Unique baby names are hard to come by these days, but parents looking to stand out from the Emmas and Jacks are looking for inspo everywhere resulting in some truly original and sometimes crazy names. In fact, you probably don't know anyone with these trending names of 2020 but that may soon change.
Soon you may see Falcon and Williston on friends' birth announcements or maybe your own? (This one from Minted is super sweet.)
We browsed through Nameberry's most unusual baby names for boys and girls and here are 16 rare, exotic - dare we say crazy? - baby names that are among the hottest so far for 2020.
Hanan, up 1000 Percent: Think of Hanan, which means graciousness, as the modern version of Hannah. It's up a whopping 1000 percent in July 2020.
Williston, up 1000 Percent: Not just an oil town in North Dakota, this fresh take on William is taking the maternity ward by storm. Willis (as in) is also up there with a 36 percent rise in July.
Flavio, up 702 Percent: This Latin name for "yellow" or "blond" is gracing birth certificates of blondie babes across the U.S.
Massey, up 603 Percent: This unisex name is on the rise for girls and boys. You could also mix it up with variants like Massie, Masey, and Masie.
Messiah, up 301 Percent: This bold name is trending for girls and means "expected savior or deliverer." Basketball star Allen Iverson likely started the trend with his little one.
Rosaria, up 218 Percent: The Spanish name for "rosary" is trending hard and we like it for a twist on the classic Rose.
Cricket, up 168 Percent: This unisex name is becoming hugely popular for boys. We like it for babes with summer birthdays!
Callen, up 90 Percent: This unisex Gaelic name is trending for girls and means "rock." Yay for strong girl names!
Bruin, up 90 Percent: Whether you're a sports or nature fan this name could be for you. Of English/Dutch origin, the name means "bear or brown." Bear as a boy's name is also up, thanks to celeb moms Alicia Silverstone and Kate Winslet, who both have Bear cubs.
Sabien, up 87 Percent: Move over Damien, there's a new baby name in town. You can also go for the French variation Sabin for a tres chic twist.
Falcon, up 81 Percent: Give your bird a cool name like Falcon and who knows how far she'll soar. Eagle is also up (61 percent) for boys and girls.
Rani, up 81 Percent: For boys, Rani means "my song, my joy" and for girls it means "queen, she is singing." Cute for your little dancing queen!
Lyrical, up 81 Percent: More than 1,000 girls and boys are named "Lyric" each year in the U.S., but this longer musical number is topping the charts this month.
Bas, up 76 Percent: Consistently in the top 10 in the Netherlands, this cool twist on Sebastian is trending for boys in the U.S.
Gem, up 66 Percent: Meaning "precious stone," this shorter version of Gemma is looking strong for short and sweet baby names.
Rorke, up 66 Percent: Meaning "illustrious and mighty" this Irish name is having a 2020 moment and we're loving it.
Does your baby have a distinctive name? Share it with us @BritandCo!
This post was updated in partnership with Minted. Shop Minted to find adorable birth announcements for your baby.
Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.
(Photos via Shutterstock)
Nicole Kidman is, as the kids say, mothering. She's giving fans plenty of movies and TV shows to pick from while we wait for the next seasons of Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers — A Family Affair, Expats, The Perfect Couple (and the AMC intro, of course). Her steamy drama Babygirl, which hit theaters on Christmas Day 2024, is mixing work and pleasure. Pour yourself a glass of wine for this one, folks.
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Babygirl will be streaming on Max starting April 25, 2025. That means you can watch THAT milk scene as many times as you want.
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In Babygirl, Nicole Kidman plays powerful CEO Romy, who's struggling to hold her perfect persona together. Her marriage to Jacob has never provided with much pleasure, despite the fact he's caring and artistic. But when Romy immediately feels drawn to a young intern named Samuel, the two begin a torrid affair.
Filming scenes with Harris Dickinson got so intense, Kidman said she literally had to take breaks. “There were times when we were shooting where I was like, ‘I don’t want to orgasm any more,'” she told the Sun. “Don’t come near me. I hate doing this. I don’t care if I am never touched again in my life!”
But the fact the movie was made by women empowered Kidman — and gave her a sense of freedom. "Doing this subject matter in the hands of the woman that wrote the script, that's directing it and is a really great actress herself — we became one in a weird way, which I'd never had with a director before," Kidman says in a statement. "When you're working with a woman on this subject matter, you can share everything with each other.”
