Comments about names that you just don’t get

@SirChenjins , I said 'not the actual name' but some of the Sarah Smiths were instances like Sarah Rebecca Smith but known as Becky Smith and Sarah Helen Smith known as Helen, but yes, 13.

I'd give the name but someone might say, me too, and I've posted enough to be recognised

@SirChenjins , it wasn't actually Sarah Smith, but there were 13 Firstname Surnames in my year. Went to school in a fairly rural area where 5 surnames were very common. One seemed to be the surname of about a quarter of the school.

We can duplicated teacher names as well. Not the actual name but something like John Wilson (History) and John Wilson (Physics).

Smith wasn't all that common. Sarah was not particularly overused.

I looked up a list of high court judges and they had quite varied names. Obviously more middle aged trends due to age.

You need to give your child a name that will be on keyrings and pencil cases. This will help them feel popular, and will make shopping for gifts easier for relatives. Don't worry about the spelling. Little Kiera won't mind that it says Keira.

Most of the Sarahs I know are Sarah Janes. Most of the Lauras are Laura Jane, all the Sallys I know are Sally Anne.

13 Sarah Smiths in one year? How unusual.

Margaret known as Daisy completely foxes me as well - I know it’s an old fashioned thing but it’s not a natural leap is it?

Yes! I saw a recent one ‘Penelope nn Poppy’

Just call the kid poppy. It’s ridiculous and pretentious

I like Rose but need a longer, formal one for the BC. What about Geraldine known as Rose? 🤔

@SirChenjins , at the school i went to there were several duplicated names in the same year. Not the actual names but something like 13 Sarah Smiths, of which 2 were Sarah Jane Smith, and 5 David Williams, with 2 being David John Williams.
They were listed on the school register as Smith, Sarah Jane (Newton), Smith, Sarah Jane (Upton).

This from Wikipedia might be better en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_name

But honestly, the chances of their being 10 Steve Smith’s in one class is non existent. Just give your child a name you like and don’t worry about the uniqueness of a name - because chances are fashions will change and your unique name won’t be.

That all names are apparently ‘classic’ and ‘timeless’. They really aren’t.

I think it's fine to use a name from a different culture - as is often said on here, no one owns a name!

Re high court judge test - that just refers to choosing a name that won't cause your child to be negatively judged by snotty bastards before they've even met. I think it's a sensible to consider this.

Agree about being set on a nn and then desperately trying to scrabble around for a birth certificate name that has a very tenuous link - just pick what you want.

Also dislike having first and middle names together that are so overused, they do nothing to identify a person. I have the 70s version of this!

According to Wikipedia:

A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context.

Since when has the sole purpose of a name been something which identifies you uniquely?

Since people decided to give names to things and to people in order to identify them.

And yes, I actually know 3 men called Steve Smith and another dozen Steves! So it can indeed get confusing..!

And really - how likely is it that a child is going to be one of 10 Steve Smiths in a class?

Since when has the sole purpose of a name been something which identifies you uniquely?

Pick a name you like, who cares if there’s already lots of kids with it already?

That kind of defeats the purpose of naming someone - to identify them as uniquely as possible. Very difficult if you're one of 10 Steve Smiths or Harry Jones, for example.

Please don’t name your child this OP

I don’t get why are people so desperate for their children to have a unique name? Pick a name you like, who cares if there’s already lots of kids with it already?

My DD has a fairly unusual name but my son is called James. Because they are my two favourite names! That’s all that mattered to me.

If you like Rose or May as a middle name then bloody well go for it. My middle name (Louise) is the same as half of the girls born in the early 80s, it’s never done me any harm!

Comments that it is OK to use a name from a different culture, or one to which you have only tenuous links with, and to post what you think is the pronunciation, spelling or meaning, and get it wrong.

"It doesn't go with his sister's name"... how long are they going to live together for? They're not a set.

Coming up with a nickname they want to use and then trying to engineer a proper name from it, often with the most tenuous of links. Like trying to get Poppet from Patricia or Mimi from Dominic/que (made-up examples).

Coming up with "a full/long name for the BC" while assuring us that it will never be used. So just use the short version! I did this.... think Tilly/ Maggie (it's not those) and put the short version on the BC.

Thinking they can control all nicknames, e.g. "nobody is ever going to call my little Alexander by Alex". OK then...

Making up spellings.

Brutal

Agree with Lilac, it's the "it's so TRY HARD" as the ultimate out down. Trying hard to be what?? How do you know I'm not actually whatever you think I'm trying to be / why would you think my kids name would suddenly make me whatever you think I want to be.

People who try to talk someone out of a name because "I knew a horrible woman with that name." Fascinating, how is that relevant to the OP?

People saying "It's popular for a reason!" Most names were popular at some point, but aren't much liked now. It's called fashion! It doesn't mean the name is intrinsically nicer than other names or will never sound unfashionable.