Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
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?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
Pisstaker · 04/01/2018 17:45

Noah! When he was born 12 years ago everybody was wtf? And my friend assumes she'd heard Noel! Now they are everywhere and as a midwife I'm still seeing them coming! Bizarrely he's the only Noah is his school

ItchySeveredFoot · 04/01/2018 17:36

The only people I know who have never met someone with the same name is my sister and my first dd. Although I've only met one other woman with my name it is popular in America. I have an unusual spelling though.

esk1mo · 04/01/2018 17:27

i dont know anyone with my name, i think it was in the top 20 a few years ago but apparently not anymore.

BertrandRussell · 04/01/2018 17:26

I have a 22 year old Grace! Grin

EmmaBlu · 04/01/2018 17:25

I have two boys Jack 14 and Stevie 4.

DubaiismyBlackpool · 04/01/2018 17:23

When DS2 was born we named him Joseph. People would really twist their faces when we told them 33 years ago!!

LadyKyliePonsonbyFarquhar · 04/01/2018 17:21

I had Noah on my list for a boy since watching the first episode of ER with Noah Wyle (Dr Carter) in 1994. I was annoyed to see it become so popular but then only had daughters.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 04/01/2018 17:21

Ds now 17 was going to be Freya. I went off it for a bit after he was born and glad he was a boy. But I like it again now.

DramaAlpaca · 04/01/2018 17:19

It's happened to me twice.

Picked an unusual name for DC1 in '93 & the following year it started getting really popular thanks to someone with the name becoming famous.

Then chose a slightly unusual name for DC3 in '97. It's only become popular in the last few years though.

I'm just glad I was ahead of the trend. Oh & I'm not saying the names Wink

PhuntSox · 04/01/2018 17:13

We thought we had a common name, top five, he is the only one in the school!

mrsreynolds · 04/01/2018 17:08

Oh yes to jane and Nicola too!

Original poster
Carbohol78 · 04/01/2018 16:56

@MrsReynolds, I’m a similar age and everyone at my school was Lyndsey, Claire, Emma, Nichola Jane or Sarah Jane (not hyphenated with Jane, it just seemed to be everyone’s middle name!)

OP posts:
Original poster
Carbohol78 · 04/01/2018 16:53

Paddington - I know a few families with both Isla and Freya, guess it makes sense, they are pretty similar types of name. There seems to be a lot of 6-8 year old Isla’s around!

OP posts:
mrsreynolds · 04/01/2018 16:53

I'm 45
It was all Claire's, Emma's and zoes when I was at school
My name was quite unusual in the 70s but I still ended up in a class with another girl called x!

Idratherhaveacupoftea · 04/01/2018 16:51

My granddaughter is the only one in her school with her name. I really don't know why though, it's not unusual.

Original poster
Carbohol78 · 04/01/2018 16:50

@TossDaily - How old is your sis? I’m 41 and went to school with loads of Sharon and Tracey’s, then Birds of a Feather started on telly (am old Grin) and it seemed to completely vanish! I remember girls getting teased for having those names, because the show made them sound chavvy (not chavvy then, the word didn’t exist!) and I always thought that was really sad, because before that they were really well-liked names

OP posts:
Bluelonerose · 04/01/2018 16:48

When I was born midwives told my mom they hadn't had another with same name as me for years.

I then was in the same class as someone with the same first and middle name throughout school and in the year below in high school there was someone with my first and surname.

Dd had another girl in her class not only called the same but they share a birthday too Shock

Paddingtonthebear · 04/01/2018 16:47

A friend of mine has a 10yr old Freya and a 6yr old Isla

chuckiecheese · 04/01/2018 16:46

Everybody knows someone with their name.

Both my children have run of the mill, top 100 names, however they are the only ones with that name in their class and they are obviously unique individuals.

We get so hung up on this are their personalities not unique enough!

Far worse to be called a name that then is the name of a prolific paedophile (think Jimmy as in Savile) or as murderer (think Rose as in West)

TossDaily · 04/01/2018 16:44

My mum called my sister Tracey because it was so unusual.

There were seven in her class when she started school Grin

Gingernaut · 04/01/2018 16:44

My old-fashioned, four letter name was as common as muck when I was growing up, now I have to spell it out by radio alphabet as no one's heard if it....

SnackSnackEatAndCrave · 04/01/2018 16:43

DD is almost 2, and her traditional but not popular name has just popped back into the top 20... There are two tinies at our baby group now.
PyongyangKipperbang I went yo school with Harry Potter! He also uses his middle name rather than explain he came before the books. There must be a few of them about!

Cindie943811A · 04/01/2018 16:43

I think the trick is to pick a name you like that was popular around 40 years ago — so it isn’t long enough ago to be recycled again yet.
However, it has ever been thus. I am researching family history and studying the old Parish Registers for christenings shows the same pattern. There was a tendency to use theme few names to a boring degree but over and above that other names would take off for a generation. I came across a Rosetta in 18th Century London I n my family — thought it would mean making it easier to trace — however there are literally dozens of them and at least 8 with my unusual surname baptised over the course of 20 years.
My mother said she named me believing it was unusual — she didn’t know any other little girls called that. Turned out to be in the top 20 from that year. Must be something in the air.
Similarly, some surnames seem to attract the same Christian name or names. Must sound pleasing to new parents’ ears.

Original poster
Carbohol78 · 04/01/2018 16:39

Whitelisbon - Lady Gaga?

OP posts:
Whitelisbon · 04/01/2018 16:38

Yes. Dd1 has a lovely, unusual name. Then along came a pop star with the same name. Now there's hundreds.

Ds1 was given a normal, but uncommon name. We then moved to Scotland, and he was one of 5 with his name in nursery.

Dd2 had a royal princess named after her Angry