Popular baby names you're bored off...

"Names become popular by being popular, don't they? The more babies that are called a name, the more people hear that name and think "that's nice, I think I might call my baby that name"."

I don't think all parents think that way. Many may choose name that isn't that widely used - not because they want to be 'special' but because they want to find a name that isn't trendy or that the child won't need his/her initial after his/her name.

Thankfully we all have different tastes. Wouldn't it be sad if we ALL had really similar tastes and ALL chose the same few names ?!

Yes, Elsie looks like it will continue to shoot up the charts. It is clearly becoming popular quickly.

But it is up to this year's and next year's parents as to whether they continue to choose it - IF many do despite the increasing popularity, then it will continue into the top 10 and eventually run the risk of becoming overused and dated. BUT parents have that choice - they can choose to avoid it if the likely popularity bothers them.

Names become popular by being popular, don't they? The more babies that are called a name, the more people hear that name and think "that's nice, I think I might call my baby that name".

Absolutely!

perhaps it's because a lot of parents don't give a stuff and just want to choose a name they love?

And what the fuck has living in London got to do with anything - DD (Ella, fyi - a beautiful name for my beautiful girl ) was at an uber MC arty media-tastic nursery in S London, and there was a complete mixture of the popular (Harry/Noah/Isla/Evie) and the obscure - many of whom didn't have quite such obscure names as their parents probably wanted them to have.

hellokitty - I'm honestly surprised how many parents are currently considering already overused names Er... ?

A parent can call their baby whatever the hell they want to. Why on earth shouldn't they call their child a currently popular name? Does a child somehow become a bit more special by having a less popular name?

Only on mumsnet are the only acceptable names either William / Edward / Catherine / Elizabeth etc or Iago / Wolf / Persephone / Clytemnestra

Very true.

Names become popular by being popular, don't they? The more babies that are called a name, the more people hear that name and think "that's nice, I think I might call my baby that name".

Popularity is definitely not a bad thing at all, though it seems that the cycles of popularity make many people quite easy to age by their name alone - I expect a Laura or a Dave to be in their 30s or 40s, because I grew up with so many of them, I expect a Phil to be in their 60s because that's my dad's name etc. Just like in a few decades time people will expect most Harry's to have been born c.2010, most Amelia's c.2015.

I can't think of a single very popular (i.e. top 20) name of the past decade or so that I don't like. Names tend to become popular because they are nice. They might not be someone's personal taste but they are still nice names.

Re people commenting on names on boards like this, though, that's just pretty normal. If everyone like every name out there it would be a weird, weird world and we'd all probably be called the same thing.

You're over simplifying, hellokitty. Just avoid the top 10 or 20?

Many people won't know positions of names in the top 100. Many will not care (I'm in latter category)

Just one example. Elsie was outside the top 100 in 2010. Now it's at number 47. In just four years!

"Wouldn't then you have to be really good at predicting future popular names in order to avoid the overused name scenario in the future? Choose something then which has never been popular, or likely to be?"

No, just avoid names that are already in the top 10 or top 20. I'm honestly surprised how many parents are currently considering already overused names. People on these threads even ask whether it's ok to use the name of their nephew or best friends' kids - as if there weren't any other options!!

"Isabella and Lily to me were always 'posh' names and have been spoiled by being given to 'non-posh' children, especially when you hear them shouted in a rough glaswegian accent!"

I mentioned it was only part of the 'problem'. Yes, people are still using it after it becomes popular.
There could be many reasons for this; family connections, don't have any idea about name chart position, don't care about name chart position and so on, and so on.

I still think you need to be able to predict trends (maybe use ONS if you really care about such things, I don't personally) to try and avoid your unusual name becoming popular in the near/far future.

What a stupid thread. Names are popular because they are nice and people want to call their children nice names - however they might define nice. Taste fluctuates and surely anything can be dated by its popularity at a moment in time.

My daughter has a name that has been mentioned a lot here but we like it, she suits it, it has meaning for us and people know how to pronounce and spell it. What's the problem?

I'd much prefer that to some bullshit made up word, and I don't really like very traditional names either. They're just not my taste.

Only on mumsnet are the only acceptable names either William / Edward / Catherine / Elizabeth etc or Iago / Wolf / Persephone / Clytemnestra etc.

I also doubt very much that parents name their babies just to copy everyone else - popularity is simply a consequence of being much liked.

Noah. Isbabella. Isla. Edie. Ava. Oscar.

