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These are the 20 rarest baby names in the UK

Photo credit: Hearst Communications, Inc. All rights reserved
Photo credit: Hearst Communications, Inc. All rights reserved

From Cosmopolitan UK

Fancy making like Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin and calling your kid something er, obscure, like Apple? Couldn't think of anything worse than naming your future offspring Olivia or Oliver (i.e. the most popular baby names in this country last year)?

Then you'll want to feast your eyes on this, a list of the UK's rarest baby names. And there's not a Tom, Jack, Jessica or Sarah in sight.

To draw up this list, Mumsnet took a look at the data from the Office of National Statistics which just weeks ago brought us the most common baby names, and identified the least common choices from 2016. Each name in the following list was registered as a child's first name just three times last year, so it's fair to say they're all pretty unique. So here are the least common names, along with their meanings.

The 10 rarest girls' names were:

1. Adalie

Meaning: 'God is my refuge; noble one'; a variant of Adelaide.

2. Agape

Meaning: 'Love' in ancient Greek.

3. Birdie

Meaning: 'Birdlike'.

4. Noam

Meaning: 'Pleasantness'; a Hebrew name also used for boys.

5. Onyx

Meaning: 'Claw' or 'fingernail' in Ancient Greek; a jet black gemstone.

6. Oracle

Meaning: 'Prophecy'; a Greek name.

7. Sonali

Meaning: "Golden"; of Indian origin.

8. Sondos

Meaning: This one's so rare its meaning is unclear, but it seems to be an American name.

9. Tiger

Meaning: Er, 'tiger'.

10. Yvette

Meaning: 'Yew' or 'Archer'; the feminine version of Yves.

The 10 rarest boys' names were:

1. Ajax

Meaning: 'Eagle' in Ancient Greek mythology; a Shakesperean baby name.

2. Dougal

Meaning: 'Dark stranger' in Gaelic.

3. Henderson

Meaning: a traditional English surname.

4. Jools

Meaning: 'Descended from Jupiter'.

5. Marvellous

Meaning: 'Lovely, beautiful, wonderful'; more traditionally a Nigerian girl's name.

6. Oakleigh

Meaning: 'Meadow of oak trees'; an old English name.

7. Oswin

Meaning: 'God's friend'; of Scandinavian origin.

8. Richmond

Meaning: 'Protector'.

9. Tadgh

Meaning: 'Courageous'; an Irish name pronounced like the first syllable of the word 'tiger'.

10. Thibault

Meaning: 'Brave people'; a French name derived from Theobald, pronounced 'Tee-bow'.

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