The Rare Debuts

There are some interesting finds at the lower end of the 2012 SSA baby name list. The only qualifications required to make the following list were that the name was on the beyond 1000 list in 2012 but not in 2011, and that it caught my eye. Lots of place names, celebrity and other surnames, and more attention-grabbing monikers to peruse...

Girls
Abbott (5) - I like it... and Abby would be a cute nickname.
Adaire (8)
Amelianna (5) - interesting name smush.
Anemone (6)*
Athens (7)
Atlas (7)
Bae (5)* - I am fond of "ay" names, and this is a cute alternative to Bay.
Bambi (6)
Beata (10) - one of my favorite Polish names!
Bette (5)
Beulah (12) - this dropped off briefly in 2011, but has made a somewhat strong reappearance after less than 10 births per year since 2004.
Bobby (6)
Breslin (14) - Michigan State fans?
Callisto (7)
Calloway (5)
Cambridge (9)
Copper (5)
Crawford (7)
Daenerys (21)* - from Game of Thrones, no doubt.
Debby (13)
Emrys (6) - Merlin?
Eponine (7)* - Les Misérables anyone?
Fairy (6)
Faustine (6) - a popular French name.
Fedora (5)
Ferrari (5)
Gardner (5)
Gertie (5)
Gilda (8) - reached its heights in the 1920s and 1940s.
Happy (5)
Houston (6)
Hyacinth (6) - the pretty flower name makes an appearance after a brief disappearance.
Ikea (5)
Jase (10) - the Jase craze transferred over to the girls as well.
Kae (6) - I love the simplicity of this.
Katniss (12)* - Hunger Games love.
Letitia (6) - such a pretty name that was more popular in the 1960s and 1970s.
Lively (6)* - there's something about this that is just nice and maybe inspired by actress Blake Lively?
Louisiana (7)
Manning (6)
Merida (19) - Brave!
Noble (6)
Primrose (16) - beat out her sister Katniss.
Psalm (13)
Sistine (5)* - as long as her last name isn't Chapel.
Texas (5)
Vail (7)
Vegas (5)
Wallis (7) - hasn't been recorded since 2005.
Yoko (6)

Boys
Anchor (5)*
Athos (8) - all 3 Musketeers have great names! This is Athos' first appearance since 1926, Aramis has been a pretty steady presence since 1969 and had 50 appearances in 2012, but Porthos has yet to show up.
Bogart (6)
Bolton (7)
Brees (11) - I wonder if these parents are New Orleans Saints fans?
Bridge (6)
Chaplin (6)*
Churchill (5)
Connery (6)
Crash (6) - maybe baseball-inspired? ;)
Detroit (5)
Emperor (5) - another rank or title name to add to the list.
England (7)
Finnick (9)* - more Hunger Games love.
Germany (11)
Gin (5) - also appeared in 1988.
Grimm (6)* - I wonder if the TV show inspired this.
Harding (6)
Hawkeye (6)* - possibly due to The Avengers.
Hawthorne (10)
Hinckley (6)
Hutchins (6)* - Hutch is a great nickname.
Jacks (5) - has only appeared in 2010 and 2012.
Jenkins (7)
Khan (16) - the Star Trek geek in me loves this.
Knightley (5) - you have no idea how much this makes me happy.
Mecca (12)
Mercury (5)
Mitt (8) - some Romney fans?
Morocco (9)
Myers (9)
Optimus (5)* - because we need the leader of the Autobots.
Patriot (5)
Phelps (5)
Poe (5)
Portland (6)
Radford (6)
Rage (6)
Rawlings (5)* - I just talked about this name on my baseball-inspired list.
Renly (10)* - more Game of Thrones love.
Rutherford (5)
Saban (5) - Alabama fans?
Savage (8)*
Scholar (5)*
Severus (6)* - some late Harry Potter love.
Sherlock (6) - love it.
Sovereign (7)
Steeler (5)* - from Pittsburgh maybe?
Thailand (5)
Theon (12) - even more Game of Thrones love.
Vader (5)
Vin (12)
Xerxes (12)
Yale (9)

*First time ever captured on the SSA list.

Music made it's first appearance ever on both the Male and Female charts, each with 6 babies.

Plus, there were more than 20 different spellings of Cataleya that made their debut in 2012, some that start with C and some that start with K.

What is your favorite Rare Debut?

Thanks to Nancy's Baby Names for numbers help.