Why do people rule names out on popularity?

Agree Eolian, but there's also a very wide middle ground between being called an overused top 10 name and calling your child FiFi-Trixie-Pixie-Mae-Belle.

There are hundreds of lovely 'classic' names which aren't used. A friend just called her little girl Claudia. Probably not a name I'd pick, but most definitely a real name and not ridiculous or try hard, but also unlikely to have 6 in her class.

No, of course it's no 'big deal, having 3 Harrys in a class, but it would be a lot easier if all children had their own name.

And the argument that the only alternative to a common name is a weird unspellable one is ridiculous. There are literally thousands of lovely normal easy to spell/pronounce names to choose from!

I have a very popular surname now that I've married, so I don't want to curse children with the same problem I now have with my top 10 forename.

It causes mass confusion at the doctor, dentist, hairdressers and even at work as I'm not the only one of me.

I've taught umpteen classes with multiples of the same name (including one with 3 boys called Harry this morning). If you look at the one you're talking to, they tend to know it's them! It's really not a big deal, and each child is very much their own person. I'd much rather call my child a classic name than a try-hard, 'unique' one.

It's a nightmare for teachers, having 4 Harrys in class, 2 of which share the same (common) surname!

There are lots of reasons:

First, names are meant to identify. Being named Steven, Jack, Sophie or Ellie makes this very difficult if not impossible (without adding a modifier)

Second, fashionable names eventually fall out fashion and become dated.

Third, common names just sound a little dull after hearing it all the time by so many!

My name was very popular in the generation before mine.
So never come across anyone in my school with my name. But it did seem like all the boys I fancied mum's had my name. They was always put off me because I had the same name there mothers.
Since I've been of working age I've always been known by my full name because I work with several generations hence several people with my name.
Didn't really think about that when I have my dd a name that was more popular in my generation than hers

I'm not keen on overly popular names for a few reasons

1. When baby Teddy/Noah/Amelia is announced, it's just all a bit bland because the names be heard so many times before
2. I don't want my child to be known as Oliver L or Sophia P for their entire school lives. Or even beyond - we had so many Anna's at work that even after they'd all left, the one remaining was still known as Anna J due to force of habit!

I just think there's so many lovely names to choose from, why go for a top 10 names from a list of thousands. It's fine if that's what people want to do, but it's not for me.

I do think the variety of names used is greater today though as when I was at school it was literally just Sarah, Emma, Becky, Vicky, Nicky, Claire, Rach, Joanne, Jenny, Laura, Kate and boys were Steve, Paul, Andy, Chris, Mike, Mark and Dave ( I think all my friend's husbands have these names)!!! I think it is more normal to have an unusual name today even though a lot of names are still duplicated.

My name was and is really unusual (unless you live in Scandinavia), people seem a lot more accepting of unusual names these days I have noticed! Unless people are more polite as you get older of course!!!

When I was at school there were several incidences of duplicated names.
They were known as Firstname Middlename Surname (village name).
There was confusion too. Sarah Wilson Smith getting confused with Sarah Wilson etc.

I really like my name. It's fairly unusual but not very very rare - I've come across two other women with the same name during my life, plus one celebrity. So I don't have to explain / spell it all the time, but I'm always the only person with my name in a group situation (school, uni, work etc). Perfect

My dh has an unusual name he says he wished he was John or Craig he has spent 40odd years explaining his name to everybody

I was 1 of 10 in my year at school it was fine it is a name of late 60s early 70s it really didn't bother me

I dont actually think there is a million lovely names tochoosefrom and using a popular name does't make the name dull or your child less unique naming my own children i chose names I liked and Dds were the only ones in their School years but they were still common names that girls have .

There were 8 girls with my name in a year of 70 students when I went to secondary school, 3 in my class alone. My parents thought my name was unusual, it was in the top 5 the year I was born! It's not really a big issue but it would bother some people.

My DD is named after DPs late nana and as such it is a typical 'little old lady' name but it hasn't had quite the resurgence as others from that era have had of late, she is unlikely to meet another as it wasn't in the top 100, but that wasn't intentional.

Sarah is one of only two female names that has been in the England & Wales Top 100 list every year since the lists began. The other is Elizabeth.

On that basis alone, Sarah is not dated, it's one of the very few timeless names. It's always been there or thereabouts.

Yes it was more popular in the late 70's/80's, but is has never gone away.

Claire on the other hand, which was usually the #1 name in the years Sarah wasn't, found itself languishing =#984 in 2015. Now that HAS dated.

I agree with While. Until very recently Sarah was one of the very few names that didn't date a person. You find Sarahs in every generation. Sarah has dipped a little in popularity lately, but is still in the top 100.

It can work otherwise as well.3 of mine have names that weren't popular.But when they where born the names just went boom.

Dylan,I got in just before it was popular but the amount of Dylan's was unreal.

Logan,same he's the only Logan in his class but his younger brothers class there's 2. Younger brother is called Zak, and there's another Zack in his class. But I wouldn't class Zak as a popular name.
I have a Ryan who has been on the top ten since 2008 and yet I don't know another one.

I'm not keen on 'of their time' popular names e.g. Laura / Sarah in the 1980s purely as I think they date. I do like a lot of classic popular names now

Interestingly, either one or both Sarah and Laura feature in the top 100 girls' names as far back as 1850. The 1930's was the only decade I can find where neither of them were in the 100. To me, as a child of the 60's, they are truly classic, timeless names. There were aged in my classes at AZ cool and of course, the main character in A Little Princess is a Sarah. To me, some of the names that are popular today are names that belong firmly in my grandparents era and are notnames I would ever have considered using.
My own dcs have names that are more popular now than when dcs were born, but which were chosen to reflect their heritage rather than for their popularity.

Very classic names have cycles certainly- so they'll become less popular and then have a resurgence. But they are not as datable as Sharon, Tracey, Gary etc.
My son has a traditional name that is quite popular at the moment, but since I know a 35 year old with him name (and have heard of but haven't met personally quite a feeble others who are 30 something with that name) and I know people in my own family who had that name a century + a go, I use it knowing it won't date terribly. Yes it will go from Top 20 to Top 50 again at some point though.

I also have a traditional, cyclical name but it was going through a bit of a lull when I was called it and is super popular amongst 5 year olds now. I like the name. Can't do me any harm that it's not datable (well it kind of is datable but puts me at a LOT younger than I am!).

Because as a kid I hated being Maisy P and not just Maisy.

I have an uncommon name as my surname is Smith so my parents though they'd make me not be one one many and I hated it. At school I was desperate to be a Sarah or Michelle. It really annoys me as everyone always comments on it. As a result I gave my children nice bog standard names.

I was 23 before I met someone else with the same name as me.

My DH was one of five with the same name in his class including two with the same initial for surname which made things complicated.

We've chosen an unusual but not made up name for our DS and I actively avoided the top 100 as I figured even those at 90something would rise up the chart.

I know more than ten Olivers and six Oscars!

It's just preference.

I have an unusual name thats never been in the top 100 here. At times I hated it (the unpopularity of it) but I'm ok with it as an adult although I've never really loved the name. I went to school with dozens of Sarah's and Louises though and I never wanted to need to have my surname initial to identify me in a class. I was at primary with two "Matt S" in my class at one point so they had to get full names all the time. I do have a boring very common surname to balance things out though.

I also had a friend with a very common first name and not overly common but not unheard of surname and she went to uni with someone who shared her first name, surname, hall of residence and degree subject!

I would rather be a timeless Oliver than a wacky and different but going to sound ridiculous in a decade Arlo.

Because when I was at school we had Karen C, Karen G, Karen Mc and Karen S in my class.