Is Amelia really that bad?

It’s a beautiful name!

It's a lovely name but I associate it with the Enid Blyton 'Naughty Amelia-Jane' book series I had as a child so wouldn't pick that for DD personally.

Mumsnet is incredibly bitchy about names and you should absolutely stop looking at baby name conversations!

Names are a matter of personal taste. No name will please everyone. A colleague recently gave her baby girl a name that I personally think is genuinely hideous, but I would NEVER say that or judge her for it because she obviously likes it and her baby is no less adorable because she has a name I don't like.

Personally, I think Amelia is very pretty name and also one that works well in a lot of different languages - I like it a lot. But even if I didn't, it shouldn't matter to you! Don't give this a second thought, honestly. You chose exactly the right name for your little girl.

I'm also amused about people worrying about a name being bad because it's 'too popular'. It's popular for a reason, and that reason is that a lot of people think it's a lovely name. There are worse things in life than having a name that most people like. Pretty sure that Jack and Olivia are going to have other Jacks and Olivias in their year at school, but ultimately their names are going to be seen more positively by more people than, eg, Diggory and Clytemnestra's. Prioritising a name that's unusual is totally fine and reasonable - whatever means the most for the parents is the most important thing here - but when people go for an unusual name in the belief that people will think it's nicer than a more popular one, they're definitely kidding themselves.

All my kids have top 10 names (for their years) and we rarely cross over with anyone with the same name in school year, groups, activities, friends. On day's out we do hear the names a few times but I don't know or socialise with those people so don't really care.

My son is the only one in his year group, activity groups and our friends with that name.
My youngest daughter is the same although at nursery not school but has the same name as a close friend on ours. Very distance friends have a daughter with the same name too.
There is alot more duplication of Nina's and Bella's and they aren't in the top 10 as far as I saw.

Why does a name being "overused", "so overdone" and "common" mean that a name is rubbish and not nice?

Really weird attitude. Why do you care more about being seen as unique and above the masses than giving your DC a name you really like?

I named my DC a top 10 name. I didn't name DC that name because it was popular, I used the name because I love it. I didn't know about the rankings and later people kept telling me, as if I had made a big mistake. Genuinely baffling. My DC has a name that I love, why would I care that 4,000 other parents in the country also loved the name for their DC?

I have an Emilia - for similar reasons, we like it and it works well in English as well as our native languages.
I haven’t met another Emilia or an Amelia, despite being told it’s really common. I have met 3 Annabelle’s at baby group which I wouldn’t think was common at all. You can’t predict these things, I wouldn’t let it put you off. I am very happy with my choice.

The comment about the name being overused is in my opinion true, I loved the name Amelia for a girl but ended up having a boy but we know so many baby Amelia’s in our friendship group and baby classes. Doesn’t mean it’s not a nice name though

Amelia is a beautiful name. A good, solid name.

I was at a (fairly posh) school in the 90s and there were two Amelias. One was nice and one was absolutely vile but I still think it's a nice name. More classic than Amelie which got trendy after the film...that's nice too but has maybe peaked (think most British Amelies are teens now?)

No Amelias or Amelies in my DC year at Primary. There are lots of Edie/Evie/Edith/Ava type names. Which are also nice and pleasant but the Emma/Katie/Laura/Rebecca of the current era I guess.

People will always find a stick to hit you with - I gave my eldest a unique name and an old friend of mine was over the moon when she came across another child with the same name... called me up to basically tell me I wasn't that original (I didn't know this other child or care in anyway!).
Move on...

It's a gorgeous name.
I think it's perplexing that anyone writes about 'thinking outside the box' for a child's name. Why should you have to prove yourself by thinking outside the box? Just give your child the name that you find most beautiful for them.
Also these things go in waves. There were five of us in a class of 25 at school, who all had the same name. The other day I met someone with this name, who was gobsmacked because, in her mid thirties, I was the first person she'd ever met who had the same name as her.

It's a perfectly normal name. Use it if you like it

It’s a beautiful name. We didn’t use it as it was popular when my DD was born (based on ONS data). Talked to my daughter about it last night and we laughed as, despite its popularity, there hasn’t been another Amelia in any of the three schools my children have been to. Don’t give it another thought.

It was my mum's middle name and I think it's beautiful.

It's a really pretty name! And although it's popular, I don't think it's overdone. I have kids in primary and secondary and I only know of two Amelias (and one of them is in her twenties!).

Just looked at list of most popular names for last 20 years. When I chose it it was 25th and by 2012 it was top. Has been up there ever since!

My DD has a name that Mumsnet hates and says it won't work on a grown up. I don't even slightly care because I love the name (and so does she!) Don't worry about it, you choose the name you like for your own child.

It’s such a pretty name I’ve always liked it.

I have an Amelia, named over 20 years ago. Thought it was unusual. Went to baby group, two more there. When she went to nursery, another one. At primary two more in her class.

I never thought it would take off, but it did. Fuck it, I love the name.

It's a nice, normal name. I like Mimi as an abbreviation.

How dare you? How dare you assume I would call my beautiful little girl "BJ".

I called her Deep Throat.

Oh behave! That’s the meaning of a medical term but how many people are going to know that, unless they look it up for something spiteful to say.
It has other meanings from the root of the word.

It was only overdone about 10-15 years back, I don't think it's overly common now. There's far more lilies/bellas

Our children's names are all quite popular or maybe common. We chose them so they would work in several languages/countries. I love all their names and don't care what other people think.

My daughter is an Amelia, I love it. She was born in 2009 and I can only remember one other Amelia in primary and maybe 2 in high school.

If you love it use it, I think it's beautiful and timeless