If your Mom (and Dad) are baffled by your baby name ideas, there’s a reason for that. Baby names that were all the way at the bottom of the extended list in 1957 — a year that saw the birth of many now grandparent-aged people — have become stylish, even popular. So when your parents say they’ve never heard that name you love, you may need to take that literally.

　　Every generation needs to reinvent baby names. Today’s expectant parents aren’t interested in using the names popular when they were born — Jessie and Jason, Melissa and Michael — and they’re really not interested in using names favored for their parent’s generation in the 1950s or 1960s. So Debra, Karen, Richard, and Gary, names well-represented among grandparents, are out for today’s babies.

　　But names that were _un_popular in the Baby Boom era are a different story. In fact, the bottom of the 1957 popularity list is full of names that sound fresh, elegant, fascinating, beautiful today.

　　There are patterns in evidence. Names without a clear gender identification were often relegated to the bottom of the barrel back then, as were ethnic names, surname-names, word names, place names, and ancient names. All these groups are of course well-accepted now.

　　If your parents are eager to talk about baby names but you want to avoid a tussle over the name, share this list with them. All these names were given to only five babies in 1957 but are used for hundreds and in some cases thousands of babies now. What do you think, Mom and Dad?

　　girls

　　Aisha

　　Aracely

　　Argentina

　　Aria

　　Artemis

　　Blaire

　　Callista

　　Camila

　　Carter

　　Cass

　　Chantel

　　Colby

　　Constantina

　　Dabney

　　Daryn

　　Destiny

　　Dreamer

　　Eleonora

　　Elliott

　　Elspeth

　　Emory

　　Eulalie

　　Evangela

　　Fabia

　　Floris

　　Gaby

　　Gaynor

　　Genevra

　　Gioia

　　Haidee

　　Hunter

　　Ilana

　　Indra

　　Jett

　　Jojo

　　Juna

　　Kennedy

　　Kia

　　Kirstie

　　Liberty

　　Maeve

　　Magdalena

　　Maia

　　March

　　Moana

　　Monet

　　Orla

　　Peyton

　　Pippa

　　Poppy

　　Quinn

　　Rue

　　Sasha

　　Shoshana

　　Solange

　　Tisa

　　Tunisia

　　Valentine

　　Zan

　　Zara

　　Zebra

　　Zipporah

　　boys

　　Austen

　　Beck

　　Bowen

　　Branson

　　Brody

　　Camden

　　Chance

　　Coby

　　Cohen

　　Ebenezer

　　Elon

　　Erastus

　　Fisher

　　Gable

　　Harvest

　　Jayce

　　Jenkins

　　Jordy

　　Justice

　　Khalil

　　Kiernan

　　Knut

　　Krishna

　　Lazar

　　Liberty

　　March

　　Marley

　　Marx

　　Merrit

　　Mingo

　　Montana

　　Nevada

　　Obadiah

　　Octavious

　　Osman

　　Pasco

　　Primus

　　Pryor

　　Ras

　　Reeve

　　Ruston

　　Samir

　　Santana

　　Shay

　　Skyler

　　Slater

　　Temple

　　Tennyson

　　Torin

　　Usher

　　Vittorio

　　Wagner

　　Windsor

　　Zac

　　Zachariah

　　Which of these has your Mom ever heard? Which does she like? Which do _you l_ike?

　　If your Mom (and Dad) are baffled by your baby name ideas, there’s a reason for that. Baby names that were all the way at the bottom of the extended list in 1957 — a year that saw the birth of many now grandparent-aged people — have become stylish, even popular. So when your parents say they’ve never heard that name you love, you may need to take that literally.

　　Every generation needs to reinvent baby names. Today’s expectant parents aren’t interested in using the names popular when they were born — Jessie and Jason, Melissa and Michael — and they’re really not interested in using names favored for their parent’s generation in the 1950s or 1960s. So Debra, Karen, Richard, and Gary, names well-represented among grandparents, are out for today’s babies.

　　But names that were _un_popular in the Baby Boom era are a different story. In fact, the bottom of the 1957 popularity list is full of names that sound fresh, elegant, fascinating, beautiful today.

　　There are patterns in evidence. Names without a clear gender identification were often relegated to the bottom of the barrel back then, as were ethnic names, surname-names, word names, place names, and ancient names. All these groups are of course well-accepted now.

　　If your parents are eager to talk about baby names but you want to avoid a tussle over the name, share this list with them. All these names were given to only five babies in 1957 but are used for hundreds and in some cases thousands of babies now. What do you think, Mom and Dad?

　　girl names

　　Aisha

　　Aracely

　　Argentina

　　Aria

　　Artemis

　　Blaire

　　Callista

　　Camila

　　Carter

　　Cass

　　Chantel

　　Colby

　　Constantina

　　Dabney

　　Daryn

　　Destiny

　　Dreamer

　　Eleonora

　　Elliott

　　Elspeth

　　Emory

　　Eulalie

　　Evangela

　　Fabia

　　Floris

　　Gaby

　　Gaynor

　　Genevra

　　Gioia

　　Haidee

　　Hunter

　　Ilana

　　Indra

　　Jett

　　Jojo

　　Juna

　　Kennedy

　　Kia

　　Kirstie

　　Liberty

　　Maeve

　　Magdalena

　　Maia

　　March

　　Moana

　　Monet

　　Orla

　　Peyton

　　Pippa

　　Poppy

　　Quinn

　　Rue

　　Sasha

　　Shoshana

　　Solange

　　Tisa

　　Tunisia

　　Valentine

　　Zan

　　Zara

　　Zebra

　　Zipporah

　　boys

　　Austen

　　Beck

　　Bowen

　　Branson

　　Brody

　　Camden

　　Chance

　　Coby

　　Cohen

　　Ebenezer

　　Elon

　　Erastus

　　Fisher

　　Gable

　　Harvest

　　Jayce

　　Jenkins

　　Jordy

　　Justice

　　Khalil

　　Kiernan

　　Knut

　　Krishna

　　Lazar

　　Liberty

　　March

　　Marley

　　Marx

　　Merrit

　　Mingo

　　Montana

　　Nevada

　　Obadiah

　　Octavious

　　Osman

　　Pasco

　　Primus

　　Pryor

　　Ras

　　Reeve

　　Ruston

　　Samir

　　Santana

　　Shay

　　Skyler

　　Slater

　　Temple

　　Tennyson

　　Torin

　　Usher

　　Vittorio

　　Wagner

　　Windsor

　　Zac

　　Zachariah

　　Which of these has your Mom ever heard? Which does she like? Which do YOU like?

　　

About the Author

　　

Pamela Redmond

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　　Pamela Redmond is the cocreator and CEO of Nameberry and Baby Name DNA. The coauthor of ten groundbreaking books on names, Redmond is an internationally-recognized baby name expert, quoted and published widely in such media outlets as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, The Today Show, CNN, and the BBC. She has written about baby names for The Daily Beast, The Huffington Post, and People.

　　Redmond is also a New York Times bestselling novelist whose books include Younger, the basis for the hit television show, and its sequel, Older. She has three new books in the works.

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