What are the most overused baby names you know at the moment?

I gave my eldest a classic biblical name that I have loved since I was a child. When DC2 was born I wanted to use a less popular name as I was worried that DC1 would spend his life having people call him by his family name or a nickname.

Of course, it is DC2's name that has appeared multiple times on this thread.

Cyw me too. My first choice on getting pregnant 12 years ago was Emily. Then I fixed on Olivia before realising that every other woman my age also chose that name. My first baby group there were 4. I realised in the nick of time and swerved it. Phew.

I have a dull everyone else has it name and didn't want that for my kids.

In dds class at one stage one third of the girls were named a variant of Eve. Mental!

Oliver and Mia

I have an Oliver (in his twenties) and an Evie, named after her great grandma. Both were named long before they became popular. You can't know what will happen in the future and although we knew the names weren't incredibly rare, we still don't know anyone else their age groups with the same name.

Loads!

Elliot (literally every other boy!)
Oliver
Sophia
Izzy
Dillon
George
Ruben

So what are the classic names that have appeared in the top 100 in every decade since 1904? Interestingly there are more of these for boys than for girls. For boys there are 12 names that have appeared in the top 100 in every decade since 1904:
1 WILLIAM
2 GEORGE
3 THOMAS
4 JAMES
5 CHARLES
6 EDWARD
7 JOSEPH
8 ROBERT
9 DAVID
10 ALEXANDER
11 MICHAEL
12 DANIEL
And for girls there are only two names:
1 ELIZABETH
2 SARAH

That's interesting, I wonder if it's to do with generations of families naming sons after fathers. Also possibly the belief that boys need a strong name whereas people might be happier to use more fashionable names for girls.

Eve/ Evie/ Eva/ Ava
Jack

When I named dd in 1997 I only considered names not in the top 100. It's in the top 20 now.

You are never going to be able to pick a completely unique name that’s not awful so just pick a name you love. Nothing worse than bypassing Ella even though you love it for Alia, which you are luke warm about only to find there are 3 in her class.

Found this on a website:

So what are the classic names that have appeared in the top 100 in every decade since 1904? Interestingly there are more of these for boys than for girls. For boys there are 12 names that have appeared in the top 100 in every decade since 1904:
1 WILLIAM
2 GEORGE
3 THOMAS
4 JAMES
5 CHARLES
6 EDWARD
7 JOSEPH
8 ROBERT
9 DAVID
10 ALEXANDER
11 MICHAEL
12 DANIEL
And for girls there are only two names:
1 ELIZABETH
2 SARAH

In our baby groups (roughly 6-18 months old) there are multiples of Arthur, Theo, Thomas, Josh and William. There are a lot less girls in the classes/groups, probably why there are none with the same name, but they all have names that have been mentioned already.

My friends with slightly older children (primary age) all seem to be called Charlie and Sophie.

I started my baby name Search with one rule... That it could not be a top 50 name. As i have a top 3 name for the year I was born and didn't want DD to be "one of many".

I feel like i am fairly free thinking, but it is amazing how much we are influenced without even noticing, I kept coming up with what I thought was an unusual and finding it right up in the top of the tables.

In the end the short list came down to 3 Rowan, Aria, and our final choice. The midwife at the assessment unit said "oh we've had lots of Aria's recently" so that got knocked off the list, and so we were down to two!!!

So, I'd say for where I live, current popular names...Aria (according to the midwife), Ellie, Eva/Ava/Evie, Mia.

Elsie
Isla
Ava
Alice
Lydia

Henry
Ezra
Oliver

Freya seems to be the girl name of the moment round here. Lots of Charlottes, Olivias and Mias. It’s hard to keep them straight.

Not met an Isla yet. I might burst into a chorus of La Isla Bonita!

Disappointed that Elsie is on the list. It was our name of choice for years. But I guess any E name risks becoming really popular.

Isobel, Evie, Archie, Finn.

Maya and Poppy

Alice
Sophie/ Sophia
Edie
Cecelia
Florence
Isla

Never come across a Lily, Ava or Isabel!

Anything that includes May/Mae as a middle name.

(I actually don't dislike May as a first name...)

Amelia, Ava, Ella, Matilda, Isabelle

Jacob, Theo, Jack

Louis - there are four of them in DS's nursery. All older than the royal one though!

For girls there are always zillions of Ava/Evie/Evas. Though now my two kids are 7 and 4 I'm a bit out of the baby naming world. Popular names in the 7 year old's year at school are Ava, James, Emma. Though actually I'm struggling to think of any more - despite being in a big school, it's quite ethnically diverse so there are lots of different names used.

Noah
Stanley
Demi
Emily
Archie

Names are less popular than they were because there is way more diversity in names.

But not this popular!

William has been popular for over 300 years!

Isla, Olivia, Isabella, Isabelle, Lily
Archie, Alfie, Charlie and Oliver.