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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

I thought I was so original ...

219 replies

Carbohol78 · 04/01/2018 15:49

Freya, there were no Freya’s, DD10, other option was Isla, again no Isla’s, I thought I’d found a pretty, not odd, but not over-used name. Now there’s loads of both! Grin

Anyone else think they were “oh so original” and now the classrooms are flooded?

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PurpleTraitor · 07/01/2018 00:33

Freya was in the top 75 in the year 2000. 686 little girls were given that name that year.

It’s the office of national statistics. Select your year, and select table six for a full list. It only goes back to 1996

Paddingtonthebear · 06/01/2018 23:09

I know a Freya who is mid-late thirties, British. Says she never met another until the name started becoming popular for babies around 10 years ago

Standingonlego · 06/01/2018 22:27

My mums friend had a little girl called Freya born in late 1980s...it was considered an extremely alternative & unusual name then (esp in an ex-mining village)

blackdoggotmytongue · 06/01/2018 22:24

In fact, when I called her Freya, everyone looked at me blankly and said ‘what?’ Then there were years of scathing mn threads about how common the name was. Gah.

thebestnamesweretaken · 06/01/2018 22:23

16 years ago ethan was rare
Now they're everywhere!

blackdoggotmytongue · 06/01/2018 22:22

My Freya is 17. There were literally none. The explosion came three months after she was born when some bloody C list newsreader called her dd Freya. Since then, zillions.

C0untDucku1a · 06/01/2018 22:20

writeagoodone national statistics website

C0untDucku1a · 06/01/2018 22:19

If i was ever to have another boy id name him paul. You dont get baby paul’s anymore.

Dozyoldtwonk · 06/01/2018 22:16

DD’s name was only just inside the top 1000 the year she was born, & DS just inside the top 500 (born last year) so hopefully we’re unique and trailblazing for a while yet Grin

One minor probably not even passable as a celebrity has a DD with the same name (recent) & my DS’s name has cropped up a few times on Instagram but we know none IRL as yet Smile

WriteAGoodOne · 06/01/2018 22:00

How are you people finding out how many children are given certain names in certain years? Is it some kind of database?

WhispersOfWickedness · 06/01/2018 20:27

Dizzy, I love that name! And for what it's worth, I consider it a completely different name to Amelia, which I do not love...

Dizzybintess · 06/01/2018 18:32

My DD is called Emilia I thought I was being really original and it was classic.
There are 3 Emilia/Amelia’s in her class and 7 in her rainbow unit!!!

I have also heard it being yelled across a park in a fishwifey way Sad

YearOfYouRemember · 06/01/2018 18:27

People read the lists, see a name that isn't in the top 100. Pick it. Cue the next year and hundreds of other parents have done the same therefore....

PurpleTraitor · 05/01/2018 23:32

That was to RuthW. Lost in baby names now. I’m not even pregnant Grin

PurpleTraitor · 05/01/2018 23:28

228 girls were given the name Florence in 1996. I assume you had one of them so 227 others. I love the internet for searching things like this!

My eldest was one of 3 that year, and youngest was one of 20 given that name in that year.

UterusUterusGhali · 05/01/2018 23:24

Growing up I met precisely two people with my name. It's not British and I was forever spelling it.

Now I'm always hearing it bellowed at little girls in the street. :(
You can even get personalised stuff with it on at theme parks etc. (Spelt differently.)

At least people can pronounce it now.

Ireallydowonder · 05/01/2018 23:16

I have a Ciara. As soon as I say it people say 'ooooh how do you spell it? I know a friend/baby/cat/hedgehog called Ciara, spelled Ki...' I have to stop them there. Or I get 'oooh ci-ara, lovely name' yes birth registrar man, I gave birth six days before and didn't have the heart to correct him!
To be fair I should have known better! But really, is Ciara so unusual!???

MomToWedThorFriday · 05/01/2018 23:12

Another one who knows/knew a Harry Potter!

DS1 I thought I was being original. He’s a Finley - very specifically with an E not and A - which was ‘different.’ It’s not different. He’s 10 and there are millions of 10 year old Finley’s and they all have the E these days. Hmm

Did better with the other 3 Wink

CarysMa · 05/01/2018 23:04

purpletraiter, I like your thinking. My son has a name that was about number 300 the year he was born.

There are girls names like Jillian and Melanie and Valerie which are not fashionable but have a pretty sound (I think).

RuthW · 05/01/2018 22:03

Yes, there were no Florences in 1996. I purposely chose a name not in the top 100. Then David Cameron had one. Now it's in the top 20. I'm not happy!

buttercup54321 · 05/01/2018 21:55

Lily
Ruby
Amy
Olivia
Sophie
Jessica
Alfie
Archie
Oliver
Morgan

flutteronbynow · 05/01/2018 21:32

We have 6 kids & I'm a secondary school teacher so I took a looooooong time researching each one as I wanted names for my kids that I'd never taught. So far so good & I've never had any children with my kiddos' names in any of my classes in 14 years. 5 of the 6 names are well outside the top 100 & the other one just squeezed in at 100 this year. A few friends of friends & acquaintances have used a couple of our names, which is mildly annoying...but fair enough - we didn't patent them!

LittleWitch · 05/01/2018 21:05

32 years ago we chose a very unusual name for DS1. Now it seems there’s a Joshua in every home in the land Grin.

YearOfYouRemember · 05/01/2018 21:03

Contrary to what TossDaly said, I don't know anyone else with my name and I was the only one in a school of 1500 kids. I'm sure my kids names must be in the top 50, one is often top ten, but dd was the only one in a school of 60 and DS one of only 2.