I thought I was so original ...

inspiration Raphael by any chance?
I was determined to have a Raphael, was vetoed twice though and everyone thought it was so unusual in real life, but it seems to appear on every thread on here!

So true Enko.
Why dont more people understand this?!

I’m surprised that there has been a royal effect with the name Charlotte as I considered it a little dated when the royals used it a couple of years ago. When my late 90s babies were born we were tripping over charlottes, Chloes and Emilys so I’d always grouped it into the ‘nice name out of use’ category. We used names from DH’s home country for our dc (basically to match our surname!) so I never really worried too much about popularity, but I think ds’s name is becoming more widely popular if MN threads are anything to go by.

I know someone who called their DS Harrison and banged on for ages about how unusual it was and it would set them apart when they submitted CV's etc... I know at least 5 Harrison's, two in DD's class alone.

A name being popular doesn't really bother me, tbh...

My two DD's have fairly popular names-it's no big deal really.

I am a 36 year old Freyja. I was named after the Norse goddess as my dad is Professor of Old Norse. There weren't many of us around and now there are lots!

I don't know anyone in RL with my name (Tamara)

I know one, maybe it's you!

I've never met anybody with my name and I haven't heard of anybody called it either There is one that is pronounced the same but spelt differently.

I don't know anyone with my name. Nor with DD2 or 3's name and with DS I know 1 other person. (Dd1 I know 2 others)

I find a lot of the people who claims they have found a " Nice unusual name" have never looked at the top 100 list. I asked a pregnant woman I knew once who said she wanted an unusual name if she had looked at the top 100 list? She replied " No I dont want one of the top 100 names" She ended up calling her dd Amelia so it was on the top 100 list. She also did the whole.. " I knew no Amelia's" However I think you need to check the top 100 list to know what the current popular names are then you can make an educated decision as to if you want the name that is popular anyway.

Maisie. DD1 is 12 and I didn't know of any other (little) Maisie's when she was born. By the time she was about three, the name started becoming more popular and there are loads of them now (though none in her year at school AFAIK).

DS is 9, and when he was born, every other girl was getting called Freya (slight exaggeration perhaps, but that's what it felt like - one from my NCT group, and one from my circle of friends).

I don't know anyone with my name (and it's a very nice name ).

Everybody knows someone with their name.

Not true.. I don't know anyone in RL with my name (Tamara) I don't doubt they're out there but so very few and far between. Almost every time I meet someone new they comment on my 'unusual' name.

(Unless I count Tamara Ecclestone)

An Isla here. I thought I was being original. Didn’t know any other ones, and wanted a Scottish name........now they are everywhere- but spelt ‘Iyla’ because it’s easier to spell........🙄😡 also find it funny though when I do ‘the voice’ and shout Isla roughly have a dozen kids drop and freeze wondering what the hell they are being blamed for. 😁

Lord, my Oliver is older. I have a knack for choosing names that explode in popularity shortly after. I think I’m being all original but truthfully I’m Mrs bloody average.

I know two Pipers. One was one of my brownies, and the other was the older sister of another one.

I can't tell you my name but I've never, ever met another one.

Highmaintenancefemalestuff

I know of a Piper. I think she's about 3 or 4. It's a gorgeous name.

I've never met another girl with my daughter's name (Piper) but apparently there are 845 in the uk.

I have a poppy and got told it was really common/popular yet never had a poppy in the same school as her. She's now in secondary and there is 1 other poppy who just transferred in.

LordSugar - Oliver was the 6th most popular name in 2003, with more than 5,000 Olivers born that year. 7th in 2004, with more than 5,500.

My eldest sons name was not in top 100 even when I had him. Now I think it's around 40ish? I had him in 2009.

My youngest sons name is common but not the spelling.

I've never met another woman with my name!

I have an Oliver. He is almost 15.
When I named him it was not a popular name, I just loved it named after my mum's friend's cat

Now it's number one and has been for a few years.
He's the only one in his large secondary school and was the only one in primary.

Now they're everywhere and all of his friends call him Ollie anyway!

Dd1’s name is 20 something in the charts now, only ever met one other and she’s the only one in her reception year at school (no idea if there are any others in her school) and previously her nursery worker said she’d not had a child with her name in over 20 years.

Dd2’s name is 200 and something but I’ve got a feeling it will become popular (because it’s a gorgeous name of course!)

When I was in hospital after giving birth to my daughter (1992) 7 out of 10 baby girls were named Amy. There has never been an Amy in any of my daughter's classes throughout her time in school/college/uni or at any of the Rainbows/Brownies/swimming etc classes come to think of it. My DD now shares a name with a Duchess but with a different spelling - there were at least three girls with that name in every class she has been in. Also 2 of my cousins named their daughters the same as mine, with the exact same spelling - they are the only 3 girls in the family of a similar age ffs.
In primary school she was also in a class with 4 Samantha's and 6 Thomas's, she went to an out of catchment secondary school and there wasn't a Samantha or Thomas in the entire school. This school was less than 3 miles away from the local high school where most of her year group went.

Same here!!! Bloody Royal.
Charlotte was traditional and nice but not well used when we picked it.