These are the rarest baby names in the UK at the moment

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, who found themselves one of the 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 2020, 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 2020 there were hundreds (and we mean hundreds) of names that were so rare, they were only given to three babies in England and Wales that year. Given the sheer volume of unusual baby names on the list, we've picked one from each letter for the alphabet for boys and for girls to save you ploughing through the list, but more importantly, to get your creative baby-naming juices flowing.

Here goes:

The rarest girls baby names in 2020:

1. Aerith

2. Bloom

3. Cyan

4. Delphina

5. Evita

6. Fox

7. Gray

8. Hetvi

9. Ixia

10. Junie

11. Kyomi

12. Loveday

13. Malibu

14. Nyala

15. Otillie

16. Pebbles

17. Quratulain

18. Rune

19. Stevie-Lou

20. Tessie

21. Umi

22. Vinisha

23. Wyllow

24. Xaria

25. Yuki

26. Zylah

The rarest boys baby names in 2020:

1. Arlyn

2. Bronte

3. Cyprian

4. Drake

5. Elya

6. Finch

7. Gruff

8. Huxon

9. Izac

10. Joules

11. Kielan

12. Lowe

13. Muse

14. Newton

15. Othello

16. Phaedon

17. Quinten

18. Rozario

19. Spike

20. Tyde

21. Uri

22. Vitaly

23. Wynter

24. Xion

25. Yuvi

26. Zyeon

And just in case you were interested in the rarest names from the years before, in 2018 and 2019, for some more inspiration - we've left those ones right here:

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

The rarest girls baby names in 2019:

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 2019:

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

You Might Also Like

• A ranking of the very best hair straighteners - according to our Beauty Editors

• Best party dresses to shop in the UK right now

• 11 products you'd be mad to miss from the Net A Porter beauty sale