If you're looking for kooky, alternative baby names for your future children, it's time to add Nigel, Donna and Derek to your list.
Because while you've probably been considering whether 'Orange' or 'Melon' sounds edgier, it is actually classic names from the 1950s and 1960s that are set to become extinct later this year – after BabyCentre reported they were becoming less and less common.
In fact, its research, which has tracked name data from a community of three million UK mothers this year, outlines which names (that were previously popular in former decades) are yet to be used by any parents on their database.
In short, not one of those three million mothers has chosen any of the following names for their child in 2017.
Of course, it is only March and the database doesn't include every single woman to give birth this year, but it still gives food for thought.
Here are the names yet to be registered in 2017
- Angela
- Bertram
- Beverley
- Cecil
- Carol
- Clarence
- Clive
- Cyril
- Debra
- Diane
- Donna
- Dean
- Doris
- Dennis
- Derek
- Duncan
- Elaine
- Ernest
- Geoffrey
- Horace
- Joanne
- Leonard
- Maureen
- Malcolm
- Nigel
- Neville
- Paula
- Roy
- Sally
- Sandra
- Sharon
- Sheila
- Tracey
- Wendy
- Yvonne
- Wayne
On the topic of unusual baby names, the managing editor of BabyCentre Sarah Redshaw commented:
"It may not seem the obvious option, but if new parents want to make sure their baby has a name that stands out from the crowd this year, they should look to names like Paula, Debra and Elaine that were popular in the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties for girls. For boys, names that peaked in popularity as early as the turn of the last century – like Cyril, Horace and Bertram – could be unique choices."
