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

DC1 and 2 were top 20 but not top 10 when they were born. I know of others with both names but they are both the only one of that name in their year (3 classes per year, foundation and year 3). Both are known by the full versions but there are lots of shortenings they could use in the future so I am happy.

I'm not sure about DC3's name; I really like it, it was our girl name for DC2 as well and wasn't popular then but it is much more popular now and there are lots of variations and it is similar to a top 10 name. She's only 2 at the moment but I think I might regret it when she's older.

I have a very popular name of the time and its never bothered me except that my parents used the shortening and I always have to explain that the full name is not my name and I do actually know how to fill in a form.

My ds has a top 10 name and there's only one other in his school. Dd has a top 100 name and there are 4 in the school. I don't think it makes any difference, to me or the children, how popular their names are. Go with the name you love, you'll be saying it a lot.

What are the current top ten names?

DD has a top 10 name, and never regretted it for an instant. I've only met one other child with her name, and my first thought is "of course they chose it, it's such a lovely name!"

I think it depends on how much you love the name in the first place.

Also building on what Manic said, just because you have a popular name, doesn't mean that you'll meet others with that name.

M1985 - that's dd2s name too, she's the only one we know and as I said the only one in her year and there's none in the years above her and I think there's one in the years below her.

Yes.

My DD's name was number 4 in the top ten the year she was born.

10 years later it has never been out of the top ten, but we have only met 2 children with the same name (in passing) and one with a derivative of it.

I think there's a much greater range of names in common usage now (especially for girls) and therefore being top 10 doesn't matter so much.

My name was top 10 (maybe even top 5) the year I was born and there were 5 in my year at school. When I was at university I remember doing a seminar thing where there 4 of us out of maybe 10 girls. We had to have Rebecca, Becca, Becky and Bex (at least there were lots of variations available!)

Whereas one of my daughters has a top 10 (possibly top 5 again) name and is the only one in her year and one of only 3 in the whole school of about 400 children. I only know one other outside of school too.

My own name was number 1 in the year that I was born. There were 5 in my class with that name! So no, I did not choose a popular name for Ds or Dd, and I gave them each a middle name too, as I felt deprived not having one.

Common names for our 4 here. It's not caused any problems and our kids love it when they meet another one with their name :)
I have a really unusual name and hated it!

Wanted to go with Oliver for DS2 but changed my mind when I told the nursery staff and got a blank stare and 'another Oliver' look!

Not top ten when I chose them (quite unusual) but became that a few years later

Both my dc have top ten names. It doesn't bother me at all. I think it would have bothered me more if I had tried to be different and then the name went uber popular e.g. Ruby

My husband chose DD2 name, it was and still is in the top ten. I wish that we had chosen something a little less popular and there is at least one (Sophie) in every class at school.

My daughters Olivia, never regretted it. Despite it supposedly being in the top 3 I've only ever met one other and she's three years older

My name was very popular when I was at school. There were three in my class/ year. It didn't bother me at all, in fact I loved being able to buy all of the souvenirs with my name on! All three of us were called by our full names; I don't see the current need for everyone to have a different version when they're in the same class as it really wasn't that difficult to work out who people were talking to. I haven't met anyone (irl) with my name since I left school (a long time ago), and I've had a number of jobs. School is for quite a short space of time in your life.

My daughters name is quite popular but we chose it because we loved it. I'd rather a popular name that I love than one that's not popular but that we just like.

I have 3 daughters whose names are all in the top ten for 2014 (in NI). Dd1s name wasn't when she was born (she's almost 10), it's just jumped in popularity. She's not at school with anyone of the same name so it hasn't bothered her. Dd2 has a very popular name, it has been for ages. I think it was top 5 when she was born, she's the only one in her year (she's 7), she was the only one at nursery school. I think it's just one if those strange statistical blips that everyone is called it, except people we know . Dd3 has a top 10 name, but it was always very popular here so I knew that when we used it.

I've never regretted their names, as yet neither have they. I think I'd regret not using a name I loved incase someone else had it. I know 2 separate occasions where people used more unusual names then one moved house and their next door neighbours child was called the same, the kids ended up in the same class in school. And there are 2 children with the same name in one of my dds years, both sets of parents thought they were the only people in a 200 mile radius to use it.

