Rarest baby names in the UK at the moment for parents who want something unique

You may not be familiar with the term 'virtue in rarity', but you're probably very familiar with the concept.

What it is, basically, is a baby naming trend. The term, coined by academics, means that mums and dads are increasingly opting for more unusual names with different spellings .

This means deciding against the sort of names you see dominating popularity charts - with Oliver and Olivia being two well-loved examples .

It's perfectly normal to want your kid to stand out - and having a unique name is a good way of going about this.

Baby Xyla? (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

But if you're still deliberating over that all-important name and are in need of some inspiration, then there's an alternate take on the 'most popular' baby names - the rarest!

So to help you, peruse these names which, according to the Office for National Statistics and as reported in Cosmopolitan , aren't UNPOPULAR - they're just more unusual by definition.

According to the ONS, in 2017 there were more than 3,000 names that were so rare, they were only given to 3 babies in England and Wales that year.

Obviously we're not going to list all 3000 (sorry), so here's a selection featuring a girl and boy's name from each letter of the alphabet.

There are some great choices on here (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Rarest names for girls

1. Adalaide

2. Breya

3. Clemmie

4. Delphie

5. Eugenia

6. Franca

7. Geneva

8. Hennessey

9. Israella

10. Joules

11. Kinley

12. Lorie

13. Meriel

14. Noomi

15. October

16. Prue

17. Quincy

18. Reeve

19. Sunday

20. Tulip

21. Umi

22. Vayda

23. Wahida

24. Xyla

25. Ysabella

26. Zephyr

These are the most popular baby names of recent times

Rarest names for boys

1. Axton

2. Bowe

3. Colm

4. Denby

5. Emory

6. Ferris

7. Grae

8. Hansel

9. Iden

10. Jacobus

11. Kent

12. Lowan

13. Mathis

14. Niles

15. Osten

16. Phileas

17. Quintus

18. Reese

19. Sairus

20. Thibault

21. Ugo

22. Volkan

23. Whittaker

24. Xan

25. Yonas

26. Zayde