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Baby names

Popular names

21 replies

passingthrough1 · 11/04/2016 19:13

So I know a lot of people have issues with Top 10 names. Just wondering what your reasons are?
I don't like names that are only popular for a short while and mean you'll be able to guess the age of the person with the name quite accurately in the future. Unfortunately there are some beautiful names at the moment that I worry will be this generation's Sharon, Tracey, Gary e.g. Isla, Mia, Ava which is a shame because they're lovely.
I have a popular classic name and really like it. I like that my name is still popular and no one will ever be able to guess where I come from in the country, how old I am etc from it.
I'm only thinking of classic names for my soon to be LO.. But the ones we like are currently really high up in the charts. Would anyone discard a name choice because of this?

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BendydickCuminsnatch · 11/04/2016 19:20

Well I don't care what other people call their kids of course, but for my kids I wanted something that would identify them. The whole point of a name is to identify someone, and if there's 4 Isabels in the class then the name is kinda not doing its job. I had 4 Bens in my class at school and it's just annoying having to say their whole name all the time.

Also the whole insipid and ubiquitous aspect.

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CutYourHairAndGetAJob · 11/04/2016 19:22

I would because I think it would be annoying to be one of several ellies or evies or whatever. There are so many other nice names out there.

I'm also not a fan of really 'out there' names. My DC both have names which are top 100 but not top 50, which feels about right to me. They probably will meet people with the same name, but there are unlikely to be three of them in the same class.

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SparklyPenguin · 11/04/2016 19:23

I'm afraid I would. Some of the current batch of top-10 names are absolutely lovely (Olivia/Oliver, Amelia, Isla, Isabella...) but my main reasons I wouldn't choose them are 1) too much chance there'll be several of the same name in their school class and 2) I wouldn't want to be seen as unimaginative or unoriginal.

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CutYourHairAndGetAJob · 11/04/2016 19:23

X posted with bendydick to say basically the same thing!

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megletthesecond · 11/04/2016 19:28

I find it incredibly annoying to always be one of two or more 'meglets'. At school, work, pub (those were the days) etc.
I will forever be be known as Meglet X because someone else has to be Meglet Y. It would be lovely to just be Meglet.

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megletthesecond · 11/04/2016 19:29

Oh, and my dc's names were picked because they weren't in the top 100.

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TimeOfGlass · 11/04/2016 19:36

We used a top 10 name. In the end, we decided that we loved this name more than any other, and we'd regret not using it. So far, we're happy with the choice we made.

I don't think popularity necessarily means a name is very dated either - the top 10 lists for 2014 included names like Emily, Thomas, James, William, Olivia, Sophie, Jack and George - all fairly classic and all names that haven't had any dramatic peaks or troughs of fashion that would make it easy to guess the age.

Incidentally, there's only one name that's duplicated in DS1's class at school. And that's a nickname rather than a proper name - have changed names but it's along the lines of boy Georgie (officially George) and girl Georgie (officially Georgina).

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scandichick · 11/04/2016 19:42

Don't forget there are many more names in use these days - compare the proportions children named the top name now and in the Seventies, and you'll see what I mean.

So nowadays it should be less likely to have three Emilys in the same class than Lindas - any teachers who can confirm that?

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passingthrough1 · 11/04/2016 19:44

I think Oliver is a good example (not the name we're thinking of but ours is almost as popular). Yes there may be loads of them, but it's a beautiful name and it's not going to hold you back in life like some names will.
I think we'll go for the popular name but I'd feel bad if our LO hates it for not being original enough.

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passingthrough1 · 11/04/2016 19:49

Every other girl was called Hannah in my primary school. At secondary there were hardly any of them and I can't say I know any Hannahs now. It's weird how that happens.

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BendydickCuminsnatch · 11/04/2016 19:54

😄 where did all the Hannahs go? I know what you mean though, probably as your world opens up and you get past primary school, the name duplicates dilute.

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TimeOfGlass · 11/04/2016 20:20

Following on from scandichicks post -

(And yes, I do have a lot of time on my hands this evening)

In 2014, according to the office of national statistics, there were 695,233 live births in England and Wales.

The most popular baby name in 2014 (office for national statistics again) in England and Wales was Oliver, with 6,649 babies named Oliver. The top girls name, Amelia, was given to 5,327 babies.