My daughter has what was a top ten name when she was born. I chose it because I like it, and because it's a variation of my grandmother's name, and I had no idea it was popular (pre-internet) but it doesn't really matter that it's popular. She never had another one in any of her classes.
At least she got to buy things with her name on them.
My name was in the much lower half of the top 100 in and around the year I was born, and I hated being the only one with the name. Or the only one my age - it was popular about 30 years before I was born, so I knew a few my mum's age.

Out of curiosity I just went and looked up my step-dad's name (Michael), it's been in the top ten in the US for more than 70 years. And in the top five from 1950 to 2010. I knew it was a common name, but that's a bit ridiculous.

*and

The problem with getting too caught up in having an 'unusual' name is it only takes a blockbuster film/book etc and the name can shift dramatically narrow eye stare at Kate and Wills

My own name must surely have been top 10 when I was born as there are loads of us, I always had friends with this name ANC it never bothered me a bit.

Yes we chose top ten names for our girls as we liked them. I really don't care! At school I had quite an unusual name and hated being the only one, I would have loved to be called Emma (with all the thousands of others in the seventies!). Both girls have middle names and can change to those if they want to. DD1 uses a variant of her first name that is very unusual anyway (never heard anyone else use it ever!!). And despite having a popular name she has only ever had a max of one other in her school year / class. DD2 is pre-school age and will probably come across many girls with the same name, not easy to shorten it either so we may feel in time that it is more of a mistake! DS has a slightly more unusual name but we do come across others from time to time - no big deal at all!

My name was top ten. I hated having a popular name.
I've always used a nickname as a result - so be prepared for your child to 'choose' their own name.

Like nooka, top ten name for ds but only one other in UK then emigrated, and only one other in school still.

No one had heard of dd1's name at all when we chose it. Within a year every other girl baby had it. Immensely irritating, but tbh have still only ever met 2 others and she is 15!

Dd2 less used version of traditional name - we know of one other, but has never been one in school.

I have no issues with either dd1 or ds1's top ten names. In many years in the UK we still only knew a couple. It probably helped that we hung out in fairly rarified circles and every other kid was called Jocasta, Hebe or Hugo, so top ten names were an utter novelty.

My children both have names that turned out to be incredibly popular, not so much the year they were born, but ever since (I think that they are both top five now). I wouldn't have called them anything different in retrospect, but it is a cause of irritation.

However we emigrated a few years ago, and now ds's name is very unusual so it's not been an issue for him. dd shared her name with a classmate, and liked it to start off with, until she became the 'other girl with that name' and was assigned a nickname she didn't like (especially as she was at the school first and then the other girl transferred in). Now she uses the full version of her name instead as it's much less common.

When dh and I were at university there were at least ten other lads with his name and he really didn't like getting nicknamed.

DH has a really common name that can't be lengthened or shortened picked purposefully to be as bland and inoffensive as possible. He hates it. I love my very unique one.

I love DDs name, Ingrid, which is a real name but not super common where we are, but I'm considering something more 'classic' for DC2 when they're born. I now have the dilemma of not wanting to give them a 'boring' name when their sister got a cool(imo) one!

It depends if you want a more anonymous child, a Bethany A/Bethany B, or something different. It doesn't have to be ridiculous or really kooky to be a bit more exciting than the 12th Max in school. Of course if you do choose to have the 5th X in their class, they'll still be a totally individual person and a boring name doesn't equate a boring person.

My DD has a top 10 name, didn't realise it at the time (so convinced was I that I was having a boy, I let DH pick the girls name with minimal input!).

I regret it. Everything she does has a NameX and NameY to differentiate them (her pre-school had 5xchildren with her name!). It gets confusing when people retell an event then Name did this, then Name went there, then Name came in the room (oh, that was NameY). etc.

People call out her name and half a dozen children turn around...

I would choose her a different name, with the benefit of hindsight. Wonder if she will feel the same as an adult (she is 9).