"I really decided in the beginning, I want to make a sexual film, just as sexual as all these films that I've always admired so much," adds writer-director-producer Halina Reijn, "but now I'm going to do it completely through female eyes. What does that mean and what does that look like?”
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In our Brit + Co exclusive, Nicole Kidman revealed she "spent a lot of time in bed" with Harris while filming. (TBH, a job that requires you to hang out in bed sounds like a pretty good job to me).
"As soon as he walked in, I was like, 'Oh good, here's somebody who's gonna play with me," she says. "We spent a lot of time in bed. Hours would go by, and it was like you would step out of there and you would say, 'What just happened?'"
"From the moment [Samuel] sees her, he's attracted to her. He realizes there's someone at the height of their power," Harris adds. "There was an element of mystique that needed to be there for the exploration of the relationship."
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Babygirl made its premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and then opened in theaters on December 25, 2024.
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The cast of Babygirl includes Nicole Kidman, Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde, and Antonio Banderas.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Nicole Kidman revealed Babygirl is the most "exposing" film she's done because she's “made some films that are pretty exposing, but not like this.”
“It left me ragged," she says. "At some point I was like, I don’t want to be touched. I don’t want to do this anymore, but at the same time I was compelled to do it...This is something you do and hide in your home videos. It is not a thing that normally is going to be seen by the world.”
“I felt very exposed as an actor, as a woman, as a human being,” she continues. “I had to go in and go out like, I need to put my protection back on. What have I just done? Where did I go? What did I do?”
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"Babygirl" is a term of endearment that's usually applied to a man (you've probably heard it describe Pedro Pascal or Paul Mescal). When someone is giving babygirl energy, they're kind, cute, and disarming. And considering Babygirl plays with power dynamics, we might just find ourselves guessing who the "babygirl" in question is up until the very end.
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There were SO many moments in the Babygirl trailer that made our jaws drop here:
Are you looking forward to seeing Nicole Kidman onscreen again? We might have to wait until December to see Babygirl, but there are plenty of incredible Fall Movies coming our way.
This post has been updated.
The biggest baby name trends of 2019 include names from new sources around the world and in nature, trends reflecting modern spirituality and nonbinary ideals, an F and a U, and a goodbye to a longtime favorite group. Here are Nameberry’s predictions for the 12 leading trends shaping baby names in 2019, along with name examples for each trend.
1. Biggest Big Picture Trend – Global Names: As the world gets smaller, the pool of names becomes larger, with new names from ever-more-diverse origins entering the global lexicon. At Nameberry we’ve added thousands of new names from around the world: Maori names and Xhosa names, ancient Greek names and South American Indian names, Korean names and Israeli names. With the appetite for meaningful and unique names expanding all the time, parents are looking for original choices with deep roots.
Example names: Acacius, Aroha, Cyrene, Jedda, Kiran, Lautaro, Lior, Niabi, Sena, Walken
2. Newest Gender Bend – Nonbinary Names: Parents who want to raise their children free of gender stereotypes are looking for names that are truly gender neutral. That means no names that end in son like Madison and no names that were originally boy or girl names that have migrated to the other side, such as Charlie. And if the names also embody a gender-free ideal such as Justice, all the better.
Example names: Briar, Campbell, Finley, Journey, Justice, Laken, Revel, Robin, Royal, Story
3. Hottest Direction in Baby Naming – East: Names related to Eastern religions and non-European mythology have taken over from biblical names and saints’ names as spiritual favorites. The mainstreaming of yoga, meditation, and non-traditional spiritualism underpins the trend, along with a search for meaning that transcends the name’s surface qualities such as style and sound.
Example names: Asherah, Bodhi, Kali, Lakshmi, Manu, Osiris, Raiden, Rama, Tanith, Zen
4. Coolest New Color Names – Muted Hues: All color names for babies are, well, colorful, but we’re beginning to see a shift in tone as vibrant shades like Scarlett and Ruby and Poppy are giving way to softer pastels. Grey/Gray is starting to replace Blue as a first and middle color name du jour, while popular Violet has been joined by other vintage pale purplish hues. Another prediction: More Crayola names for boys.
