Nimue

Nimue certainly isn't a name you see everywhere — it has never been within the top 1000 most popular baby names in the U.S. — but its roots date back to medieval literary tradition. In fact, its first appearance was in the 13th century, when the name was used in the French 'Lancelot Grail', a collection of stories about the famed King Arthur. According to this Arthurian legend, Nimue was a sorceress known as the Lady of the Lake, who gave the sword Excalibur to the king. In different versions of the tale, she is also known as Viviane, Evienne, and Niniane, to name a few aliases.

The one drawback to using this beautiful and unique name is the matter of pronunciation and spelling, at least in English-speaking countries. While it looks like it could possibly rhyme with "emu," it's actually pronounced NIM-oo-ay.

As of 2022, there were only about 200 people in the U.S. named Nimue (it was given to 18 baby girls last year), so there aren't really any notable real-life Nimues throughout history. However, there is a character named Nimue in the Netflix series 'The Witcher', played by actress Katherine Langford. It's a fantasy drama series based on the book series of the same name by Andrzej Sapkowski. In the series, Nimue is a young sorceress who is destined to become a powerful leader.

Nimue in quotes:

"Nimue, the enchantress, took pity on the young man and agreed to teach him magic." (From the poem 'Merlin' by Alfred, Lord Tennyson)

"Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, lured Merlin to his doom with her beauty and her magic." (From the novel 'The Once and Future King' by T.H. White)

"Nimue was a powerful sorceress, but she was also a flawed and tragic figure." (From the Netflix series 'The Witcher')