I am done with my
Rare 2011 Girls Names list, and have found quite a few interesting names I thought I'd talk about. I don't exactly remember what it was like compiling the 2010 list I made, but I do remember it being shorter, although I can't say if it really was. But overall I was very impressed with some of the names I saw.
Gregoria - didn't make the 2010 list, but there were 6 births in 2011. I find this an excellent alternative to Greer/Grier for those who still want to honor a Gregory. Grey would make for a nickname, or Oria.
Aradia - this is the name of a Tuscan pagan witch goddess, supposedly the daughter of Diana and Apollo. She was the subject of
Aradia: Gospel of the Witches by Charles Leland, which Bewitching Names covered
here. She is also the subject of another book:
Tales of Aradia, The Last Witch, by L.A. Jones. By the way, if for some reason I was trying to name the baby of Apollo and Diana, Aradia seems utterly perfect.
Quirky/eccentric names like Snow (13 births), Rue (13 births), Whisper (16 births), Apple (25), Bliss (57), Arrow (5), Sonnet (7), Starling (8), Fable (8), that I see mention of on message boards, but not in real life. I wish there was an SSA list for middle names (separate, of course) so that you could see what middle names were given per year, because I have the feeling these uncommon first names are a lot more popular for middle names.
Viridiana (62 births) - a lesser known saint which I covered
here, along with other rare saint names
Belina (8 births), Sunniva (6), and Attalia (5 births), although I'm sure there were more that I can't track down at the moment.
There were also a few ancient Greek and Roman names, which always pleases me. Artemisia (5), Apolline (5), Apollonia (8), Astraea (5), Amaranta (5), Accalia (7), Anthea (8), and Aphrodite (11) were at the bottom of the A names. Many more throughout the alphabet, though, worth digging up.
Lots of "new" nature names (in comparison to the oldies - Rose, Lily, Fern, Violet). Basil (7), Sequoia (62), Briar-Rose (6), Lavender (34), Berry (5), Cassia (33), Lotus (47), Maple (28), Cataleya (28), Kataleya (10), Cedar (28), Sparrow (31), Cypress (25), Lilac (9), Clover (109), Tigerlily (16), Cayenne (18), Jessamine (8) and Jessamyn (7). I think we were all rooting for Jessamine.
Month names beyond April, May and June - January (24), December (33), September (28), October (54), November. I think these are great, because you can have the nicknames Jana, Ember, Tova, and Nova, respectively.
Ostara - also covered
here by Bewitching Names, this is the name of a Wiccan holiday similar to Easter that did not have any births in 2010, but 5 in 2011.
TV & movie names - Khaleesi (27), Kaleesi (7) from the TV series Game of Thrones (as well as a rise in Aria and Arya), Lumen from the TV show Dexter, Kataleya (10), Cataleya (28) from the movie Columbiana, Cricket (8) from the TV show GCB, and Quorra (25) from Tron, just as a small sampling. Also, Twyla (28) and Twila (27) could have easily been inspired by the Twilight series. There were 30 Twyla's born in 2010 and 15 Twila's, so overall the numbers went up. There's also Evoleth (14), Evoleht (8), Evolet (103), Evolette (19), and Evolett (18), which came from the movie 10,000 BC.
Phillipa, from which we get the nickname Pippa, only made it to 10 births, despite the super-popularity of Pippa Middleton, sister of the now-princess of England.
Lastly, although I could go on much longer, are gemstone names, such as Amethyst (61), Emerald (124), Garnet (11), Turquoise (5), and Sapphire (98), but I don't recall any Citrine or Topaz, and gemstone names are nothing new, although I suspect Garnet and Turquoise are.