Example names: Ash, Fawn, Grey/Gray, Ivory, Lavender, Lilac, Mauve, Moss, Olive, Sage
5. Richest New Nature Names – Rare Gems: For a long time, the most popular jewel names have been those usually assigned to girls — Ruby, Pearl, Amber — all of which came into favor at the turn of the last century, along with flower and other nature names. But one of the most interesting new areas to be mined is the more unusual gem names which can be not only for girls but also for boys (or sometimes both).
Example names: Amethyst, Emerald, Garnet, Jasper, Jet, Onyx, Opal, Peridot, Sapphire, Topaz
6. Latest Vintage Trend – Old-School Nickname Names for Boys: We’re seeing charming vintage boy nickname names like Archie and Alfie and Freddie beginning to join their sisters Millie and Maisie and Josie, but more surprising to us is the nascent revival of early 20th-century faves like Johnny and Jimmy and Billy on birth certificates, names which once were confined to comic strips and old radio and TV shows. Even more startling is the reappearance of some generic/badass appellations now appealing to the hipster sensibilities of celebs and others.
Example names: Ace, Billy, Buddy, Buster, Hank, Ike, Jimmy, Johnny, Sonny, Spike
7. Most Fashionable Consonant – F: For a letter that had been sitting quietly in the shadows for decades, F has suddenly rocketed forward, particularly for boys, and particularly for boys’ names of Irish descent. And then there’s the whole Family Fran, which started to take off after the election to the papacy of Pope Francis and led to the revival of several surprising half-forgotten Fran names. Fashion-forward names starting with F include the following.
Example names: Faye, Felix, Fern, Finnian, Flora, Florian, Frances, Frankie, Frederick, Frost
8. Coolest Vowel – U: U finally gets its turn in the spotlight this year. As a first initial, U is the least-used letter of the alphabet, and it hasn’t featured in any major baby name trends in… forever. But now u — and its “oo” sound — features in many newly stylish names. Is it the influence of little Prince Louis? His unexpected name may have simply upshifted the trend to major.
Example names: Eulalie, Hugo, Jude, Juniper, Louise, Luca, Luna, Reuben, Tallulah, True
9. Trendiest Name Length – Three Letters: Four letters might be a marker of name popularity, a la Number 1 Emma and Liam, but minimalist three-letter names are the sleek, sweet names of the future.
Example names: Hal, Ida, Jem, Kit, Koa, Liv, Lux, Rex, Rio, Van
10. Wildest Middle Name Trend – Animalia: Parents who want to add a touch of fierceness or individuality to more conventional first name choices are turning to the animal kingdom for the wild vibe. As in many other trends, celebs have led the way, starting with Mariel Hemingway’s daughter Langley Fox back in 1989 to the number of more recent starbabies bearing Bear as their middle name.
Example names: Bear, Falcon, Fox, Hawk, Koala, Lion, Lynx, Otter, Tiger, Wolf
11. Trendiest Trend-Related Trend – Celebrity Surname-Names: Celebrities have influenced baby names since the days of Shirley Temple, and surname-names such as Morgan and Carter have been rising since the conservative 1980s. Now those two trends have combined into one megatrend: Celebrity surnames for baby girls and boys. Goodbye, Shirley; hello, Temple.
Example names: Beckham, Bowie, Ellington, Hendrix, Jolie, Ledger, Lennon, Lennox, Monroe, Wilder
12. Trend Ready to Jump the Shark – Em- Names: We predict that baby namers are about to become all Emmed-out when it comes to baby names in 2019. After all, we had Emily in the Top 25 for 35 years, at #1 for 12 of them. Then came Emma, in the Top 25 since 1998, and still reigning in first place. A number of dueling Em- names followed in their wake, and we predict that the consensus is about to be that enough Em is enough.
Example names: Ember, Emerson, Emery, Emilia, Emily, Emma, Emme, Emmeline, Emmett, Emmy
What baby name trend is your fave? Share it with us @BritandCo.
This post was previously published on Nameberry.
(Photos via Getty)
The blue zone diet is undeniably one of the best ways of eating for overall health and longevity. It draws culinary inspiration from the top blue zones around the world (Ikaria, Greece, Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia, Italy, Loma Linda, California, and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica), where people tend to live longer (over 100 years!), often free of any heart disease, obesity, cancer, or diabetes.
Originally outlined by National Geographic Explorer and Fellow Dan Buettner, the blue zone diet is 95% plant-based, with beans, legumes, sweet potatoes, yams, fruits, leafy greens, beets, nuts, and seeds being the #1 priority. High-quality olive oiland whole grains like brown rice and barley are also a huge part of the diet. Blue zone diet recipes widely limit eggs, dairy, meat, added sugar, and processed foods.