Assuming I've remembered how to work out percentages properly, 0.96% of all babies born in 2014 were named Oliver. That's slightly less than 1 in every 100 babies.

So if all the Oliver's were spread evenly across England and Wales, there'd be only one in every 3 to 4 classes. And that was the baby name given to the largest number of babies.

Although in reality you're likely to get regional variations in popularity with disproportionately large numbers of Oliver's in some areas and hardly any Oliver's in others.

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scandichick · 11/04/2016 21:48

Impressive analysis, Time Smile - also interesting point about the naming clusters likely to occur. Just aim to raise a rebel and it won't be an issue when they're grown up...

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mrsschu · 11/04/2016 22:33

It hugely depends on the name. DD has a top 10 name which is in my opinion fairly classic. I don't think it will date and it works for a child and an adult. I do think however names like Isla and Mia will date. They weren't commonly used until recently so will be thought of as belonging to a particular generation, like Tracey or in Ireland where I grew up it would have been more like Sinead or Orla (although for some reason mumsnet loves Orla, to me it's very dated). Mumsnet generally dislikes popular names though so you're likely to get strong opinions. I have a name that was popular in the late 70's/early 80's, there were 3 of us in a year of 100 girls at school and I can honestly say it never, ever bothered me. I never felt my name didn't do a good job of identifying me as someone said above. It's my name and part of my identity. DS has a name which is around 700 at the moment but I can't say I love his name more than DD's top 10 name, they are their names and they're perfect for them.

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TheTartOfAsgard · 11/04/2016 22:46

I have an almost 13 year old Amelia. I chose her name 10 years before she was born and before I'd even heard about 'most popular names' lists. She's in a secondary school of over 900 pupils and she's the only Amelia - the only other one there left in 1998. I love her name and would still call her it if I gave birth to her tomorrow. As a pp said, there's over 43000 towns and cities in the uk and the most popular names were given to 5/6000 babies so the chances of having a class full of one name is slim.
Incidentally, there are 3 Patricks and 4 Davids in my sons school, which are not what I'd class as popular names.

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Swirlingasong · 11/04/2016 23:03

There's nothing wrong with a popular, classic name if you love it. Yes, it may date your child, but I find most people have a face that does that far more efficiently ;-)

I have an uncommon name which I hated growing up and now tolerate. I used to find that people would tend to make assumptions about me before getting to know me in a way that I don't think was possible with more common names - there were simply too many Claires, Sarahs etc for anyone to be able to pigeonhole based purely on a name, if you see what I mean.

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momtothree · 11/04/2016 23:11

I work in a class of Ellie Ellis Elle Emily Amelia Eva Evie and Evelyn and Alise -

There are three Kiera's in DD class of 24 plus
There are two Bens Three Toms and two Alex and Jake and Jacob -

My DD is the only one of her name in school and every body knows who she is - not sure that's a good thing!!

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Vinorosso74 · 11/04/2016 23:18

Depends on where you live too. We're in London and the variety of names in school are huge as there are people of so many different nationalities.

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AKissACuddleAndACheekyFinger · 11/04/2016 23:20

We have five children and I all have common names. I've always been surprised though that there are rarely more than one of them in their class-we have the only Sam in the (admittedly quite small) school and our Jacob is the only one in his class. If you like them, choose them X

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MamaLazarou · 12/04/2016 10:51

The whole point of a name is to identify someone

^ This, in spades.

I understand why people choose top 10 names for their children but I always hated being one of many in my school and having to be knows as Firstname Lastname or Firstname L. I wanted my own name!

I think that, however lovely a name is, its appeal is gradually diluted through overuse until it fades away into the background.

There is also, for me, an element of 'following the crowd' - choosing a name because it has already been pre-approved by ones peers rather than making an independent decision about it.

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Pipilangstrumpf · 12/04/2016 22:23

Yes, op, I would discard a name that is currently already very trendy and already used by thousands of others.

As others have said, names exist to identify people. I know SO many little Evies, Ellies, Charlies, Ollies, and in our Scouts group there are 4 Harrys, two of which share the same surname initial - can get very confusing. And at work, I've known so many Steves and Sarahs....

Also, names that I hear all the time tend to become a little dull imo. I personally prefer more classic, timeless (and imo beautiful) names.

But thankfully we all have different tastes and make different choices.

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