Makes me sad that Isla is so common now :( need a name for baby no2!

[Megamoose795]

My Isla Bethany is going to be three soon and when we named her it was not as popular as it is now im hoping baby no2 will have a more unusual name and it will not be common any time soon. any ideas!?

[ataposaurus]

Hi, I feel your pain, my daughter has a variant of this name (same pronounciation, different and valid spelling) - when we chose it 7 years ago it was number 60 or so on the ons stats and it leapt 30 places the year she was born.

Our other names for number 2 (we had a boy!) were ;

Iona
Mhairi
Ada
Eliza
Iris
Esther
Stella

good luck!

[CruCru]

Hmm. What other names do you like?

[CruCru]

I do know what you mean. DS is Henry - we thought we were being original but there are loads.

[CruCru]

We called DD Claudia which seems quite unusual.

[SquirrelledAway]

Is this "I'm so sad my DD / DS has such a common name" an MN thing?

[shakemysilliesout]

When are you due? I like month names like June, April. Not too popular.

Check out the 70s names thread for unpopular names.

Boys names I find it harder to think of unusual options...and how unusual do you want? Kermit is an unpopular name, as is Meredith.

[loislines]

The trouble is you can never tell whether an uncommon name is suddenly going to get popular or be popular where you live. Best to just pick a name you love. If you search on Google for ONS baby names you'll be able to find the full list of names from 2013 - you could look through it from underneath the top 200 for ideas?

[shakemysilliesout]

I agree you should pick a name u like but disagree that you can't predict future popular names. Well maybe it's difficult to predict the next Noah but I think it's clear that in the next 5 yrs Kermit will not shoot up. Clare and Jane also probably won't shoot up.

[BlueChampagne]

Vashti
Morven

[RJnomore]

Mara
Taryn
Afton

[babyblabber]

I feel your pain, I've a five year old Noah. Picked it coz we loved it, part of that being that it was super original! Never could have guessed it's rise in popularity so soon after we had him!

I know an isla who has brothers, James & Alexander. Something classic is less likely to suddenly surge so maybe Elizabeth, Rebecca etc. I kind of like Margot. I think any girls name ending in A is going to be popular these days.

[baskingseals]

I like Isla.
What about
Marianne

Rose

Edie, could be short for Edith

And, bit of a wild card, but I really like Bianca, and think Isla and Bianca sound lovely together.

[ButterflyOfFreedom]

The Isla I know has a sister Amelia but that is super popular now apparently!

I agree girls names ending in 'a' seem popular at the moment so you may want to avoid those.

Seren
Willow
Rachel
Annabel
Harriet
Juliette
Kirsten
Nicole

For boys I like Nathan, Leon, Marcus, Christian, Dominic and Hayden.

[Irishkez]

Connie
Imogen
Esme
Aria
Paige
Hope
Eliza
Leah
Nina
Maisie
Ellen
Freya
Willow
Flynn
Carrie
Kendra

[PenguinsandtheTantrumofDoom]

When you named your daughter the name stats for 2010 would have been out. They show Isla at no. 22 in popularity. Any name that close to the top can easily take a big surge I'm afraid.

If you are looking for ideas, and popularity really is a deal breaker, I'd take a look at the 2013 list and rule out anything in the top 100.

[ILiveOnABuildsite]

A neighbour of mine has just had a daughter named Sylvie I thought that was quite unusual. Very beautiful name I thought.

[tammytoby]

"Is this "I'm so sad my DD / DS has such a common name" an MN thing?"

No, I think it is a general viewpoint amongst many. We name our children so that they can be easily identified. When you share a name with several others in your class, this becomes difficult and you end up having to add your surname initial (but sometimes even these are the same).

Also, names that become very fashionable end up falling out of fashion eventually and they then may sound dated.

But to answer the op, I would have a look at the ONS lists of ALL names given last year - there are literally thousands of lovely normal classic names outside of the top 100. If you find one of those you love, the chances of it becoming a top10 name are fairly slim. Good luck!

[daholster]

Sylvie is beautiful, as is Willow. I also love Hermione. Iona? I know a sibset who are Iona, Ewan and Isla.

[NanaNina]

I have a 5 year old Isla (DGD) and love the name....also have a 14 year old DGD with a really lovely and unusual name......Anya......

[Mrsgrumble]

Eloise is beautiful

[burgatroyd]

I second Bianca and Anya.

If you want to avoid on trend names then avoid el start names as these are very popular and become mixed in with Ellie's and Ella's.

Avoid names ending in a or ie or those that start with a vowel.

Therefore underused names to consider:
Rose
Megan
Damaris
Harriet
Meredith
Carol
Janet
June
Tamar
Tegan
Juliet (a mn fave)
Constance
Delphine
Josephine
Louise
Beatrice

Also avoid names that can be confused with its more popular varient. Emmeline/ Emily, Elin/ Ellen, faith/ Day, Everly, Beverley.

Of course if you love a name then go for it no matter how popular! Dd2 has an El...name but I like it because its unusual but also fits in with her peers.

Other pretty names - Verity, Vera, Veronica, Felicity, Penelope, Tabitha, Wren, Christabel, Polly...

[SquirrelledAway]

"We name our children so they are easily identified."

You choose a name you like, why you be sad that other people liked the same name and called their child that as well? I just don't get it. My son is one of four with the same name in the class and he is as easily identified by the teacher and his classmates as if he'd been called Antigone or Ptolemy.

I've never heard anyone in RL say that they're sad as they consider their child's name common.

[Sternin]

For some people, SquirrelledAway, the unusualness of a name is part of its appeal. I can't deny that I wasn't quite as in love with my DD's name when she was born as when we originally picked it out a few years ago, mainly due to it's massive surge in popularity. Obviously this wasn't enough to put me off, and at least she'll always be able to find her name on merchandise.

OP, I think the good thing about names nowadays is that there's such a variety. Even if the name you chose is on the top ten, you're less likely to meet another child with the same name than you were, say, 20 years ago.

[SquirrelledAway]

Yeah, but sad?

Sad is when the dog dies, or granny has to go into a home. It's not really on the same scale as there being another Little Johnny in the class.

[JeromeSqualor]

to be honest I have only ever met one Isla and she was at least 60.