Which would you regret more?

My father and basically all his friends have the same name 😁

Must be something about human nature the urge to fit in with the crowd is very strong

@MsTSwift If anything it's worse for the boys. At DS's school that he's just left, all the boys seem to be called Alfie, Finley, Charlie, Matthew or Alex. Much more variety among the girls, with only Millie and Matilda seeming to be the overused names.

@cookiesaurus Couldn't agree more. Name popularity tends to be very class-dependent as well, so that while you may get clusters of a particular name within a school, by the time they leave school and go on to uni or work where there are people from a wide range of backgrounds, they may find all their namesakes disappear or at least are more spread out. I had an XBF at uni whose name was Richard. At his school (boys' independent), his entire friendship group had been called Richard, and had to go by Rick, Richie, Dick(!) etc to distinguish each other. But at uni he only knew one other Richard, and I've barely met anyone else with that name since.

Evelyn isn't that popular. Evie is. Just use it.

Is Evelyn pronounced Eve-Lyn or Ever-Lyn? Where I live it is 'Ever-Lyn' and they are all called 'Evie' as a nickname.

My parents named me a really old fashioned name (they named all of us, me and my siblings, after grandparents or great-grandparents) and I hated it! All through school I wanted to be called Laura or Sarah!!

I could never buy any of the gift shop tat with names on it as my name was never there!! Plus, my first name has only 3 letters so I can't even get any kind of nickname out of my name plus they didn't go for the most common spelling of it so it's forever being written incorrectly! Additionally, they never even gave me a middle name! 🤦🏻‍♀️🙈

I've called my daughter a popular name, which can have many different nicknames and given her what I think is a beautiful middle name! I had to go through a very awkward conversation with them when informing them that we wouldn't be using traditional, family names!

In my opinion it's worse for the child to have an unpopular name than a popular name!

Not advocating odd weird names agree that can be a pain too. Just seems odd that the majority pick the same names!

Eve variant type name
Isabel variant type name
Amelia
Olivia
Grace
Poppy
Alice

Most girls are named one of these round here. Why not Miranda Zoe Tess off top of head there are many nice normal but underused names

A name doesn't have to be 'made up' for other children to consider it weird. My parents got my name from a baby name book, it's a real name, just a 'foreign' one which nobody at the time had ever heard before. Later, by the time I was at high school, there was a character in a popular tv show with the name, but that just lent itself to even more bullying tbh.

I do think that these days, with society being more multicultural and there being more variety in names generally, kids are more likely to shrug off others' unusual names (unless they find some way of twisting it to sound rude - this has happened to DS as well). But the whole thing is a minefield!

@Poppydaisies um yes? I was just giving an example of my personal situation.

I love Evelyn as a boys name so I wouldn't because I wouldn't want to be cruel. Otherwise yes.

My daughter has a not common but not top 100 names. There ended up being another girl with the same name and birthday. It happens.

I have two children - one with a super popular name and one with a really unusual name. Guess which one has a name twin in the class (clue - not the popular one!)

Of course there are exceptions! But if you're one of 6000 girls with the same name or only one of 60, the chances of meeting others with your name throughout life is massively increased.

Choose the name you love.

I don't like Evelyn however you say it, Evlyn, Ever-lyn or Eev-lyn, and I really dislike Eva and Ava (think Braun).
I think that Eve and Evie are lovely, but so popular.
I can only think of about 3 Eves over 30, and that includes Claudia off the telly''s mum. It will date badly.

I have taught a few Eves but only one Evelyn (1000+ pupils on school and 20 years teaching)

Just choose what you like. You can’t second guess what everyone else will do.

I have two children - one with a super popular name and one with a really unusual name. Guess which one has a name twin in the class (clue - not the popular one!)

If popularity doesn’t bother you it’s fine of course. I have a dull popular name (shared by 3 others on my friendship group). Didn’t want that for my kids personally. Was envious of my sisters name which is great and rarely used - feels much more “her” than my run of the mill wallpaper name.

My dds were the only ones in their 400 kid school with their names and I often got compliments on the names. Nothing unusual or whacky just not the top 10 ones everyone else chose.

My daughter is Evelyn (pronounced Ever-lyn). She is 3.5 and at the time she was born we knew we wanted a classic/older name. We also didn't want anything too popular and I'd never met or knew of another Evelyn!
Within a couple of months of her being born , I knew of about 3 others and did hear it when out and about. I love her name though!
We did think we'd use the nn Evie (did for about a week) but it confused people and they started pronouncing her full name Eve-lyn (as opposed to Ever-lyn) so we stopped!
I'm glad we did as there are LOTS of Evie's about. I've since asked my daughter if she'd like to be called Evie/ Ev, as some people at her nursery /those who don't know us that well try to do so, but she says, "No! I'm Evelyn!"
No regrets on her name!

It wouldn't bother me at all, OP. I'd go for the name I love.
Evelyn is lovely. Don't worry too much about popularity.

Go for the name you love.

As an 80's Sarah I really don't get the issue - my name was number 1 for years and TBH I had one other Sarah in my class.

Then when you get into the wider world you're mixing with all ages, it's reasonably rare that I come across another Sarah in my teams, friendship groups, etc.

I would use it.
I have an extremely unusual name. As in I’ve never met anyone with the same name! I hated it at Secondary school - I just wanted to fit in. But I like it now.
All my women friends are called Sarah , so you can still date me even if my own name hasn’t dated 😂

And the alternative to a popular name is not an obscure made up one . There is a happy middle ground of lovely names to choose from.

In my friendship group we have 3 Clares and 4 Emmas. Yes, it can be confusing. I wish my parents had given me a less fashionable name.

I don't understand why some posters suggest that popularity doesn't matter. It may indeed matter to your child.

No Eves in DDs year at 60 intake primary.

Loads of Charlotte's though. I think some names are locally popular.

I would use it regardless.

@Grufallosfriends so do you suggest we all start making up a name to ensure that no one has the same name?

No, I suggest choosing one of the thousands of beautiful names available. There are so many lovely normal names outside of the top 100 names!

Both my ds have really popular names (Jack and Ben) and they are both the only ones of those names in their year groups.
Dd has a more unusual name (so we thought!) and has two others in her year group.

Go with the name that you love. It’s really pretty btw!