The top 25 names are known by every parent in the waiting room. But in the 200–400 range, there are names that have all the qualities of the top names — good sounds, clear meanings, distinguished histories — without the ubiquity. Your child will meet one or two others with these names, not six.
Here are the hidden gems from 2024 SSA data.
Girls: Hidden Gem Names
Arabella — #206 (1,476 babies)
Arabella is one of the longest and most elaborate names currently in use — five syllables, Italian origin (from Latin orabilis, easily entreated; or a medieval form of Amabel). It has the kind of name that takes up a whole first-grade introduction: "Hi, I'm Arabella." That's part of its appeal. Doctor Who has a character named Arabella; Downton Abbey associates it with Edwardian femininity. At #206, it's distinctive without being unusual.
Wren — #213 (1,442 babies)
Wren — the small, fierce North American bird. One syllable, entirely complete, climbing fast (it was #400 as recently as 2018). Wren has the same quality as Eve, Dawn, and Fern: a single-syllable nature word that works perfectly as a name. It's an outlier in the current naming environment — almost all the top 200 names are two to four syllables.
Dahlia — #240 (1,300 babies)
Dahlia — the flower, named for the Swedish botanist Anders Dahl. The Black Dahlia murder (1947) has cast a shadow over the name for decades, but that case is now 75+ years old and its cultural salience has faded. Dahlia as a flower name is climbing for the same reasons that Violet, Iris, and Poppy are: botanical names have a vintage quality that feels current.
Maisie — #255 (1,241 babies)
Maisie — Scottish diminutive of Margaret (from Gaelic Mairead). Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones' Arya Stark) has been the primary celebrity bearer since 2011. The name is warm, informal, and thoroughly Scottish — which gives it the same cross-Atlantic feel as Isla, Rory, and Callum.
Ophelia — #261 (1,215 babies)
Ophelia — Shakespeare's most tragic female character (Hamlet). Until recently, Ophelia was the paradigm case of a name too weighted by literary association to be used easily. Now it's at #261 and climbing — parents are choosing it precisely because of the literary weight. Shakespeare's Ophelia is tragic but visually striking (the drowning scene; the Pre-Raphaelite paintings); the name has more cultural depth than most names in the top 500.
Thea — #348 (893 babies)
Thea — Greek goddess name (Titaness of sight and light; mother of Helios the sun god). Also used as a short form of Theodora, Dorothea, or Anthea. Two syllables, completely clear, lovely sound. At #348, Thea is quieter than it deserves to be — it has the same clean elegance as Nora, Clara, and Vera.
Esme — #345 (901 babies)
Esme — French/Persian (from esmer, esteemed, or from the Old French esmé, loved). Esme was introduced to American parents largely through Twilight's Esme Cullen (Carlisle's wife). Unlike many Twilight names, Esme has sustained itself well — at #345 eleven years after the franchise ended, it's the name that benefited from the pop culture moment without being defined by it.
Elodie — #371 (839 babies)
Elodie — French form of Alodia (from Germanic ala, foreign, + od, wealth; related to melody). Elodie sounds like a word that should mean something musical — and the sound is striking: EH-lo-dee, three flowing syllables. It's common in France and is crossing to American use through the French-name trend (the same wave that brought Delphine, Margot, and Sylvie).
Astrid — #383 (818 babies)
Astrid — Old Norse (áss, god + fríðr, beautiful): divine beauty. Astrid is a Scandinavian royal name (Queen Astrid of Belgium; several Norwegian queens) and was used across the Viking world. It's distinctive in the American naming landscape — sounds Scandinavian and strong without being hard to say.
Colette — #400 (789 babies)
Colette — French feminine form of Nicholas. Also the pen name of the French author Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1873–1954), who wrote Gigi and Claudine. The Pixar film Ratatouille (2007) features Colette as one of its main characters. Colette has a precise French-intellectual quality: sophisticated, slightly serious, distinctly itself.
