I thought I was so original ...

I have a popular name and know 2 others. My dcs all have normal but unusual names and we've never met another; two were the only child with that name right through school.

My name was guttingly never on personalised tat in service stations and for that reason alone I'm actually OK that our unusual choice has turned out to be a minimum-two-per-class name. :-/ :-/

We've got a Sophie, need I say any more?! There are 5 in her dance class

Everybody knows someone with their name

Nope. I've never even met one.
I have an unusual spelling (but legitimate and not made up).
I'm sure they exist though, a couple of people I know have met them.

I have a 38 year old Alex. It seemed unusual in the late 1970's ?

Really? I'm 34 and have known quite a few male and female Alexs

My name is not hugely popular it doesn't even make it into the top 1000. Never mind top 10. Lol. I do think we all know someone with our name. I know another Leoni (we didn't meet until adults though)

My DD is Eden. I had never heard of an Eden until I named her and now they seem to be coming out of the woodwork. Lol

2 of ours have old names. When we call them we have older people turning around too.The short version of one of their names is more common and the other we have heard the shortened version but not the longer 1.of the others, one has what is considered to be a chav/not nice name, but since they've been born its risen into the top 50 and one has an unusual name. Its Dutch and we have only heard it twice, once on a celebrity and once at our kids school (typical lol).

It’s noticeable that when people refer to not wanting a name in the top 20, meaning they don’t want a ‘popular’ one, they should potentially make that number a LOT bigger - say outside the top 500 or 1000. Because even something at say 150th most popular has several hundred examples born that year.

Of course the popular names are so because they are generally nice names but that doesn’t mean the ones that aren’t in vogue aren’t.

I have a friend whose DC has the same name as mine (mine is older, but we named them before we met) and this is a name outside the top 1500 - although it is one you will have all heard!

Apparently 564 Finns but thousands of Finlays and Finleys most of whom are known as Fin. I guess it doesn’t matter except for the children.

Growuphelen

I have a 38 year old Alex. It seemed unusual in the late 1970's ?

I'm 37 and was at school with 2 boys called Alex. Not in Scotland either where I assume it would be more popular.

Our maternity ward is Freya Ward!

Only met one other dc called Heidi but a few adults. I'd not met any except the one dc that inspired dd's name.

I have a 38 year old Alex. It seemed unusual in the late 1970's ?

Finn was quite unusual 12 years ago!

No it wasn’t. There’s loads of them that age!

More babies called Trinity (122) in 2008 than were called Heather (121)

I know two Trinitys, both are the third child!

I’d be interested to see Phoenix’s popularity on the girls v boys list - I also know two but they are both boys (9 and 6ish)

564 Finns In 2006 (along with 1242 Finleys and 1262 Finlays) and 201 Flynns!

My DD (10) is Trinity. Never heard of another...now I hear it everywhere including the a per dog down the road.
DD(4) Phoenix heard around but not loads...now everywhere - was even a suggestion for a baby name on Eastenders!
DD(2) Khloë Yes a popular name but different spelling. I get asked if I named her after the Kardashian...nope, never heard of her.
Will prob need to name change after this as it is very outing!

Finn was quite unusual 12 years ago!

sylviaTietjens I knew a Poppy in the 70's/80's she lived on our street or nearby.

Yes my DD has a name which is completely different to a lot of other names I thought - then I met another girl with the same name at a bday party. DD is a baby, the girl is 4!

sylviaTietjens I loved Poppy and although kept getting told it was too popular only knew one who was young Dr. Clever and beautiful so not a bad person to be named after. Lol at made up name, all the 80 year old names after flowers why was Poppy such a leap for her??

I’m a 45 year old Poppy. When my parents went to register my birth the lady doing it had to check with her manager that she was allowed to register ‘made up names’. I also had the piss ripped out of me about my name for years at school. I console myself with the fact the people taking the piss probably all named their kids after me.

Neither of my girls have unusual names and I didn't go searching for something unique or uncommon, just picked names I like. But DD1 only had one other girl in her year with the same name (and bizarrely they had the same surname as well!!) and DD2 has no one in her year with the same name.

My name isn't unusual either but I rarely hear it used.

The three names are Zoe, Holly and Natalie.

240 Raphaels In 2016, more popular than Martin or Joe

Piper is in the top 200 for the last year to have stats up (2016). More popular than Lauren, with 289 little Pipers (sounds like the twelve days of Christmas 😂)

I love chances to look these up, keep on throwing them out there!

My parents choose Michelle for my sister. Unusual at the time until the Beatles released Michelle My Belle the year after. Only met one other person with my name but she was named after me.