Popular or Unusual? Thoughts plz!

My husband and I have the same issue - mine unusual, his very common - and it definitely plays out in our naming preferences. We managed to find a good solution with our DS with a name that used to be unusual but has become much more popular. The site names.darkgreener.com is useful for tracking popularity

It’s an interesting one isn’t it how our experiences influence our future name choices. I actually have Juno on my girls name list so obviously think your Mum had good taste! Also names outside of the top 100 are more common nowadays than years ago. I was one of 3 girls with the same name in my primary class at school, 1 of which is still my best friend now so it obviously helped us to bond. I probably would have liked a more unusual name though when I was younger. I think I’m leaning more towards your wife’s taste in names than yours but I’m sure you can find a middle ground. Have you tried one of the baby name apps that match your choices?

My name went from unusual in childhood to very common throughout my adulthood. I would have preferred common in childhood so that I could have bought that with my name on in gift shops, and unusual in adulthood. People do sometimes think I'm considerably you get than I actually am due to my name, though.

My children have unusual names and like them. At primary school, unusual names were pretty common - we are near a university and children were often named after obscure people from their parents' disciplines. At secondary school it's less ususal, but other children have never been a problem, although sometimes adults make the odd joke/comedy nickname.

I have a very ordinary and at the time common name, I never minded at all.In many ways I liked being part of a team of sorts.
DH had an unusual name that he really resented his mother for choosing.He felt it was for her vanity rather than thinking of him.
As a result we went for names we liked that were well known and required no explanation.One exploded into extreme popularity a few years later but the others remain in their middle ground.
I had a feeling that the child should be able to live easily with their name and carry it lightly rather than it wearing them.
Don't forget that even if a name is in the top ten or twenty it isn't like my childhood when there were a much narrower range of names used.There are no longer likely to be seven Anns in the class or whatever.

My daughter has an unusual name and my son has a name which at the time was uncommon although is popular now.

We are all outgoing and strong minded people so there was never going to be any bullying but children with quieter personalities may suffer distress from being given an unusual name.

My name is less common and I love it. Same for my sister whose name is very rare. There’s maybe a sweet spot where names are known but not going to be one of many in a class

As Juno is a woman's name I read this @Wedonttalkaboutjuno post as being a same sex couple.

Never heard of it being given to a man.

Middle ground definitely. My DC's names were more popular in previous generations but don't sound dated, well perhaps a little but not ''tarnished'' like Gary or Sharon. Hope that makes sense. Anyway, I feel like middle ground was the way to go.

My own parents, I think they thought that the top ten names list was a list they had to choose from

Dude, that's a lot of personal info you've just posted.

I am for unusual, but not made up and spelled weirdly or too ridiculous. But classic names can be gorgeous too.

There's no right or wrong here, just preference!

Get a list together and get us to critique it.

Congratulations on the imminent arrival of the baby!