four in a class - really?

Yes, Mary you win. Just make sure you spend the rest of the day waiting in for your prize otherwise you might miss it .

Actually feel quite sorry for them, thought being one of 5 was bad enough.

2 Harrys 2 Williams, 2 Jacks and 2 Olivers in DD's class and a few Evies all out of a class of 30.

I was one of 5 Jilted in my year at school and there are now 3 of us at work. It is just rubbish as a name because it doesn't do its job, ie identify me!

I once taught a class with 4 Bens in and they were known (by the other children) as: tall ben, ginger Ben, sporty ben and thick Ben.

In my next school I taught 3 Amys in the class. They were known as Amy X, Gobby Amy and Amy Microphone head (due to her unfortunate hair style).

That said, I don't think you can predict what names are going to turn up loads. My DD recently went to a gymnastics competition with 40 other girls her own age. In the competition there were 4 girls with her name (Eloise) which was ranked 78th the year she was born and never went higher than 75th in the 5 years before or after her birth. In contrast, there was only one Chloe there - the single most popular girls name in the year when she was born!

I had a popular name and was one of 3 in my class throughout school.

However my daughters have top 5 names and my son has a top 15 name and none of them have ever had a duplicate in their classes,

DD1 has 3 Daniels in her class and DD2 has 2 Keiras and 2 Reeces.

You cannot be certain what names will be in your children's class and should base naming your child on what you love and not to be individual because others may have the same idea as you.

I shared a name with three others at primary school. And two others at the last company I worked.

So yes, it does happen, and my name has never been #1 on the list or anything.

I never found it a problem though so it wouldn't stop me choosing a popular name.

My cousin Yasmin is also one of three in her class (aged 8 or 9). We all thought it was really original when she was born!

my mum's a reception teacher and there were 5 finn's/finleys two years ago out of 15 boys!

My son is too small for school, but at one of the playgroups we go to, there are 5 Sophia/Sofias and two Sophies.

I guess either your parents give you a name that identifies you or your friends/colleagues have to do the job for them - adding a modifer to your name if it's already used by lots of others - little Ellie, big Ellie, mean Ellie, nice Ellie etc.

Nope tis true. They are all called Ellie then there surname initial. Luckily my daughter has a really uncommon name

And 5 Ellies in Fifi's dd class - really, or are you guys making this up?!

Really, 5 Sophias and two of them with the same surname ...I bet that can get confusing!

There are 5 Sophias in my Dds class and to make it even more confusing 2 of them have the same surname too!

in the 80's i should say

5 Ellies in my 7 yr old dd's class. When i was at school in the 70's there were 5 Dawns and when my mam was at school in the 60's everyone was called either Christine or Susan.

4 Sams in my team of 8 at work!!! You get round it by giving them other descriptors - supply chain Sam, PR Sam...but can't be very nice for them!

There were two taliesins in my ds's preschool.

Gosh that made me laugh.

sleepy womabt - I'm Alice and when I was growing up I never met another one!!!!

in dd's class of 23 there are 3 x Corey, 2 x Megan, 2 x Ellie, 2 x Daisy 2 x Jessica and a Mali, a Mille and a Maile

when ds was in nursey ('05 - 06) there were 4 x Cameron

This problem has caused me quite a bit of grief this pregnancy..(I'm 35wks with my 4th.. a boy.) hence we've chosen a SERIOUSLY unusual name for our son that we also think is lovely and that can be shortened to a more normal name that's currently in the top 100, (though not top 50 at the mo!)
Has given us so much grief as my oldest two Daughters (who are 13 & 11) were named Sophie & Emily and since Emily started nursery and I discovered she was one of 4 in her group..(one of 2 Emily A's!) I've regretted the decision. We were going to call our Son Alfie after DH's Dad but once I realised it's in the top 5 in the UK I changed my mind!

I did find it bloody annoying being one of several (at least two) in my class at school (very popular 70s name). Even now at work customers/colleagues don't remember me easily and I am envious of those with more unique (by that I mean nice normal name just not as overused as mine) names. No, Peachy, it doesn't kill anyone having to share your name, but it makes life that little bit harder/tedious imo.

It didn;t matter to me in the famous 8 of 13 class.

I changes the spelling of my name to drop the e so I always got my homework back and that was that really.

Sister's two best friends had same name (Nicola) as her and that killed nobody either.

Seeker, how can you say "it doesn't matter" ?

I work as a teaching assistant and can tell you it is a pain in the xx to have two or three kids with the same name, worse if they share the same surname initial. It is a pain for us teachers and most kids imo prefer to have their 'own' name.

But it doesn't stop at childhood. We recently had our bathrooms renovated and the tiler, the plumber and the electritian were all called Steve... very confusing!

I think we sometimes forget WHY we name a person (or a thing for that matter) - it is to identify someone or something, not really achieved by choosing a name already used by thousand others.

There were 4 of us with the same name (Elizabeth) in my class of 24 at primary school. The teacher said that she would call us by name and then the first initial of our surname - but there were then two Elizabeth B's and two Elizabeth S's. So we were known as Elizabeth, Libby, Beth and Liz.

At school and uni there have always been lots of Katherines in my year group (but not always the same spelling)