Boys: Hidden Gem Names
Oscar — #217 (1,656 babies)
Oscar — Old Norse (Ásgeir, god + spear) or Old Irish (Osgar, friend of deer). Oscar is the prestigious boys' name that feels like it should be in the top 50 but isn't. Oscar Wilde; Schindler's List's Oscar Schindler; the Academy Award named Oscar; Oscar the Grouch. The name is top-5 in several European countries (Ireland, Spain, Sweden). The US is behind.
Atticus — #277 (1,223 babies)
Atticus — Roman cognomen (from Attica, the region of Greece); most famously Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1960). Atticus is the most specifically literary boys' name currently climbing. It was essentially unused before 2000 — #1,429 in 2000 — and is now #277. The Go Set a Watchman controversy (2015) briefly caused a dip when Harper Lee's Atticus was portrayed more problematically, but the name recovered. Now it's a name with philosophical and legal weight.
Tobias — #280 (1,210 babies)
Tobias — Hebrew (Toviyah, God is good). Tobias is the full form of Toby, and at #280 it's at a similar level to where Theodore was before its revival. The German and Dutch tradition (Tobias is common in Germany; Tobias Fünke on Arrested Development) has kept it present. It has exactly the kind of multi-syllable vintage-revival quality that Theodore, Sebastian, and Atticus share.
Orion — #323 (1,061 babies)
Orion — the hunter constellation; Greek mythological hero. Orion has been climbing steadily with the mythology and astronomy naming trend. It's more distinctive than Atlas (#101) and more recognizable than Rigel or Altair. Three syllables, strong vowels, clear meaning.
Rhys — #353 (946 babies)
Rhys — Welsh, from rhy, ardor or enthusiasm (related to the Old Welsh rhethu, to rush). Rhys is the clearest example of a Welsh name crossing into American mainstream use. Jonathan Rhys Meyers; Matt Rhys (The Americans). The pronunciation (REES) is non-obvious from the spelling, which may limit some parents; but for those who know it, it's a name with significant distinction.
Sullivan — #339 (1,011 babies)
Sullivan — Irish (Ó Súileabháin, dark-eyed). Sullivan has been climbing since around 2010. It has a natural short form (Sully) that feels warm and contemporary. Sully from Monsters, Inc. (2001) has probably helped. At #339, Sullivan is genuinely underused given its qualities.
Desmond — #368 (888 babies)
Desmond — Irish (Deasmhumhain, of South Munster; a place name that became a family name). Desmond Tutu; Desmond Hume from Lost (one of television's most beloved characters, 2004–2010). Desmond has an Irish/African historical weight and a warm -nd ending that places it in the same family as Edmund and Raymond.
Wilder — #390 (830 babies)
Wilder — Old English (wildēor, wild animal) or the surname of a family "from the wild." Billy Wilder (the director); Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka). Wilder is the frontier-nature name that's arriving as the successor to Hunter and Archer — it's climbing faster than either, and still below #400.
Wells — #375 (865 babies)
Wells — English place name/occupational name (a person who lives near a well). H.G. Wells. Wells is the Wells Fargo banks as an American surname made familiar; now it's being used as a given name. Short, strong, slightly unusual — the place-name adjacent to Hayes and Brooks.
What makes a hidden gem?
The names on this list share qualities:
- A clear pronunciation (even if the spelling is unusual, like Rhys)
- A defined cultural reference or meaning that parents can explain
- A distinctly individual sound without being invented
- Current upward momentum — these are names climbing toward mainstream, not declining toward obscurity
The sweet spot for a truly distinctive name is approximately rank #200–600: present enough to feel like a name rather than a word, absent enough that your child won't share a classroom with four of them.
Explore: Arabella · Wren · Ophelia · Thea · Oscar · Atticus · Rhys · Orion
Data: SSA 2024 US release. All ranks are within-sex.