Does popularity matter to you?

If I loved it, I would use it. I have a very unpopular (but not unusual) name for my generation and I hated being the only one in my school year with it. I’d have rather been one of the Claire, Maeve or Danielles any day tbh.

My criteria for both was pretty much lower than top 10 but within top 100. However that was more of a starting point for research, if there had been something I'd really loved that happened to be top 10 I'd have been happy to use it.

And even then there's no guarantee that someone you know would also use it.

You could pick a name that is very popular in the UK but not much used in your area.

You could add an underused name as a middle name

It did, and we thought ours would be the only one, we are finding out he isnt 🤣🤣 so i think he will come across maybe another 2 or 3 in his school.

I agree with other posters. I'd rather have a classic timeless name than a trendy name. For example Jane rather than Aurora. Some things don't date well. Choose a name you like not just one you think nobody else will be called. You have to literally make up a name to ensure that nobody else will be called it.

Some names were very popular and dropped out of use fairly quickly, so date someone to having been being born in a certain decade. Not much of a problem when you are young, other than always being Noah Surname or Ava Surname but will be when you are older.

Friend's DD has a name that says '20-30 age group'. It's a nice enough name but it's like a timestamp.

As well as being Noah or Ava Surname in their class/hobby/sport group, the main problem with very popular names (say top 10 or so) is that they usually date (meaning you can guess how old someone with that name is). Is really depends on whether that would bother you or not OP?

All names "date" to some extent, but it's more difficult to guess someones age just from their name if it is either perennially popular (like James, Thomas, William etc for boys and Elizabeth, Alice etc for girls) or has never/rarely been in the top 100.

If that was directed at me, Zoya, I'd say that the combined names Evie, Eve, Eva, Ava and Ivy would put me off, as it's a trend that will end. (cf. Darren, Aaron, Karen, Sharon, or Joanne, Suzanne, Leanne etc)

If I loved the name, I would use it anyway.

OP hasn't asked for opinions on the name, just for thoughts on popularity as a criterion.

I think it is too similar to the Evie, Isla type names. Eve's a very old name and a classic. Isla is a modern name.

Ivy is a weed and the name makes me think of Ivy Tilsley and Poison Ivy, so not good associations, but it's not my baby, and you probably would need to google Ivy Tilsley.

It,s not so great if your in the class with someone with the same first and last name, so haing to use a middle name to identify you. (2 boys I went to school with.)

[quote Nordman]@KirstenBlest You might guess the age of people with those names but you wouldn't know. I know an Ian in his early 90s and a Lindsey under 3. My point is if you love a name you shouldn't not use it just because a lot of people used it in a different year and not this one, the name stays the same.[/quote]
Having been in a similar position to your young friend Lindsey my whole life I have to disagree. It is annoying to have a name that is dated but not old enough to be newly rediscovered.

@Baileysoncereal basically everything you said! Yes!

Whatever, Nordman. You probably know an 80 yr old Lyra and a 65-yr old Rio too.

It mattered to me. All 4 of our children have unusual (but not made up!) names. Our only girl is named after my favourite character in my favourite play, and my boys names all have special meanings. But it would be very boring if we all thought the same (and, indeed, all liked the same names!)

Not really, we used names for our DC which were top 50 at the time but bumped up to top 10 over the next couple of years.

DS is 7 and the only one of his name in class/ there are 2 in the school. There’s only one name in his class of 24 7/8/9 year olds which two children share.

@KirstenBlest You might guess the age of people with those names but you wouldn't know. I know an Ian in his early 90s and a Lindsey under 3. My point is if you love a name you shouldn't not use it just because a lot of people used it in a different year and not this one, the name stays the same.

A bit. I wouldn't use a name I loved if I learnt it was in the top 10, say (though DH both have different tastes and cultural requirements, so we couldn't have ended up with a George or Freddie anyway).

Having said that, as PP mentioned these things are not evenly distributed. I know two under-5 Zephyrs living within a few blocks of each other, and three Miles-es. So you can plan and plan and still be Zephyr A and Zephyr B or whatever.

@Nordman, names do date.

If you heard someone talk about Darren or Ian, or Michelle or Lynsey, you will probably know what sort of age the person they are talking about is.

We chose a very popular boys name because it was the only one we both loved.
I would have hated to 'settle' for another name because it was less popular.
You could choose an unusual name only for a child of the same name to be in the same year anyway.
Go with what you love!

It doesn't bother me at all. My name was one of the top popular names in the year I was born, there were a couple of others in my school year, it gave us a bit of connection but I've never experienced anything negative as a result. I am unique as a person, I don't need a name to make me unique. Other people having your child's name will have no impact on your child's life, so if you love a name then use it and enjoy it.
I also lol a bit at the idea of names dating, which seems to be a popular comment on this forum. E.g. Ivy has been a name for centuries, it's not going to "date" in the next few years. Likewise e.g. Sienna and Claire. Names don't date, they are just used more or less at different times. It shouldn't put you off choosing them if you love them.

In the year I was born my name was ranked the 5th most popular girl's name (in Scotland). There were around 670 girls born with that name. Contrast that to the top-ranking name of 2019 (Olivia) there were only 394 girls called that. So popularity is less important as there is more variety in names.

That said it does matter to me somewhat. I'm not one of the people who wouldn't consider anything in the top 100. I do try to avoid the top 10 and ideally the top 20-30, but if there was a name I truly loved I might go for it.

I’ll echo what’s previously been said, that top ten names now are a significantly lower proportion of the names used than twenty years ago, so your less likely to run across others of the same name. I’d caution with that though, that names aren’t evenly distributed across the country, and if your friend has pointed out it’s a popular name, then you might be living in an area where that name is very highly used.

I’m guessing that the name is Ivy. If it is then I would be much more hesitant to use it than some other top 20 names because it shot up so quickly, so is more likely to date. It also sounds like a lot of other very popular names, and even if your Ivy is the only one in her class, it won’t sound that different to all of the Islas and Evies and other similar sounding names which are all very popular at the moment. That might not bother you, but just might be something to think about.