Heyday Beans
This flavorful curry recipe loads up on lots of chickpeas to better suit the blue zone diet. Swap the basmati for brown rice, and you'll be set! (via Heyday Beans for Brit + Co)
Midjourney
This dish is packed with so much goodness. From the bed of greens to the heart veggie toppings like olives, tomatoes, green beans, onion, and more, each bite is different from the next, which makes mealtime (especially with the blue zone diet) fun! (via Brit + Co)
Antoni Shkraba / PEXELS
Hummus is super easy to make at home, and it'd guaranteed to be healthy when you know exactly what you're putting into it. This recipe features a nice amount of lemon juice for taste and freshness. Serve with lotsa veg, as per the blue zone diet. (via Brit + Co)
Two Spoons
Salads make some of the best blue zone diet recipes (remember that 95% plant-based rule?), but just because they're salads doesn't mean they have to be boring. This one earns some good zest from baked tofu, homemade dressing, and crunchy veggies. (via Two Spoons for Brit + Co)
Brit + Co
These veggie-laden fries actually taste like what you'd get in the drive-thru. So, if you're searching for blue zone diet recipes that'll fulfill your fast food cravings, this is it. Serve with a homemade sauce to amp up the vibes. (via Brit + Co)
The Real Food Dietitians
Greek and Mediterranean food often qualify for the diet since they're fresh and full of healthy goods. This Greek salad combines juicy cukes, tomatoes, onions, and chickpeas for a refreshing blue zone bite. (via The Real Food Dietitians)
The Edgy Veg
Since blue zone diet recipes tend to limit actual meat, it's crucial to find ones that emulate the meaty, smoky flavors of the chicken, beef, and fish you might be missing. In this dish, oyster mushrooms form a very complex forkful with the help of a homemade marinade. (via The Edgy Veg)
Give Recipe
Beets are one of the top veggies to eat on the blue zone diet, and this dip is probably one of the coolest ways you can prepare them. This recipe earns extra points for including pine nuts and/or pistachios! (via Give Recipe)
Blue Zones
Blue zone breakfasts can range from granolas to fruit salads, but these waffles look like the tastiest option out there. Wheat flour and cornmeal make up the thick batter for a filling morning meal. (via Blue Zones)
Crowded Kitchen
Grains are golden in this diet. Follow this recipe that creates a heavenly blend of couscous and veggies! This would be an excellent option to meal prep so you don't have to worry about cooking down the line. (via Crowded Kitchen)
Earthly Provisions
Beans always win for the blue zone diet! This hearty bowl of chili leverages three different kinds to fill you up and fulfill all your comfort food cravings. (via Earthly Provisions)
Half Baked Harvest
Dark, leafy greens are preferred over lighter ones for the diet because they usually hold more nutritional value. That's why this kale salad is a perfect blue zone diet recipe! (via Half Baked Harvest)
Blue Zones
This quick dinner doesn't skimp on flavor. You'll fall instantly in love with the blend of ginger, garlic, and sesame oil for the sauce that drowns these rice noodles. (via Blue Zones)
A Virtual Vegan
This nutty granola is the ultimate addition to breakfast time yogurt bowls. (via A Virtual Vegan)
Hello Little Home
Virtually any vegetable is roast-able and fitting for the blue zone diet, but delicata squash is great for when you just want something a lil' different. (via Hello Little Home)
Vanilla and Bean
Wether it's for breakfast or a mid-day snack, this hydrating smoothie will never leave you unsatisfied. (via Vanilla and Bean)
The First Mess
This share-worthy recipe expertly disguises white beans in the form of an herby dip topped with grilled 'shrooms. To make it more filling, use toasted whole grain bread as your dipping vehicle! (via The First Mess)
Blue Zones
Sweet potatoes and beans are some of the most recommended ingredients for blue zone diet recipes. In this meal, they team up with some oats and other crucial elements to form some super healthy burger patties. (via Blue Zones)
Half Baked Harvest
Again, dips shine! This hummus is packed with veg – though you wouldn't know it if you didn't make it. (via Half Baked Harvest)
Blue Zones
Shaved Brussels sprouts are the star of this warm salad. Top things off with pickled onions and plenty of nuts for added deliciousness! (via Blue Zones)
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This post has been updated.
