Did you choose a popular (top ten) name? Do you regret it?

Haven't read the thread but I chose a less common - but not unusual - name for DD1. In top 100 but only just.

Out of 60 kids in her reception year, there were two others with the same name.

So popularity of.name will have som e bearing, but it could go completely the other way!

Here's a good name which is dying out

Hakluyt, it may also be that the less posh people are more confident don't give a toss and call their kids what they like rather than having to have a 'classic' name or worry that people will think their name is 'chavvy'.

Tbh, I have never met a un-posh person who was worried that another child in their class would have the same name and therefore named their child 'Jayden'. Tons of Jaydens around.

I think people think that coincidences are less frequent than they actually are. Dd has a name that was very unusual until it became very popular in the early 2000s, but there were 3 in her year 7 form.

I also think (dons tin hat) that it's a class issue. The posher you are the less you are likely to be bothered by your child having the same name as someone else- you might even think it's a good thing. At my Dd's grammar school, the only two vaguely unusual names in her year were Cherry and Kismet. And Kismet tried to keep it quiet and called herself Kizzy. At ds's much less posh school there are loads of made up names and unique spellings. Makes birthday cards a minefield.

We chose top 10 names for all three of our children. Partly because I like classical names. Popular names are usually popular because they are nice. I Also feel that you ought to give your children a name that will never embarrass them and is suitable for all circumstances. For eg Kate is a nice name for the future Queen Mum, whereas Chelsy was just wrong. When people have exciting weird names, occasionally it is spot on for the child, but more than not it is a bit like tattoos, you can date people within a 5 year bracket.

Then we had practical considerations. We are a bilingual family so the names needed to work in both languages. Our surname is long so we had to choose a shortish first name. Our surname starts with a vowel so we had to chose a name that did not run from the first to the surname. SIL had chosen themed names for her children so we needed names that did not fit her theme....

At then end of the day, we only had about 5 or 6 that were right. I like the names we chose for our 2 boys, they suit them, but I am not so sure about the name for DD. Sophie has been extremely popular, there are 2 in her class and at one point about 5 in our street. But then I still don't know, 8 years later, which name would have been better.

I think you can't go wrong with choosing a name that you genuinely love, regardless of its popularity, without trying to be clever about it.

Ratmort, I agree. I can't believe my ds is the only Oliver in his school (a 4 class intake!), but he is! We are in a metropolitan areas. There's 2 Mohammeds in his class and used to be 2 Adams, but no other Olivers in the whole school! (We are moving soon, out into the burbs, so he may have to become Oliver Surname).

awwww Hak, c'mon, little 'Tiggy' would have been so cute!

Sounds like she had a lucky escape, Sunny!

Either at nursery or amongst friends with daughters, I know at least one girl under age 10 with a name from the 2014 top ten list, except the name Chloe. The children at nursery with the same names are known by their first and surnames, to each other and the staff. I do know some children with uncommon names too. Most of those are the only ones I know with that name, including my own DD. I think if you really love a name then just go for it. Our name criteria was something that sounded familiar but actually not often used, it was around the 800-900's on lists in the last few years and we've not come across another yet.

yep top ten name here - I had no idea, I just liked it.

If I could go back I would call her Tallulah or Antigone.
It is Sophie by the way .

Yes.
For both boys
Ds1 is nearly 13 and it's only been this year that here has been another child with his name in his class.
Ds2 has never been in school with another child with the same name....in fact there isn't another boy with his Name in the whole school!
Lots of Jayden's, Mitchell's, Alexander's, kaydens, Joshua's, Ethan's.....

Yes, but they're not evenly distributed, so its not as if you can think 'Oh, statistically, there's not likely to be another Jack in my Jack's class' with any certainty. I've no idea whether there are regional stats for name frequency, but in my own experience (lived in London when I had my son, now live in the rural Midlands), there's a far greater variety of names in metropolitan areas - related to ethnic diversity in part, but also to greater cultural self-confidence, and also of course just the fact that naming your child something 'unusual' is usual.

When my son was born, the NCT coffee mornings I took him to had babies called Soren, Thiago, Ferdinand, Ace, Miranda, Mohamed etc. at the local toddler groups in the surrounding villages where I live now, the children are named from a much smaller group of names - they seem virtually all to be Harry, George, Louis, Jack, Isabel/Izzy/Belle/Bella, Lily, Kitty, Emilia/Amelia/Millie etc.

Yes I did, no I don't regret it at all. I really cannot identify in any way with the urge for an unusual name.

My daughter is called Sophie - very popular, one of three in her class at primary. I think she quite liked being one of the Sophies - certainly never objected. She's a very distinctive individual so didn't need an unusual name to differentiate her (does anyone???) and actually it probably helped her fit it.

