Adelyn to Riplee: Unique Baby Names From the Year You Were Born

Baby name trends are a real, albeit mysterious, phenomenon. Throughout time, certain names rise in popularity and become ubiquitous before falling back into obscurity. Although these ebbs and flows are influenced by some identifiable factors—one of the most obvious being pop culture, with names inspired by celebrities, literary characters, and even politicians—it is difficult to pinpoint all the different circumstances that contribute to naming trends.

Diverse Baby Names on the Rise

Names like Liam, Noah, Emma, and Olivia have topped the Social Security Administration's list of the most popular names in the U.S. since the early 2000s, but many expectant parents instead seek out more unique options for their little ones. In fact, there is evidence that baby names have become more diverse over the past 100 years, according to a study published in the journal Proceedings: Biological Sciences. At the turn of the 20th century, 91% of babies had names that fell among the 1,000 most popular; however, by the year 2000, that dropped to 86% or fewer babies who were given one of the top 1,000 names.

To honor some of the parents who've dared to be different over the years, Stacker looked at names in the SSA's baby names database from 1950 to 2022, highlighting one of the least common names from each year. Least-used names are defined as those given to only five babies that year, the lowest count included in the database. There are many different names meeting this criteria, so the names included in this list were chosen at random from the available options.

Keep reading to learn more about the origins and meanings of unique names from the year you were born, along with notable figures who have shared some of these rare monikers in the past seven decades.