chosen popular name

I work in a school - 250 kids. My DC are at school - 350 kids. Youngest DC is at Nursery - 30 kids.

I know a few Olivias but not that many really consideriing how many DC I know. Bear in mind DC also know children at cubs, Guides, netball, gym, rugby etc.. too.

Probably about 2 or 3 Olivias out of all those children.

Olivia may well be top of the popularity lists but that doesn't mean there are that many really!

Don't worry, they short it out when they start school etc.

We have a horde of Isabelles at ballet, they very quickly shared the various nn about and are very much individuals.

Anyway even relatively unusual names can cause trouble. High school suddenly realised Y7 had two "Julie Roberts". They were the only "Julies" in the whole school and they happened to have a moderately common local surname. Given the complete look of shock on the teachers face I'm not actually sure school realised there were two of them.

If you want to go the nn route and want to avoid the obvious ones, I know an Olivia who is known as Polly. Vivi might also work?

I think Olivia is a lovely name.

It's not that common where I am - I'm pretty sure (99%) that there is no Olivia in ds's school of 200 pupils. There are, however, loads of children called Ava or Ella, or, for the boys, Charlie or Henry.

FWIW, I had a name that was unusual at the time I was growing up (although it is very popular with babies and toddlers at the moment and I always envied the children with a more popular name like Samantha or Sharon (of whom there were loads in my school).

As for what you could do... think of an unusual nickname. Use her midlle name, either alone or with Olivia - e.g. Olivia Rose.

my dd is olivia... She was born this year and if she'd been a boy sh'd have been oliver. We didn't know at the time it was the most popular name and now we know we don't care because we love the name! We hyphenate her first name as dp wanted her to be named after his aunt who sadly passed away when she was very young, but not directly (if that makes sense)
She sometimes gets shortened to livvy or liv, but me and dp usually end up just calling her vee
Olivia is a beautiful name and its irrelevant how many other people have the name because its your dds name and she's special... She might share a na$e with someone but it won't mean she's the same!

I am in danger of outing myself but here goes I have a 4 year old Olivia, she has just had her induction at primary school. Out of a huge intake of P1s she's the only Olivia, she was the only one in nursery school as well.

The popularity of the name doesn't bother me in the slightest, I picked it because I loved it when she was born, I know there are allegedly lots but I've yet to stumble across them. She gets Liv sometimes but not Livvy.

Olivia is a beautiful name, but if you are worried about its popularity then maybe start to call her by a less common nickname (livvy, lia, viva)

You might find that once she starts school there actually aren't that many of them.

Olivia is a lovely name. I only know of two, and that's out of loads of wee ones across preschool ages.
Be confident in your choice and the reasons you chose it. I do understand, we picked a name for dd2 that wasn't ranked very highly on the charts (60's or therabouts i think, not top twenty but a slight variation on a name that has been very top ten for ages i think) when we chose it and we chose it because we loved it and its meaning. Ever since she was born i have been hearing of other wee girls with the same name and on another thread on here asking for the four most popular baby names in your local area it must be one of the most commonly appearing ones.
However, we chose it because we love it! And i guess the other parents did the same, there are worse things that could happen!! Your daughter is so much more than a name!

Olivia is lovely. Really beautiful. I have only met one baby down here called Olivia so it is not popular everywhere! X

Popular names are popular for a good reason - congratulate yourself that you chose a name that so many other people think is beautiful too! She has a classic name that will allow her to become who ever she wants to be in life - whether she chooses to be a rock star or a hair dresser or a Judge, it will suit her perfectly.

Oh Olivia is lovely. :)
I have an Eve who is seven so at the peak of popularity. Within her class there are 3 variations. It doesn't bother her at all. Sometimes I wish she had a more unusual name but the other names we liked are equally popular :o
It''ll just be one of those things, she has a popular name, so what?

Does she like her name?

Maybe try and focus on what it was you liked about the name when you chose it - I'm hoping here you didn't choose it simply because you thought it was unpopular!

Or could you call her by a nickname? Like say Millie instead of Amelia for instance?

(and Frontpaw, Jane was a name I was considering for DS if he'd been a girl, and it was something like 1000 th most popular in 2010)

me too peachy!! the suspense is killing me!

I don't think that popularity is a good reason to regret a name. You like it or you don't, do you regret it for any other reasons? Do you not like the name?

Am mega curious now about name!

Does she have a middle name that is less widely used?

How old is she? If she is under age 1 then you can change it easily.

If she's older, how about you find a cool nickname?

Hi, I understand how you feel as my daughter, aged three, also has a name that has become much more popular since we named her. It does get to me sometimes but my partner thinks it is not an issue and says we (he) would have called her that regardless as it is the best name!

I know it is silly and cannot explain why exactly it bothers me, as she is very much her own person anyway, as someone has said, and even if a name is popular there are still probably less than 2 or even one percent of babies born with that name per year. In my case, I am a natural worrier and need something to focus my worry on and (as my partner has pointed out) this is what my brain chooses to fix on when there is nothing else to worry about (so actually I should be pretty happy!)

When it comes down to it, she is 3, she knows her name, it is her and it is too late to change it. Just try to remember all the very good reasons you chose that name in the first place.

Is it a fairly common name or did you name her something that has become common over the past few years (so Jane or Lily?). As long as its not Jordan, we'll forgive you.

PS my husband also thinks i'm crazy b/c of my indecisiveness. Men just don't understand!!!

Oops..i meant if she's 3.5 years then give her a cool nn or (or use middle name).

If she's 3.5 weeks, change her name or go by middle name. If she's 3.5 years then give. Having said this, my aunt adopted her daughter at the age of 2.5y and gave her an Estonian name (she had been given a Canadian/English name by her birth mother) and it seems it was never an issue.....
I totally sympathize as I'm having the hardest time deciding on my daughter's name....one of the names is kind of popular and I really don't want her to be one of 2 or 3 in her class (not sure why I hate the idea of this so much...I just do!!). Maybe if you tell us her names we can help think of nicknames?

DD1's name is very popular (though not as popular when she was born in 2009 as it is now) and DD2s name is becoming increasingly popular.

I used to have quite snobby views about how awful it would be to bestow a popular name, but do you know what? I couldn't give a flying fck now because we chose our daughters names because we genuinely like/d the names and they have significant meanings to us. A Squoosh quite rightly said, your little girl's personality should have usurped the quite base 'is it popular?' quandry and Nizlopi* is right to say that it would be selfish of you/confusing for her to change it now.

Let it go and just give her a cool NN or call her by her middle name. Better still, just call her by her given name and don't give her a complex about it, because at 3.5 she'll be picking up on the tiniest bits of crap you project her way.

I apologise if I sound harsh here.