I thought I was so original ...

My mum often jokes that she knows that the next popular name will be as it’s the unusual one that I like about a year before it hits popularity.
So far I have done it with
Freya
Ava
Evie
Amalie
Mia
Leo
Jack
Zac
Lucas

Dds name ended up as number 12 the year after she was born.

My name was quite middle/upper class when I was named (Sophie), but swiftly became common as muck shortly afterwards

DS1 is a Noah - and we thought it was an unusual choice! But when I think about the reasons why I liked the name now I can see why lots of other people of a similar age will have come to it too - as a pp said, Noah Wyle from ER and Ryan Goslings character in the Notebook being the big 2 influences for me.

For DS2 we went with a name I loved after reading it in a little known Stephen King short story when I was about 14. Haven't come across many of them.

I have a boy called Casey never heard of it before looked up the meaning loved it. After I have birth we were put on a ward with 3 other women 2 had called their girls Casey. Another was caden used this for my preterm as it means spirit of battle all of a sudden lots of kaydens which means I'm forever correcting people on how it's spelt. I have 5 other names and so far not come across anyone else with the same names 1 includes freyja.

I have a Phoebe. Really pleased she's the only one in her school.

I chose Imogen. I'd only ever met one and known of one other. Then the dam burst.

I'm Sarah and every bugger is called it.mid 30s

DS2s names was, we thought, unusual. We didn't know anyone else with his name 14 years ago when he was born and got loads of comments about how old fashioned it was and that it was an old man's name. Now it's everywhere and even more so since a royal pinched it!

Doesn't bother me, we like the name, DS2 likes the name and that's what matters.

Oh and we spent years congratulating ourselves for not choosing Isla because we know so many now!!! Such fools.

I give you Alexa!! A lovely slightly unusual name - we’ve met a couple over the years and now suddenly the bloody Amazon Alexa is EVERYWHERE! we will be at someone’s house and i’ll Ask my Alexa to pop on her shoes or nip to the loo as we are leaving and this electronic voice says “I’m sorry I do not understand this command”. or people will suddenly shout “Alexa play Ed Sheeran shape of you” and my daughter just looks confused.

*are

I’m the only person I know with my name and our daughter is the only person we know with her name. I think both of our names our outside the current top 700.

My daughter's name is Ava, she is almost 11. There were no other Ava's around that I knew of at the time we named her. Now even another family member has used it!

I have never even met anyone with the same name as me, I always wished I had a more normal name...

What is it with parents' desire for an unusual name? Most kids prefer a more common name

My oldest dd is a teenager and named Jordan, was v popular as a boys name back then but she’s always been the only one in her classes with the name 🙂

I've never met anyone with my name, but it's now a popular baby name.

I have a DS in his late teens called Luca.

Now in the top 100 & rising!

I think Emma is nice, a classic that seems to work in every era. I think Nicola is lovely too, looks so pretty on paper and spoken. I'm surprised there hasnt been a comeback yet.

Freya and Isla might be everywhere but they are still gorgeous. I even love Ava, there's 2 of those close by to us.

I actually chose my dd's name when I was 12 after I saw a movie at the cinema for my birthday. At the time it was very unusual. I always knew if I had a daughter I'd use it.

By the time I had dd aged 29 that name was everywhere! It was briefly in the top 10, then hovered outside it. When she starts school there will probably be 12 of them in her class. It didn't stop me using it though, let's face it there's 65 million of us in the U.K. you probably aren't going to find an original name (that's not ridiculous or cruel anyway). I think we have enough Sarahs now though

I have one with a consistently top ten name. There are loads around, but he's the only one in his Year. I have one outwith the top 100 and he's never met anyone with his name.
I also have a Freya and know one other, which is really odd as it's top 20.

Everybody knows someone with their name

Never met anybody with my name @chuckiecheese

My ds is Jacob, whilst I didn't think it was out there, it seemed little used in our area. Now there are four in his year at school....he adores his name being popular though!

DD1 had a best friend called Hannah. Hannah's mum told me she had never met another one. It was top 10 in the 1980s when they were born.

I went off on maternity leave with DD2 just after another woman in the office who brought in her new baby Evie. Everyone was exclaiming at how unusual a name it was; number 15 that year

Lyndsey, Claire, Emma, Nichola Jane or Sarah Jane

Same here, one of those is mine!

My sister, 2 years younger, has a lovely name that everyone has heard of but hardly anyone has so she has never come across another one.

I checked all of my names before use. My 9 year old Clara was about six hundred down the list when we chose it - but it is in the top hundred now.

I had the exact same first and middle name as three other girls in my class at secondary school

Our first 4 DC had un-common names but 2 of them managed to run into another one at school (luckily in much lower year groups).

DC5 I thought I'd found a similar sort of name and didn't come across anyone else with the name in the 2 1/2 years we lived in the SE. Then we moved to the SW. Everywhere we go there is a child with the same name. Randomly in the street/ our NDN!/ at Brownies/ at swimming/ at dancing - and all different girls, not the same one. I was really peeved when I went to pick her up from Holiday Club and asked for her, to be asked "which one?". It isn't even in the top 100.