Who is still naming their babies Oliver and Olivia?

Not illogical at all. There are probably more Lily’s than Olivia’s but because they are recorded separately by spelling in the ONS statistics they don’t look so popular but really are Lily/Lillie/Lili etc separate names?

Then there’s the names where people give a long form but in reality they use the short form. So Eve, Evelyn and Evie are all really Evie so Evie is actually super popular, probably more likely to meet one than an Olivia.

Plus you’ve got names that come from the same family so seem ubiquitous. The Eve/Evie/Eva/Ava and now Ada and Ayla group and the Amelia/Emilia pair which taken together are stratospherically popular. This names again also encourage variant spellings, Emelia anyone? So again not counted together.

Olivia looks more popular than it is as it has no common variant spellings or long forms and so all the girls who go by Olivia are counted together in ONS statistics.

All the Olivers are in my area. I must know a dozen under 5.

No Olivias though. Girls are all called Rosie (three in DC's nursery group of 16!) or Evie/Evelyn.

One of my dc has a popular name (top 5 for ages), it's a family name and I just love it. Easy to get personalised tat too. I put up with its popularity but do wish it was not quite so everywhere. I have the same name as everyone else my age so I know what it's like!

Oh me too @Hardbackwriter .

I have spent my life being called Rowena (roweeeeena) Roxanne, Roxanna, Joanne, Joanna, all sorts of stupid mispronunciations.

It’s embarrassing constantly correcting people and it’s also uncomfortable being called a name that isn’t yours.

I think you're overestimating how universally people feel that a popular name is a bad thing. I would absolutely rather have been one of the three Sarahs, two Rachels or two Katherines in my secondary school form of 30 girls than have had the whole class find it hilarious every time another new teacher couldn't say my name and to have to go through life spelling it out every time and having to constantly choose between correcting people or just being called the wrong name. I didn't call my children Oliver but I did give them both names that a lot of people on MN would consider too boring and popular - and yes, there was another boy with DS1's name in his year at nursery - and that was a very active choice! If I'd particularly liked Oliver I would have happily considered it even knowing it's so popular.

. There are more children under 5 called Oliver/Olivia than anything else in the country. So arguing other names are more common is pretty illogical

Yes OP but they will still only be around 1% or less of children named. And there will be regional variations in that.

For example, I'm in north Scotland and don't know a single Oliver under 20 but I can't throw a stick without hitting a Lewis, Callum or Fraser!

I'll preface by saying I don't have a child named either of those, nor would I chose to because I don't like them but I don't see why people get so hung up on how common a name is. If you like a name, use it.

Yes there's such a massive diversity of names now that the most popular isn't anywhere near as frequent in population terms as the most popular would have been 40/50 years ago.

I don't know any Olivias but ds13 has 3 Olivers in his rugby team alone, and ds16 even more, so it's been around for a long time.

I have teens and know lots of boys called Ollie and Oliver but no Olivia. I wonder if there's massive local variation. Oliver, Ellie and Sophie are the names that come up most often in their classes.

They are good names - that why loads are using them.

*its 🤦🏻‍♀️

I love the name Oliver. Currently pregnant but won’t be using it as it is so very popular around here. Neighbour’s kid is Ollie and to be frank, it doesn’t suit him as he is v quiet and reserved. Ollie is a big personality name. For someone with charisma.

Olivia used to be a gorgeous name but it’s overuse has rendered it boring now. So many Olivia’s. And I cannot stand Liv, yuk. Reminds me of pâté 🤷🏻‍♀️

So many girls in their early-mid 20s are Sophie/Chloe/Amy with Louise or Anne as a middle name. All the Isla Rose/Ava Maes will be the equivalent in a decade or two.

I don't know any my age.
My son 22 has one friend Oliver.
Work colleagues with school age children 1 or 2 of each.
I would say Sophie and Ben are most popular

I don't know any small children with these names.

The "most popular" names now are much less popular than the most popular names when we were children.

My son's middle name is Oliver.
We decided on it on the walk to the registry office and it didn't cross my mind to check how popular it is. I just liked how it flows with his first name and surname.

Oli/Oliver was my second running name for my current newborn.

The popularity of the name didn’t even factor in. I liked the name end of.

only reason it wasn’t his name in the end was the other front runner was preferred. I don’t see the issue it’s the natural cycle of names. They disperse just as school kids do into the working /wider world and as trends evolve. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I know one Olivia and one Oliver - both in their mid 40s. I went to school with the Olivia and her name was seen as unusual and posh by the rest of us (who all had Laura, Emma, Jennifer etc names). I imagine some new parents of my generation still see these names as unusual as unless they have contact with young children they won't know any. And then some parents are unconcerned about name popularity and just choose a name they like.

I know two little Olives and one Oliver.

But Amelia/Emilia are the most overused names in DD’s school year (Reception). In fact, nearly half of the girls have names beginning with A, E, I or L and they kind of blur into one. Lily, Ellie, Emily, Amy, Alice, Alannah, Isabella etc.

Obviously the parents of all the little kids you meet are still choosing Oliver and Olivia. For what it’s worth, I’ve met more Jacks and Amelias than Oliver and Olivias. And just because a name is popular doesn’t mean it’s a bad name - think how many Johns and Marys there would have been in the past few generations. Loads! And (as far as I’m concerned) they’re still lovely names.

Every single man in his mid to late 40s is called either Steve, Mike or Mark.

Similarly their female counterparts are Sarah, Rebecca or Jennifer.

Yes, so many of my peers are Sarah, Laura, etc

I don't understand why people want a weird name that no one's ever heard of and can't spell!

Do you mean people with non english names?

I haven’t met all that many Oliver’s and Olivia’s, so they don’t feel overused to me.

I wouldn’t use either of them myself, but that’s because there’s other names I like more. If I loved a name, I wouldn’t be put off by it being top of the name charts.

I have an Oliver (age 9) and bizarrely there has never been another one in his class (nursery, infant school and 2 junior schools) which I fully expected! May change at secondary though.

I also don’t know any Olivias but every other baby or toddler girl is Ava May/Isla Rose/Amelia Rose! I know multiple girls with the same first and middle name. Mae and Rose are definitely the equivalent of ‘Louise’ in the 90s.