Did you change name choice due to popularity?

We have a very unusual (and comedy) surname and I wouldn't want our DC to be known as on a regular basis so I would try to avoid a name which I thought there would be more than one of in a particular class.

DH loves Sophie to which I said no for the reason above but saying that, although it is in the top ten, I don't know any at all! So it is a tricky decision (for us anyway).

I almost didn't chose DS's name because it was a top 10 name. However I haved that name since I first heard it in the 90s, when it wasn't very popular at home. DS is 6 and the only one with that name in his year. The name suits him and he loves his name. Glad I stuck with it.

My eldest DS and second DS were both in the top 10 when we choose them but were both the only ones in primary school currently! My third wasn't in the 50 and he had 2 others in his two form year group!Now with DS4 he is the only one i know but interested to see if anyone in his nursery will have it! Trying to come up with a name for DD1 but am really not bothered about if its trendy or popular as long as DH and I like it! But honestly don't worry about popularity as i was one of four with the same name in my year and it didn't affect me in the slightest!

I'd picked James for ds1, which was perfect as I wanted something that would not date, wasn't too well used, you couldn't tell the person's age by the name and everyone could spell it (my surname at the time was a nighmare to spell). He was due in May, in April two friends who didn't know each other had boys and called them James.

I changed and I have never regretted it.

My DS was the only one (with his name) in the whole of his primary school, but now he's in Y7 at secondary there are 3 others in his year
We have chosen a fairly popular name for dd which may well date her to a certain era - like the "Rose"s of a couple of generations back.
But we still like it and so does she which matters most

It's all very regional as well. I have an Olivia (shes in her second year of primary school - 6) She's the only one in her year, was the same in nursery whereas I'm tripping over Aoifes, Caras, & Nells . I don't know any Olivias myself, none in our family, none in the street, none of our older child's friends etc, so to me & our family Olivia was uncommon enough .

I have to say I completely disagree with gruffalosfriend. In my dd's year group, there are very few " top 20" names at all, and the only names which are duplicated are those which are far less common. In fact my dd's name was outside the top 500 for her year of birth and there is another in her class. She also attends a sports class where 3 girls share the same v unusual name (different to my dd's name, but statistically more unusual ) they were all born in the same school year. In my son's secondary school year group (over 100 boys), there is only one boy with the most popular name for their year of birth. You really never can tell. Even the most popular names are given to less than 1% of the babies born each year.

Yes, we tried to avoid 'fashionable' names for our kids. And no, I definately don't regret it. Agree with earlier poster that the point of naming our kids is to identify them. Whilst it can be hard to avoid being influenced by fashion (even unconsciously), I think everyone would benefit from more name diversity (especially teachers!).

Re Oscar, yes, people naming their baby today might avoid it due to popularity but in 2008/9 it WAS an adventurous choice - there weren't any, it exploded from nowhere! Friends of ours have a 5 yr old Oscar who is one of several in his class but I remember when he was born the name definitely seemed very original.

I think there's a difference between classic names - those that hover in between #50 and 20# on the list, always - and popular names in the top 10 - the ones that have a brief flurry of excitement and means that your DC may be one of 3 in their class and, as a parent, you'll be seen as a bit of a sheep. At the moment that seems to be the retro, jolly hockey sticks ones.

So, for example, I really wanted Florence Isla as a girl's name, but there are so many of both at the moment, not least the PM's DD! So we settled on Charlotte, with a more unusual middle name. And yes, there are a fair few Charlottes, but it won't be seen as being a slave to fashion, and she can always shorten it to stand out.

The name DH and I always said we'd choose if we had a daughter is currently v popular. We went ahead with it for DD and sure enough, there's another in her class. It's a bit annoying but we just couldn't find another we liked as much.

There are two girls named Pru in DS2's class and it's not even in the top 100!

"It's impossible to second guess what will be popular in your school though?"

No, it is fairly easy actually. Just have a look at the past few years' ONS data and avoid those names that are rising into/up the top 100.

There are SO many lovely underused classic names that are not currently 'fashionable' and won't sound dated in a few years time.

One of the names on my list for DS (Harris) rose from out of the top 50 to number 17 in space of two years! Some things you cant predict . This is in Scotland. I know three babies called Harris now

I have always loved Lily but that has become immensely popular so thinking of using it as a middle name if the time ever comes!

I haven't but I would deliberately avoid using popular names if I liked any of them.

I just don't understand the mentality of choosing a name from the top 20 or even 50.

Why would you want your child to have an already oversubscribed name?

There are hundreds of beautiful and underused names that aren't too out there or wacky. I'd rather my child had one of those and a wee bit of originality about them than be yet another Olivia, Oscar, Emily etc.

Yes we did. The midwife delivering told us it was too popular, and wrinkled her nose up! No I don't regret changing it.

Why is it so important that the name is not popular in your local schools? Your child may grow up and move away or work in an office with a wide range of ages.

Nah.

We've finally decided on a name for our DD3 (due Feb) that's becoming more popular than DD1&2's names, but I don't care that much.

It just feels like the "right" name to me.

It's not that common tho. I wouldn't ever give a kid of mine a name that they were likely to be sharing with friends or relatives.

It's impossible tos econd guess what will be popular in your school though? Jack was top of the lists for years and yet - there's only one Jack in our school while there are lots of oscars and Milos.... When DD was at nursery there were 2 Seths in her group!

I chose a more mainstream name for ds than dd. Deliberately. I grew up with a boy called Edwin and he was teased pretty mercilessly. Original does not always work.

we especially chose names that weren't especially popular and then had people we thought were close friends copy it - so whole rational of doing it and never having another child floating around with same name was cancelled. so there are never any guarantees. i would go with one you like.

We avoided Olivia with dd, there aren't in her year but there is one over the road. I regret more not going with Claudia as it means lame - still love that name.

In hindsight it wouldn't have mattered and was really a case of pfb - with my twin sons i picked the names and then the checked the popularity - both top 20 - and decided that i wanted the names regardless.

When I chose the name of my son (about 20 years ago!) you never heard it. A couple of years before he was born it got very popular. It bothered me a bit, but we still used it.

I realise it's weird that I decided on his name when I was a child, but I always wanted a little boy, so...

Oh and there's one Oscar in the school (very middle class Herts).

And I would be surprised if Oscar wasn't in the top used names!

A useful place to look is at the ONS lists - it shows you how often every name was used in a given year. This helps to avoid names that are already in the top 20 or so.