Rarest Baby Names Ever Recorded

The rarest baby names on record were given to just 5 babies in one year and never again. Social Security has 14,881 of them from 1880 to 2025. Five is the floor: a name appears in the public records only in years when at least 5 babies of the same sex received it, so any name given less often than that is never listed. This guide looks at when the rarest names appeared, which names stayed rare for a century, and what the records say about names often called rare.

For how many names were given only a handful of times, and the newest and vanished ones, see names that exist only a few times. Looking for a rare name for a baby? The rare girl names and rare boy names list the 100 rare names parents choose most now, with their meanings.

The Rarest Names by Decade

This table counts the one-time names by the decade in which they appeared:

The early decades have few one-time names partly because the records hold far fewer names then: 1,889 names in 1880, against 28,638 in 2025. The recent count will shrink a little, too, because a name that appeared once in 2025 can come back in a later year.

Rare Names for Girls and Boys

Counted separately by sex, 10,239 names were given to exactly 5 girls and 6,511 to exactly 5 boys in the whole record. Girls’ names are more varied in general: the records hold 72,339 names given to girls and 45,481 given to boys.

Names That Stayed Rare for a Century

Some names never died out and never caught on. 47 names appear in 100 or more of the 146 years, yet were never given to more than 25 babies in any year. These have lasted the longest:

Names Often Called Rare: What the Records Show

Lists of rare names repeat many of the same names. Here is how they actually appear in the records:

• Percival and Ebenezer are often described as fading, but Percival had its biggest year in 2025, with 113 babies, and Ebenezer peaked in 2017.
• Abcde has been given to 415 babies, more than many names that look ordinary.
• Zzyzx appears in only 2 years, with 10 babies in all, and Lettice in 3 years, with 18.
• Some names on these lists, such as Ahaz, Leofric and Fennella, aren’t in the records at all. They may have been given, but never to 5 babies of one sex in the same year.

Check How Rare a Name Is

1. Type the name in the search box on the home page and open its page.
2. The chart shows babies given the name in every year it appears, and the page shows about how many people alive in the US have it.
3. If there is no page, the name was never given to 5 babies of one sex in a year, which makes it rarer than any name in this guide.

The rarity guide explains the tiers, from Very Common to Very Rare.