy
Kiki, Kate, Kendra, Kerry, Kirsten, Kiran, Karensa
Liara, Lorna, Leonie, Larissa, Lara, Lux
Marta, Mirren, Meredith, Miranda, Marianne, Melinda
Nicole, Naomi, Noelle, Nova, Nadia, Nadine, Natasha, Natalie, Noa
Opal, Octavia, Ondine
Pippi, Pandora, Paloma, Payton, Paige
Quinn
Rowena, Rowan, Robyn, Remy, Romy, Romilly, Rhiannon, Ria
Saffron, Sorrel, Sadie, Saskia, Susannah, Stella, Samantha, Stephanie
Tamara, Tanya, Thea, Tamsin, Taryn, Tegan, Tara, Tessa
Una, Ursula
Verity, Vanessa, Vivianne
Winona, Willa, Wanda
Xanthe, Xenia
Yvette, Yvonne, Yolanda
Zia, Zeryn, Zillah, Zelda

@PlanBea I like some of your shortlist, but here are my suggestions - Calypso, Sibylla, and Venetia.

Saskia
Daphne
Cleo
Vera
Flora
Romy
Tessa

Leoni
Matilda
Leona
Tia
Josephine
Noelle
Joelle
Serenity

In passing, I saw an actress on IMDb who spelt it Klio. I did think it was...um...interesting.

I love the more unusual classical Greek historical names/names from the myths like Calypso. Artemisia is one I especially like. I once taught a girl with Greek heritage called Europa. Her sister's name, which I can't remember off hand was just as interesting. I must admit, some names like Elephantis you'd think twice about.

I'm not keen on the more common Greek names like Helen or Penelope as they were done to death by my generation's parents.

Elodie is beautiful, but your concern about the "El/Ellie" trend is valid—Ellie is very common now. If you're after something familiar but not overly popular, here's a few that align with your list and preferences:

Similar style to Elodie but less common:

Anya – simple, elegant, easy to pronounce.

Celeste – soft and pretty, uncommon but known.

Liana – feminine, not overused, unlikely to be shortened.

Daphne – classic with a quirky edge, easy to spell.

Romilly – elegant, underused, and fits the Elodie vibe without the Ellie.

Seren – Welsh name meaning “star,” pretty and rare in England.

From your maybe list, Zara and Autumn stand out as both stylish and not too common. You might also like:

Mira

Sylvie

Cleo

Thea

Coralie

If you still love Elodie, you could firmly use the full name and gently discourage “Ellie” as a nickname. It’s totally fair to set that tone early on.

I like Zara and Elodie.

Others ..
Ebony
Gidget
Claire
Camilla
Victoria
Cate
Louisa

Elodie is beautiful and it’s not one I’ve really heard since having my 3yo (but I’m in Cornwall and the popular names do actually seem to vary here).
Clara I love too (and my favourite from your list of other names), but have heard a fair bit more. Actually, I’ve heard most of the other names a lot more than Elodie.
Cleo a lovely suggestion too.

Clara is beautiful
Clea also. My choice for girl, had 2 boys.
Clea also the most beautiful person I ever taught in secondat school

Amaryllis
Linnet
Damaris
Venetia
Jonquil
Jessamine
Allegra
Felicity
Cassandra
Verity
Artemis
Lucasta

Gaia (GO?). Eliza. Also like Clara.

Elowyn

My DD is Cecily - Cici as a nickname. I’m biased obviously, but I think it’s a beautiful and unusual name!

Vivienne
Viola
Ada
Enid
Serena
Naomi
Gabrielle
Ellette
Rosalind
April
Hazel
Jasmine

Not really sure what you mean about El names being popular...I have 2 children in infants and know of one Ellie and another Ellie-May, but both from different circles and in different year groups. It's not something I'd be concerned about. Elodie is lovely and I wouldn't automatically think that El or Ellie would be a nickname...just call her Elodie all the time and it will stick.

Have you ever been to Paisley? Please don’t….

As an ex teacher I can tell you that none of these are unusual.