Xavier

Let's start with the letter, because everyone does. Xavier begins with an X, and there are so few names that do that it feels almost like cheating. It's the alphabet's showpiece letter, the one children save for the end, and here it is at the front of a name. Instant distinction, before you've even reached the second syllable.

The name is Basque, and its meaning is one of the most cheering on the list: new house. Not a kingdom, not a battlefield, just a new home. Which is more or less what a baby turns your house into anyway, so it's oddly fitting. Fresh paint, new routines, everything rearranged. Xavier.

How do you say it?

The honest answer is that people will vary, and the honest advice is not to worry. What you do get is a generous choice of nicknames. Xavi has a warm, footballing bounce to it. Xav is quick and easy. And Zay is the modern option, the one that sounds like it should be on the back of a hoodie. Three ways to shorten a name that only has three syllables to begin with is good going.

Popularity-wise, Xavier has found its people. It's number 42 in Australia, which is remarkable for a Basque name a very long way from the Basque country. It's 91 in the United States, 101 in Canada and 124 in New Zealand. It sits in the 230s in Catalonia and England & Wales, and charts in Argentina and Mexico City too. So it's known everywhere and common almost nowhere, which for many parents is the dream: nobody will ask how to spell it twice, and there won't be another one in the class.

A couple of good Xaviers

The nickname has a very famous owner in Xavi Hernández, the Spanish association football player and manager, which means every Xavi on a school pitch has a decent role model for the short form. And the full name has a statesman in Xavier Bettel, the Luxembourgish politician. Football and politics: two fields where a name that stands out is no bad thing.

Among siblings it's a stylish fit. Xavier sits beautifully alongside Sebastian, Gabriel, Leo and Felix, names that share a certain continental confidence. Put them together and the whole family sounds like it should be announced at the door by a string quartet.

The trade-off is that a name this distinctive comes with a little extra admin. There will be pronunciation questions, and he will spend his life being last when things are sorted alphabetically. Some children love that. Others will roll their eyes. You won't know which you've got for a good while.

Still, a new house, an X, and a nickname for every mood. It's a lot of name for the money. Is it your name? That, as ever, is the bit no fact sheet can settle. You'll love it, doubt it, defend it to a relative, and doubt it again. Welcome to the new house. Mind the boxes.