I'm a Katherine/Kate. There are loads of us of my age. Even more so as I get older as it seems to be particularly popular in my area of work for some reason. Again, I quite liked it when I was younger and I'm indifferent now. Again, I don't think that having a popular name in any way undermines my individuality.

Far, far preferable as a child to a very unusual name in my opinion.

Having said that, I might feel slightly differently if we had a very popular surname. I can see it might be slightly inconvenient to be confused with someone else. I believe we are the only family in the country with our surname. My maiden name was not particularly unusual but not particularly widespread either.

"DH picked the names for both our kids and they are totally generic. Every other little girl and boy we meet has the same name."

As I said, even the most popular name is only 1 in 50- you must be very unlucky, even if they are Oliver and Sophia!

DH picked the names for both our kids and they are totally generic. Every other little girl and boy we meet has the same name.

I'm still secretly resentful about this. It's not like the names I would have picked were totally out there, just a bit less common. But DH is a very stubborn man and post-birth I just didn't have the energy to hold out against him.

A friend of mine has an uncommon name, but for the 6 years of secondary school she was in her class register right next to a girl with the same spelling and had two others in the year with an alternative spelling of the same name!

Even if you pick the top boy's name, that's only one baby boy in 50- so you'd be pretty unlucky to have another one in the same class.......

Even if you do choose a top ten name, you're still pretty unlikely to meet another one- there are lots of names out there!

My dd1 and dd2 both have top 10 names. My DS has a name that was outside of the top 50 when he was born and dd3s name was outside of the top 10 and, guess what, dd1 has never been in a class (or year group) with another child of the same name-Emily, although we do know several Emmas. Dd2 is Olivia and we know only one other, who is a year older than her. DS is Henry. This was in position 54 when he was born and we have come into contact with several Henry's, although none in his year group. Dd3 is Isabella, we know a few but this hasn't put me off at all. All of my Dc love their names and people only ever comment on how lovely they are. I firmly believe that popular names are popular for a reason-because they are lovely names :-)

Dd's name was number one for years and DS was up there too. It didn't bother me in the least. Dd was only one of two in a school of over 1000 and very few with DS's name.

I don't know, I hear people say that, but there was a huge variation of names when I was growing up (I'm 40).

I went to school with girls called Tarlei, Shayla, Raneah, Ingrid, Inga, Odette, Odile, Bridgette, Kerryn, Berenice, Karma ... and these are just off the top of my head. Way more varied and unusual than many of the same old names you hear these days!!

Right - totally outed myself on the back of that little list - off to name change!

I have a top 10 name (think it was no.2 the year I was born) and Ive always hated it as I know soooooo many especially as its been popular for so long. I was one of 4 with the same name in a college class once! I wish Id had the confidence to change it when I was younger.

Having said that I don't think the popular names these days are as popular as previous decades as there seems to be more variation these days so probably less likely to end up in a class with other children with the same name. My daughters name ranks about 300 the year she was born and yet there is another one at the crèche she goes to so sometimes you dnt know how popular names are in a certain area.

I must say as an Amy growing up in the 80s I avoided top 10 names for my own children as was always one of many at school, college, work, uni etc and didn't like it.
My friend has named her son the number one name and yes she does regret it a bit.

Yes both times, I didnt realise because DDs name was not as popular as it is now when she was born and I worked in a school when I was pregnant with DS but it was a very diverse school and no one had his name. I picked them as they were names I had always loved and I still do.

My name on the other hand is very unusual so is both of my middle names, I didnt even need a surname. I absolutely hated it growing up, I was bullied at school, one reason was because of my names, someone found out my middle names and I was crucified because of them

We gave DS1 a top ten name.....I wasn't keen, but DH insisted. I don't regret it - it's actually a great name, and suits DS1. At one point he was one of two in his class, but now he's at high school, I think there are only two in the year....but about 5 Milos, which would have been my choice of name.

We gave DS2 an unusual name, just in the top 100. It's now in the top 10, and there are is a variant spelling, which although not popular nationwide, is very popular around here....to the point where school have spelled DS2s name the other way, and a boy at school who spells his name the other way has told DS his name is spelled wrong!!!!

DD has a name which I knew was fast climbing the rankings, and it's now top ten. Honestly, if I'd known it was going to be so popular I would have called her something else. I do love her name, but there is another in her year at school, and also a girl with the shortened version. But then all the names I liked when DD was born shot up in popularity.

I seem to be such a trend setter with names, that my SIL asked if I liked the names on her baby list and avoided the ones I did so her DC didn't end up one of two in the class.

My name was very unusual when I was growing up, but it was in the top ten for quite a few years recently...not sure if it still is.