Strange baby names come in two flavors.
There’s the bold, daring, but still wearable name. They’re the names we wish we’d thought of first, or kind of can’t believe that no one else considered.
And then there are the names that really raise an eyebrow.
The challenge, of course, is that the line between strange-amazing-cool and strange-wait-what is pencil thin, shifts over time, and varies dramatically from person to person.
But for the calendar 2023? These are the strange baby names given to fewer that ten boys born between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023.
There are some wildly, fabulously different names on this list.
Before we go any farther, a disclaimer: I suspect that I’d quickly com around to many of these names if I heard the parents’ reasons for their choices. One of my kids has a never-in-the-Top-1000 name. My inclination is to defend wildly different names.
And yet, I think there might be some that go a bit too far.
THAT’S A LOT TO LIVE UP TO …
- Almighty
- Archangel
- Believe
- Bravery
- Brilliant
- Casanova
- Charlemagne
- Clever
- Emperor
- Epik
- Famous
- God
- Handsome
- Hero
- Holy
- Icon
- Majestic
- Oracle
- Premier
- Prophecy
- Savant
- Scion
- Stoic
- Success
- Trophy
- Victorious
- Wise, Wyse, and Wysdom
WOULD I WANT TO BE NAMED AFTER …
- Albus
- Baelfire
- Bam
- Beowulf
- Capone
- Corleone
- Dillinger
- Drax
- Elmo
- Gotti
- Lestat
- Manson
- Morpheus
- Rambo
- Thorfinn
- Vader
- Viserys
- Zorro
THIS FEELS MORE LIKE A NICKNAME …
- Bubba
- Bucky
- Buzz
- Clutch
- Crash
- Kidd
- Lefty
- Ringo
- Skip
THESE ARE MAYBE A LITTLE DARK …
- Ghost
- Grim
- Hades
- Lycan
- Morticia
- Nemesis
- Notorious
- Noxx
- Omen
- Rage
- Renegade
- Saber
- Saturn
- Shady
- Soma
- Sullen
- Thorn and Thorne
WORDS THAT MAYBE DON’T QUITE WORK AS NAMES …
- Acai
- Access
- Action
- Bison
- Czar
- Danger
- Dice
- Dominion
- Edge
- Finesse
- Foreign
- Helix
- Neon
- Nine
- Pine
- Preacher
- Rooster
- Theory
- Three
- Trooper
- Truce
- Venture
- Wonder
I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SPELLING …
- Ahnesty
- Aunix and Aunyx
- Broox and Brox
- Chantz
- Cyx
- Jurmani
- Kaige
- Knash
- Knola
- Maxamillion
- Phenyx
- Reignbow
- Ropyr
NOT SURE WHAT TO THINK …
- Audi
- Blanton
- Bru
- Cager
- Coastal
- Damoney
- Fender
- Ferrari
- Givenchy
- Lumiere
- Luv
- Ovi
- Paladin
- Porsche
- Solo
- Sparkle
- Taiga
- Warden
- Wild
No question these are strange baby names, unexpected and even a little odd. But it’s possible they work just fine for the families who choose them.
Also worth noting: these are strange baby names by virtue of how few children receive them. Names like Maverick and Legend might be a lot to live up to, and River and Seven would’ve been truly unusual fifty years ago. But any name can catch on – and if it does, it will automatically leave this list.
Taiga may be from Japanese-American family, because it’s mildly popular as Japanese boy’s name. Depending on kanji they choose, but Taiga usually means “great river.”
Oh, thank you!! Good to know.
I love Beowulf! I am glad someone has chosen it for their child.
Soma actually means pretty and cute in Finnish, but I don’t think it is used as a first name there.
I know a Fender in his fifties! He was named after the guitar, and he’s definitely cool. Very rock ‘n’ roll.
Oh love this! Thanks for sharing …
My son’s name is on your most unusual or crazy name list and he loves his name and always has (he is 18 now). His name is Coriander. I paired His unusual first name with a simple middle name Jay and had intended to call him C-Jay but he was a Cory from day one. I decided to spell his nickname Cori since that’s how the first half of the name was spelled to make learning to spell his name easier I didn’t learn the Cori spelling was a girls spelling until he was 7 or 8 . I set him down and ask if he liked the nickname Cori and gave other nickname options (C-Jay, Andy, Ander ECT ) he said he liked being called cori. I told him there were other ways to spell cori and gave him the options explaining that I had learned the Cori spelling was the girls spelling, he said he liked his name as it was and to this day fiercely corrects any one who spells his name any other way and likes the “uniqueness” of the spelling of his name.
What about rare Bible names like Zipporah? Or do these not qualify as crazy?
My guilty pleasure names are Tesla, Corinthia, and Hosanna.
My son had a preschool teacher named Azucena, I have a friend named Myfanwy, and my bff’s youngest’s middle name is Anemone! I would love to encounter some more of these in the wild!
Excellent lists, Abby. These names are a little wacky for my taste (although I would agree that they would be awesome middle names). Still I like the idea of continuing to expand the diversity of names being used. We need to have room for the crazy names too.