Name Popularity

I agree with the random factor. My daughter has a name way below the top 100 in popularity and there is still another one in her year at school and one in the year above! Some names are popular in certain areas or social classes, regardless of how many there are overall. Also, you never know which names will suddenly shoot up the popularity chart - you might start a trend!

Robyn is lovely and so is Toby.

Imogen seems to be rather popular at the minute and there's a high chance your child would be in a class with at least another Imogen, Robyn on the other hand I've not heard many of for the past 10+ years. I do remember it being popular when I was in school, with 4 girls named it in my year (I'm 27 though), however only heard it on 2-3 times on children over the last decade.

Felix I've not yet come across too many but I do know many people who had it as a potential name before picking something else, so this could hint towards a rise in popularity.
Toby is my son's name and I picked it for the same reasons you say; it's not an unusual name or even a dated name (I've come across boys and men of all ages called Toby) but not a huge amount. In fact since my son was born I've only actually come across 3 under 10 and they all went to different schools.

All the names you listed are nice though, but I'd veer towards Robyn for a girl and Toby for a boy if you want to decrease the chances of your child ending up sharing their name with many other kids in school.

London.

Several each of Felix and Toby (including two in a class). Couple of Imogens. No Robyns (know one who is young adult).

Only one Olivia.

Which would be worse, picking a name you love which is quite popular and expecting her to have others around. Or picking something less frequently encountered, but sod's law leading to another in the same class/Brownie pack etc?

Totally agree that there seems to be a massive issue with giving a girl a popular name! Like some kind of added pressure to be a bit different. Didn't realise this added pressure exisited until naming DD1

London. I know one Robyn and 2 Felixes.

I should also add that I have never come across the almost mythical Olivia! Ever!

I think it depends very much on where you live. I live in the kind of aching hip area where everyone bends over backwards not to give their children a popular name, plus lots of non-Brits. And particularly for girls, there's clearly some kind of issue with giving your DD a popular name that's not there for boys.

Lots of Tobys and Imogens around in the South-east at the moment. Know a couple of Felixes and no Robyns.

So 1 in 100 babies called Oliver. If all the Oliver's were spread evenly across the country, that would be (roughly) 1 Oliver in every 3 classes

Unless you're in an all boys school

My daughter's name was around the bottom of the top 50 in the year she was born. There's been another in her year most years, and we know a few others. however it's a fairly classic name and well represented in every generation; I think some in the top 100 are more likely to date. If going for a very popular name maybe choose an unusual middle name?

Probably safest to choose a name outside the top 100. There are SO many classic lovely names within the top 500! Yes, any name might rise into the top 10 but you're reducing the likelihood by avoiding an already trendy name.

Incidentally, this year, DS1's infant school produced a tea towel that had a self portrait of every child in the nursery and infant school.

There's 2 classes with duplicate names - one of those names was ranked at about no. 15 and the other name ranked at about no. 25 in the years when those children would have been born.

We felt the same, so avoided any 'trends'. We looked at classic names which have been around for a hundred years and have never had a revival as such. Anything in the top 10 will go out of fashion quickly.

10 years ago we chose a name that I had only ever known 1 person (adult) with, and didn't feature at all highly in the top 100. In the last 7 or 8 years it has been a consistent feature in the top 5 names, and there are several other children in the small school with it too......... so, plans to be 'different but not too different' can go awry! I still love the name though....... :-)

If you look at the actual statistics - Oliver was the most popular baby name in England and Wales in 2015 (official statistics for 2016 not released yet). The darkgreener website, which uses the official ONS stats, says that 1% of all babies born in England and Wales in 2015 were called Oliver. (The most popular girls name, Amelia, was given to 0.75% of babies)

So 1 in 100 babies called Oliver. If all the Oliver's were spread evenly across the country, that would be (roughly) 1 Oliver in every 3 classes.

The Oliver's won't be spread evenly - there'll be some areas with lots more Oliver's than others - but when you consider that nationally, only 1% of babies are an Oliver, you're certainly not likely to find two or three in every class. And that's for the most popular name in the country.

Your child will of course be less likely to meet other children with their name if you pick an unusual name - but I wouldn't let popularity put me off if I liked a top 10 name, because the wider range of names used these days means that top 10 names are less popular now (in terms of how many babies are called them) than they were a few decades ago.

(I know 2 Imogen's and 1 Toby, all 7 yrs old)

If it helps, my daughter's name (at the time) was around half way in the top 100 and she is the only in her class.

Agree that's it's just luck really, and regional differences in popularity. What mammabear said above is about right I'd say, as a general guide.

Here (East Mids), Imogen and Toby seem to be much more popular than Robyn and Felix (lovely choices by the way), but I also know 3 Annabellas, 3 Hectors and 3 Ottos, all of which you'd expect to be much less popular than that in theory.

I'm a teacher: secondary

I know two Robyns (baby, primary age)
A couple of Imogens (primary age)
I have about one Toby in each class
I have a class with two Felixes, another with none.

I think upper end of Top 100, you're likely to find two or three in each class. Lower end, maybe one per year.

There's a random element too. My friend gave her baby a name which is outside the top 100, but even so there happens to be another girl with the same name in her class!

The reality is that statistics give you an idea of a name's popularity across a whole region but you can't reliably predict if a particular name will be used for another child who will be a peer to your child growing up (i.e. In same nursery, class's at school etc).
The statistics are always a year behind too so don't tell you if a name is experiencing a popularity spike right now
I really like Robyn too and don't know of any IRL

I know one Robyn, one Imogen, one Toby and one Felix! (Not counting adults with those names.)

it depends on the area, some of these names are a bit upper middle so if you live in a working class area you may never hear them but then again there is a dripdown effect so as names become more popular they become more mainstream. when I had my daughter these lists weren't availalble but she ended up as 1 of 3 in her class. Her sons all have unusual (but not way out names)

OP I think top 10 you'd be likely to find another in your child's class. Top 50 maybe another in the school. Top 100 probably will come across one or two. It really depends how much you love the name - love your list by the way.

I'm a teacher and have come across two Imogens, one Felix, quite a few Tobys (including 2 in my class at the same time) and no Robyns to date.

OP,

If you're in England or Wales, you might find this useful:
names.darkgreener.com/

(Love Robyn as a name, btw!).

I know one felix and two Imogens and they are teenagers, I've not heard the others in years