Am I being a snob?

I think some people are more concerned about popularity than others. Perhaps those who have first hand experience of having to share a name are keen to avoid giving their children a very popular name. But I don't think it has anything to do with being a 'snob'. It is just a personal preference imo and I don't think it is right to 'judge' someone on that basis.

But kiki22, have a look at the national statistics and you'll find thousands of normal nice names that weren't used thousands of times but 10 or 20 times last year. In other words different doesn't have to mean 'WTF' .

No, you're not being a snob at all imo. As others have said you are being sensible. Surely how frequently a name is already in use is an important factor whan NAMING someone. I too was one of 3 in my class in the 1980s and found it annoying at times - I wish my parents had tried a little harder to pick a more unique name, not one of the THE most popular name of the time.

i know what u mean i was the only is our school and have only ever met 3 other * i loved being different and am struggling to find a name thats different but not WFT?

Trillian - if you look at this link (ok I know it's Australia but the principle is the same) it gives the most popular names of 2011, boys and girls together. It doesn't give numbers, but the top 3 names are girls'; the top 10 comprises 6 girls' names and 4 boys' names. I think by the bottom of the page the numbers even out but anyway, it gives a hint of what you were saying.

It wouldn't bother me. A name only becomes popular because it is a nice name that peope like after all. DD's name albeit a diff spelling) is relatively popular but she is still the only child in her school with the name and we don't know any others.

I grew up in the 70s with the most popular name ever, inc midle name. Was one of 3 or 4 in my class at times. Never bothered me in the slightest then or now.

I know but I can't find it!!! I was hoping you would have it because it'd be really interesting.

I have a theory that girls names are more diverse than boys names so the top 20 boys names might be 50% of all boys but the top 20 girls names would only be 20% of all girls.

TrillianAstra, the ONS produce a spreadsheet which shows ALL the names given for boys and girls each year (actually all names which were used more than twice as a first name). I haven't got the link to hand but have seen it on other threads before.

No, you're not being a snob. You are being sensible. A name has a purpose: to identify a person. That is achieved much more easily if the name isn't already used by lots and lots of others. If I remember correctly there were over 5,000 boys' names given last year alone, so lots of names to choose from .

I am a 1970's Sarah and bloody hate it. Sick of being surrounded by them all my life. So I've tried to give dd1 and soon, dd2 names that aren't massively popular. There are no guarantees of course but at least I'll know I tried to save them from a lifetime of having their initial after their name.

Where do you find the frequency (not just ranking) data mayanna?

I don't know if 8000 times is high because I don't have a feel for how many babies were born.

Ds has a name that is now in the top twenty however it was the only boys name we agreed on (lots of girls names but ofcourse Ds was a boy!)

Tbh it wouldn't bother me if the name was popular - after all you will be the one screeching the name across the playground as your child wrestles another to the ground! Might as well be a name you like!

I called my son Alexander not realising it was in the top 20 last year. I am a bit pissed off that everyone was thinking the same way as me but I still like the name better than any other boy's name so there we are.

"I have only just found out is in the top 20 for 2010. It's really put me off as I didn't want to know lots of other little boys with the same name."

OP, seems like you've answered the question yourself already. If you don't want your ds to grow up with lots of other boys with the same name, I'd suggest you look outside the top 100 or even top 250 names. There is still no guarantee that these names don't rise in popularity but at least you're avoiding a name that is already very widely used.

Our ds's name was used 13 times last year - that isn't why we chose it 6 years ago. We chose it because we loved it and still do . In other words there are indeed lots of lovely normal, classic well known names that aren't as well used already as top 50 or top 100 names.

But the higher ranked a name the larger the number of children given a particular name. I think the top name (was it Jack or Oliver, can't remember) was used over 8,000 last year alone if I remember correctly. Then you need to add all the previous years' Jacks & Olivers for example as these will be growing up together (even if not in the same year group).

More importantly, there are so, so many lovely underused names available - wouldn't life be more interesting (and easier) if we had more name diversity .

How common is "in the top 20"? Is it one child in 20, one child in 100, one child in 1000?

The chances of there being lots of children with the same name don't depend on the ranking but on the actual frequency.

Nothing snobby about it at all imo.

I agree that we name things/people so that we can identify them. No point giving a person a name that is already used by thousands others imo - he/she will always need a modifier (e.g. little, big, or last initial) to identify him/her. I know so many adult Steves (and about 3 Steve Smiths!) that it sometimes gets confusing .

Last year there were 2 Jacks and 3 Harrys in ds's class (and two of the Harry's shared the same surname initial - which wasn't easy for them or the teacher).

So, no, nothing to do with snobism just common sense imo.

I believe that if you like the name that is all that is important. My daughter is Olivia. She is 5. When she was born I never knew any. Obviously according to statistics it is one of the most popular names. However, there is not another Olivia in her primary school which has about 160 children in it. So it does depend very much on where you stay.

my DS is an Albert - number 159 on the list last year and only 330 in the whole of Britain. There are 2 at his CM adn I've recently met another! You just can't tell - names are quite regional I think.

My DS's name was in the top 20 when he was born. Although we knew it was statistically quite popular, we used it as we loved (and still love) it.

For us, any other name would have been second best, and the name we chose suits him perfectly.

As it happens, we have not met any other little boys of his age with the same name yet (though I know this may well change as he gets older and he mixes with more children through school etc.).

I would say go with the name you love - you may well end up regretting it if you chose a different name that you do not like so much, just because it is not quite so popular.

My chilren are all quite old now, (18, 16, 12) but I remember the look of utter bewilderment and horror on people's faces when I told them I liked Stanley, Hamish, Riley and Teddy. None of those would raise an eyebrow now.

A good rule of thumb is if eveyone reacts with horror when you run your choices by them, then you are pretty safe from the threat of imminent ubiquity! It takes most people about 5 years to get their head around an 'unusual' name. I think you need to decide the difference between 'unusual' and 'seldom used' though. Unusual can often been random made-up try-too-hard nonsense.