These Are the Rarest Baby Names in England and Wales at the Moment

Photo credit: Tatyana Tomsickova Photography - Getty Images

For lots of parents-to-be, the most important brief on the 'what to call my baby' agenda is that the name has to be rare. Particularly for people who grew up in the 80s and 90s, and who were one of numerous Emmas/Jessicas/Sophies in their class, there may be a subconscious (or very conscious) desire to pick an unusual name for their child that no-one else is likely to have.

But tracking down rare baby names is a tricky business. We're flooded with information about the most popular names (avoid Oliver and Olivia if uncommon names is your thing) but it's harder to work out the monikers hardly anybody is giving to their child.

To help you out, we have dug into the depths of the ONS' (Office for National Statistics) most recent data, for babies born in 2019, to find out what was on the lower end of the popularity scale. These aren't names that have dropped in popularity so to speak, but are names that are simply more unusual by definition or have a unique spelling of a familiar-sounding name.

In 2019, there were just over 3,000 names that were so rare, they were only given to 3 babies in England and Wales that year. Because 3,000 unusual baby names would be a long old list to plough through, we've picked one from each letter for the alphabet for boys and for girls, to get your creative baby naming juices flowing.

Here goes:

The rarest girls baby names in the UK:

1. Aphia

2. Blanche

3. Celestia

4. Dominique

5. Edeline

6. Floella

7. Genie

8. Harloe

9. Ismay

10. Jessa

11. Kirsten

12. Lela

13. Mildred

14. Nicolette

15. Odessa

16. Piya

17. Quin

18. Romana

19. Soliana

20. Teal

21. Umi

22. Vala

23. Winnie-Rose

24. Xara

25. Yohana

26. Zeeva

The rarest boys baby names in the UK:

1. Alexi

2. Bart

3. Cheston

4. Dermot

5. Eliah

6. Finian

7. Griffith

8. Hadrian

9. Itan

10. Jones

11. Kiefer

12. Lorenz

13. Mortimer

14. Nash

15. Orien

16. Pete

17. Quaid

18. Raiff

19. Scout

20. Tobiah

21. Usher

22. Vance

23. Wilbert

24. Xavion

25. Yotam

26. Zhi

And just in case you were interested in the rarest names from the years before, in 2017 and 2018, for some more inspiration - we've left those ones right here:

The rarest girls baby names in 2017:

1. Adalaide

2. Breya

3. Clemmie

4. Delphie

5. Eugenia

6. Franca

7. Geneva

8. Hennessey

9. Israella

10. Joules

11. Kinley

12. Lorie

13. Meriel

14. Noomi

15. October

16. Prue

17. Quincy

18. Reeve

19. Sunday

20. Tulip

21. Umi

22. Vayda

23. Wahida

24. Xyla

25. Ysabella

26. Zephyr

The rarest boys baby names in 2017:

1. Axton

2. Bowe

3. Colm
   

4. Denby

5. Emory

6. Ferris

7. Grae

8. Hansel

9. Iden

10. Jacobus

11. Kent

12. Lowan

13. Mathis

14. Niles

15. Osten

16. Phileas

17. Quintus

18. Reese

19. Sairus

20. Thibault

21. Ugo

22. Volkan

23. Whittaker

24. Xan

25. Yonas

26. Zayde

The rarest girls baby names in 2018:

1. Aubriella

2. Brienna

3. Cadie

4. Demetria

5. Edwina

6. Forest

7. Gessica

8. Hendrix

9. Indra

10. Juna

11. Kensa

12. Lissy

13. Maura

14. Nessa

15. Orchid

16. Petal

17. Quynn

18. Rosabel

19. Sawyer

20. Tansy
    

21. Uzma

22. Verona

23. Waverly

24. Xiomara

25. Yanna

26. Zyla

The rarest boys baby names in 2018:

1. Arco

2. Bane

3. Carey

4. Dougal

5. Elwyn

6. Falcon

7. Godfrey

8. Hart

9. Inder

10. Jade

11. Kass

12. Lancelot

13. Morley

14. Nero

15. Otter

16. Psalm

17. Raff

18. Stanton

19. Tidus

20. Vir

21. Walt

22. Yonathan

23. Zante

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