Names don't follow popular pattern

Daniella Hau (sister of Bell Tane), Kaydence Reihana, Jethro Beattie (partner), Bell Tane with Passion Tane-Beattie (on lap), and Cypress Ngawati. Ms Tane was pregnant with Ace Beattie at the time.

A mother-of-four from Moerewa says it was easy when choosing names for her kids - despite the fact they are not the kind you will find on the list of the most popular names picked by New Zealand parents.

Traditional names like Oliver, Olivia, Charlotte and Jack were the most popular names that Kiwi parents opted for last year but the Northern Advocate asked Northlanders on Facebook what some of the more unique names selected for their children.

Bell Tane, 32, got in touch. She has four children, with oldest son Kaydence, 15, Cypress is 11, her only daughter Passion is 3 and Ace is 9 months old.

"I've always wanted names that aren't common, names that are really different and I stuck with it and I'm really happy with their names," Ms Tane said.

She said her decision to select unique names for her children reflected her personality.

"I suppose growing up I've always liked to do something different and I always did unique things."

She said while some of her family members' names were unique, a lot were common.

"There's names like Richard and even me and my siblings have common names like Elton and Daniella."

Ms Tane said there was no stress choosing her kids' names. Kaydence was going to be named Creedence but the name changed after a friend gave her son the same name. Cypress was named after hip-hop group Cypress Hill, Passion's name represented Ms Tane's passionate relationship with Passion's dad and Ace was named from a deck of cards.

Other unique names mentioned on Facebook include: Jahkaylah, Jahkodii, Jahmin, Nevik (dad Kevin backwards) and Zenith.