Lovely names but so boring now!

I like isabella and lily, unfortunately they do lose their appeal the more you hear it.

Isabella and Lily to me were always 'posh' names and have been spoiled by being given to 'non-posh' children, especially when you hear them shouted in a rough glaswegian accent!

But it is people STILL choosing Isabel after it is already popular that makes it become overused.

"I wish parents were more open to names outside the top 100 - there are so many beautiful, interesting sounding names to choose from!!"

But that's part of the trouble surely. Isabel, and many of the so called overused names on here, were outside the top 100, approx 20 years ago.

Wouldn't then you have to be really good at predicting future popular names in order to avoid the overused name scenario in the future? Choose something then which has never been popular, or likely to be.

"I wish women would stop being so disdainful of other women's choices."

This is a board for people to express their opinions. The op asked us a questions and we're answering. These opinions are no more disdainful than the many responses to more unusual names, calling them 'pretentious', 'strange' or 'too foreign sounding'.

Names that are overused round here include

Ellie/Evie/Sophie/Izzy/Lilly/Amelia/Amelie/Emily
Alfie/Jack/Harry/Oliver/Finn/Charlie/Sam

It is a shame, really, that what starts of as a nice name becomes so trendy and fashionable that people tire of it and it starts to sound dated. It's also annoying for the children who end up being Ellie R or Ellie A, or worse, big Ellie, little Ellie or whatever else other kids come up with.

There are SO many great names - just look at the ONS lists of ALL names given last year - literally 1000s of them. Even the top 100 make up less than 10%!

When DD was born in 2008, her name was 146 in the top 200 names and her middle name was around 57. They are now around 193 and 94. Her name is not that unusual, but it is pretty and it is not common around here. Yet in her swimming class there is another girl with the same name, which they both think is hilarious :)

In her class she has 3 Jack's, 3 Zack's (all spelt different), 2 Charlie's and 2 Emily's.

When we named her we wanted to go for something different, that there wouldn't be another 3 of in the same class.

I have noticed around here that all the old names from my grandparents generation are coming back again, Elsie, Eliza, Rosie, Mary, Maggie, .

I don't suppose that there will be many called Agnes, Gladys, Doris though!

My name isn't that common, but it is a 70's name and there were at least 3 of us in my year at school. I went out for a meal a while ago and the phone rang and they said it's for XXX and four of us jumped up saying, that's me! lol. But no babies are called my name now.

But so what Kerala? If they absolutely love the name and/or want to use it for family reasons why is that so odd?

Any anyway, not sure why you think some of these names are so common anyway.

I know one Evie, one Jack, one Harry, one Isobel. Don't know any child called Eve, eva, Isobel, Sophie, Jack, Harry, Amy, Amelia. Can't be that overused.

I wish women would stop being so disdainful of other women's choices.

What surprises me is that so many parents are influenced by fashion when it comes to naming their children. And that they still choose a trendy name when it is already used by so many, even by their friends' kids (see other threads asking about using their friends' names).

This overuse of top 20 names leads originally lovely, fresh sounding names to becoming overused, dull and eventually dated sounding. What is Clare, Michelle, Sharon, Michael, Andy in the 70s is now Evie, Sophie, Izzy, Jack, Charlie and Alfie.

I wish parents were more open to names outside the top 100 - there are so many beautiful, interesting sounding names to choose from!!

My father and pretty much every one of his friends (similar-ish age/class) are all named John its quite funny.

Just find it odd that people don't realise that choosing Eve/Ella/Amelia is the equivalent to our generations Sarah/Kate/Claire. In any group of mid-late thirties women I guarantee at least one if not more will have one of these names and it will be the same with the current top 10.

moment

I know what you mean, but Margaret isn't underused though really. It's top ten within the older generations. Just not extremely popular with this current one...yet

I think it's easy (well, one reason, going by my theory) to see why some names become so popular. Just look at this thread, some of the names given as less popular or underused, might not be top 100, but aren't actually very uncommon at all and they're soaring in popularity at rate of knots.

The Betsy/Bessie/Betty names are super popular here at the

I feel sad that so many lovely names are so over used at the moment.

Eva/Evie/Eve - so classic and such beautiful names, but they're everywhere.
The same with Isabel/lla, Ava, Olivia, Ella and Poppy. They are really lovely names and I like them a lot, but because they're now so commonplace, it takes away from their beauty for me because they've become like Sarah or Nicola when I was at school.