Rare names

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What are the most rare first names of the people you knew? My great uncle has a wife whose name is Domicela - here it's one of those extremaly rare names the existence of which you don't realize until you encounter someone who has one. I know also someone from my school whose name is Darina - my comment on it is the same as on the former one; the difference is that it is similar to the name Daria which is relatively rare but everybody knows it. I like Darina though as for Domicela, I can't decide if I think it's pretty or ugly - now I think it isn't that ugly as I thought it to be earlier but I don't find it pretty. In my elementary school class there was a boy named Alan - this name classifies somewhere between rare and very rare; the only person besides him I heard that he had it is a little son of one of our celebrities. I also used to know twin sisters named Gracjana and Roksana (Gracjana is very rare, Roksana - rare but more common). I also remind two girls whose names were Elwira and Aldona - also rare, especially Elwira, and obsolete, fitting rather someone from their mothers' generation.

Alan is a very common name in the UK and I believe France too. I knew a girl named Persephone, pronounced per-se-fo-nee, never met one before nor since. My grandaughters are named Ria, Honey and Jaya. A friend has a niece named Matty.

I once knew a girl named Winter. I thought it made a beautiful name.

PS... Alan is pretty common here in the US.

Here Alan is very uncommon. The Jaya name (if pronounced as yaya) means here "eggs" or "balls" (only in the slang for testicles meaning). Here when you say "to make eggs out of someone/something" it means the same as when you say "to pull someone's leg". I also had a girl in my class named Anita which is a relatively rare name in Poland (the only Polish person besides her named so I heard of is, but for some small mentions, only some Polish politician who is famous for her statement that "only fags wear red socks" ) and this Anita girl had a sister named Sandra which is rare and slightly pretensious here. I think Sandra came to be given a bit more often in the generation of younger children than when I was born. My cousin's husband has a bf whose name is Ernest - also rare and obsolete, for a guy in like his 50's while he's about 35.

Last edited by Irulan on 23 Jul 2010, 11:46 am, edited 2 times in total.

It's generally pronounced Jay-uh in the US.

I have a good friend named Temple, which I always thought was unique until I was diagnosed with Asperger's and started reading about Temple Grandin. It's still a rare name but I have since run across another Temple. Interestingly, both the Temples I know are in Arizona, where Temple Grandin has spent so much time. I wonder if she is somehow the inspiration for the name (probably indirectly).

I wouldn't say Persephone is that unusual. I mean, it's not often seen as a regular name, but it's a commonly known Greek goddess.

I knew a little kid who went to my old school called Thor.

My own name's reasonably uncommon, and I hope people don't start copying Wayne Rooney's kid's name and make it less so.

Recently I also read in a web article on people raised in an orphanage about a girl named Artemida (a name of the goddess, more commonly known as Artemis) - I never thought such a name exists besides the mythology; I wouldn't be surprised if she was the only one in Poland.

I also read an article on a girl named Greta (I didn't know this name is given in Poland; well maybe once or twice I saw this name in a calendar with names many years before) who was punished by the law for her being in an incestuous relationship with her own dad.

In the past I knew a boy named Ścibor on a summer camp - a VERY rare, old slavic name. The only time I ever heard it before was when as a child I read a book with the fantastic stories which took place somewhere before the 10th century.

In kindergarten I knew a girl named Jagoda who was a year younger than myself. Jagoda means "berry".

We have also a famous swimmer in Poland whose name is Otylia. It's an uncommon name as well. It fits an old lady rather than someone of my age but it isn't strikingly obsolete so it doesn't sound strange for someone of this age group - it's just really rare and was not much less so in the actual old ladies generation; it was just given much more often than now.

I have a distant cousin whose name is Róża which means "rose". Here it's uncommon, a bit pretentious and fitting someone older as well. My grandpa's sister was Róża too but she died as a result of childbirth complications together with the baby when she was, I believe, 29. She was a teacher and it was her first child. The only people of this very name I know of are my cousin's probation officer and a fictional character from a famous book series for teenage girls, Jeżycjada by Małgorzata Musierowicz (it was I think, translated into English).

I have also a relatively distant cousin whose name is Ksenia.

Last edited by Irulan on 23 Jul 2010, 12:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I have welsh relatives with names such as Godfrey, Wyn, and Trebor, As well as that theres also names like Jervis and Abednego

Jaya is a Hindi name meaning Winner or Victorious.

I have a nephew, Cai. My wife has a nephew Kai. I have a cousin Cai. Of approx 350 people in my year at secondary shool there were 3 Cai's. We have a security guard at work named Kai.

My brother has a cat named Algenon.

I knew a guy named Q. That's right, just the letter Q. Apparently, it's a Star Trek reference.

I named my now deceased hamster Balthazar.
My younger sister is named Sybil.

Ringo is a pretty unusual name.

vada

I think I'm in love with his parents. lol

I like the name Rustam, which is pretty rare.