four in a class - really?

Six 'Sineads' in one of my A-level groups....Circa 1992

Funny people mentioning all the catherines (and variations) in 1970 / 1980s classrooms. I've only ever been the only one. Lots of joannes / karens / lisas though ...

four Isabelles here.

I was one of 4 at one stage, never bothered me at all. DC's have fairly common classic names but it wasn't until secondary that there was more than one in the class and they are really not bothered by it either.

I think even having 2 of the same name is a shame and not so nice for the children (or me, if it was me growning up, which sometimes it was!). It's lovely to be the only one!

oh i forgot to add the two taylor's in DS's class - but one is a boy and one is a girl x

There were four of us Willbeans in my form at secondary school.

My DD has 3 Rhys's, 2 Joshua's and 2 Dylan's. There's only 8 girls in the year and none of them are replicated. DS has 4 Rhys's, 2 Dylan's, 2 Faye's. Add that to there is a Seren and Lucy in every school year. Considering DD and DS both have 'common names' there are no others in the school x

In fact, out of that list two of the Mias, one Leah and Thea are still in her class 4 years later. (one Mia has gone to private school and one Leah has moved away)

Dd's birthday party invitation list one year contained Mia, Mia, Mia, Leah, Leah and Thea!

In my primary class there were 3 x Clares.
In our year at secondary there were 10 x Daniels, which in a year of eight forms means there must've been at least one class with multiples Daniels.
Even more of a struggle for me was when I had a group of children one summer with a Mia, Maya and Nia- like a tongue twister

No H's in DS's school then 3 (inc him) turned up in swimming group. 3/4 for 1st lesson!!

When I was at school there were 4 Lisa's in my class. You're right though, I think it is less common now as there is more choice of names used. In my ds2 room at Nursery there are 4 Theo's though and 3 Zach's - they may not all end up in the same school class i guess. Lot of Sam/Samuels and Joe/Joseph's arorund too.

I was always one of several Fiona's in my class, in different parts of Scotland as we moved! Even now, in my FB friend list, it's the most common name.

My DC go to a small rural school and both are the only one, however DS has already had to be identified by his firstname + surname at Beavers as there have been 2 others with the same first name.

Repeated names at school are - Keiran (and spelling variations of) and Ella. I also know loads of Abbie/Abby/Abbey's.

My niece is one of 5 girls in her class, and four have the same name!! What are the odds. However, they quite like it and are like a little club... I would have thought they would hate it.

I have a very popular name (for my age group) and, although I don't love it it has never hindered me/been teased and actually my friends with unusual names were teased and constantly spelling/pronouncing their names. I love beautiful unusual names, but to be honest think you should just choose a name you love rather than one that isn't too popular as you may well regret it....personally I would rather have chosen a popular classic name for DC than a faddy name that you think is unusual and then suddenly hundreds appear...also although there seem to be way more "used" girls names half of them are very similar e.g. Annabel, Isabel, Isabelle, Annabella, Isabella, Arabella, Tilly, Lilly, Milly, Molly, Ava, Eva, Evie, Ella, Ellie, Sophie, Sophie, Amelie, Amelia, Emilia, Emily, Amy etc.. Etc..versus the supposedly super common boys names, Oliver, Jack, Thomas, Harry, William etc.. That are not very similar to other names...

Isobel/ Isabella if you include all spellings is a dead cert around here for at least 2 in a class.

The class I used to work in had 2 Rebecca's/1 Rebekah, 2 Mitchell's and a Ellie Ella, Eleanor and Elisha who was nicknamed Ellie.

I was one of 5 sarahs in my class at secondary school

There are rather a lot of us.

I suggest moving to Italy.

I am the only one now

But they can't say my name right

Even my husband calls me Sara

I used to long for the exotic Sara to be mine, all mine.

But now I have it I miss my bog standard Sarah.

I was one of 5 sarahs in my class at secondary school. It didn't do me any harm, and I don't really get the making sure the name is unique fuss!

Thankfully it worked out ok, because the child that failed had it down as his second choice and had been offered his first choice anyway, so it didn't matter to him. I suspect that family were never told as it made no difference to the final outcome for them.
I think the boy who should have been offered the place was very bright and his parents were shocked he didn't get a place so rang up to find out what happened. It was then the mistake was uncovered. Thankfully worked out well for everyone.

"At DC's school two boys with the same christian and surname name and identical birthday applied under the apptitude test for a place at the school. One passed the other failed but they told the wrong child."

Poor child (who failed) .

I guess if you have a common surname (Smith, Jones etc), it's even more important to find a first name that hopefully isn't shared by lots of others...

At DC's school two boys with the same christian and surname name and identical birthday applied under the apptitude test for a place at the school. One passed the other failed but they told the wrong child. Thankfully mistake was noticed and it was sorted out in the end.

There is also a girl with almost the same surname as us and the same christian name as DD. They work out the log in computer names by taking the first 3 letters of the surname and last 3 letters of christian name. This worked out identical for both girls and the were issued with the same log in but different passwords. This caused lots of confusion and pass words kept having to be reset until someone made the connection and they were issued with new log in names.

This thread should make us all become a little more supportive of more name diversity - it really would make life much easier for everyone concerned! And more interesting .

And I'm glad I'm not a teacher

Jenstar Zara is a lovely name, I think you've chosen well [hsmile]. Just shows how regional names are though, I only know one Jennifer and she is much older.