Why do people pick popular names?

Also it's a running joke in our family that all my friends are called Sarah. I have to give them nicknames so they know who I'm talking about.

When we called our child Grace 25 years ago it was so unusual that some people though we'd had some sort of religious conversion! (It was actually a name we'd fallen in love with from an American TV series.) Within 6 years it was in the top 2) And our Grace has only ever met 4 others. It's really not a big deal.

Because even the most popular name isn't that popular. And it absolutely isn't a disaster if your child has the same name as another child in the school.

I had an unusual name as a child and it was a pain in the arse. Nobody knew how to pronounce it when they read it, other people would assume it was a different name if they heard it, it meant I spent a lot of time correcting people and it drew a lot of attention to me. I was painfully shy so it was hard.

I did come out of my shell as a teen but then I'd have people thinking I was lying about my name to make myself sound interesting! Especially if I was hanging out with another friend with an unusual name.

I was also afraid that an unusual name could be stigmatising for them, especially as I was a fairly young mum.

Because I wanted a name that people would know to say and spell, having had a best friend at school who spent her life spelling out her name or having people spelling it wrong. And because the popular names are popular because they sound nice.

Both DP and I have less usual names that often require repeating and spelling. As children neither of us ever found our names on a novelty item in a gift shop. Mine is mispronounced daily to the point where I hardly bother to correct people any more. It was mispronounced in my graduation ceremony.

We named our baby a top 3 name so that he doesn't have these issues. Plus it was one of the only names we really liked and we don't mind the inevitable nickname.

Lots of people don't care if many other children have the same name. They just pick one that they personally like. You can see this in the fact that people have access to the popularity lists but still pick top ten names. It just isn't a concern for many people. I really like the point about online anonymity - I am really hard to pinpoint because I have a common first name and surname.

don't people want to...dare I say it...try a bit harder? 😬

🙄

We had very specific criteria when naming DS.

• we wanted a name that was recognisable as a name ( no made up names or random words)
• we wanted to be happy with any nicknames / short versions and like them as much as the actual name.
• we wanted a name that had only one recognised spelling as both me and DH have names that can be spelled a few different ways and it's frustrating!

So even though we chose a relatively popular name we still tried hard to find one that suited.

We have a difficult to spell and pronounce German surname .I grew up with a difficult to spell and pronounce Irish surname . We have lived abroad ,always spelling and explaining .I gave my kids simple but classic first names for that reason.

Well there are always going to be names that are more popular than others, and there will always be a top 10. This is maths.

If you're asking why people particularly want a name that is common, I suppose lots of reasons - people know them so they're easy to spell and pronounce, they are nice sounding in the language of that country, they have a nice meaning, they have a relative with that name.

I have a friend who gave her 4 children extremely boring/ common names for the reason that she didn't want them to have to spell them out to everyone they met, she wanted them to fit in easily at school, and just wanted things to be straightforward in that way. All very valid.

My parents gave my brother one of the most popular names around. Then they gave me a lesser used but still common name, but they gave me a unique spelling so I know how your DS feels. My brother had loads of stuff with his name on.

And names might be popular in one area, I was the only one with my name in the classes I was in (I went to three primaries) but at high school there were 5 in my class and another few in the year.

Then a couple with a similar name both in my class and in my year., think Rose and Rosie

“Now both are top 5 or 10. I'm furious to be honest. I'd rather everyone had just carried on calling their children Oliver.”

you’re really furious? I suppose if it was a really important criterion for you, to have a non-popular name, then it would be a bit irritating, but maybe it’s just that lots of people have the same taste as you. Seems like an odd thing to be furious about!

Also, everyone waffles on about the popular names but every single baby name thread on here has the same names suggested no matter what the OP says. It’s getting almost comical.

I'm not hating- just genuinely curious?

don't people want to...dare I say it...try a bit harder?

Sounds pretty judgy to me…

To answer your question, people name their children what they like. You should do the same. DD1 has a name I’d never heard anyone else called before her. I found it after reading a book with a character called the same thing. There was another child in her pre-school with the same name and a child in the year above her at primary. It’s also added to the MN list of names on here too. I don’t care though because I think it’s beautiful.

DD2’s name is Irish. Popular Irish but not too common in England (DH is Irish). We chose it because we love it and we get compliments on it.

DC3 will have a name we like. It may well be popular but that won’t sway our decision. We have an unusual enough surname that it’s unlikely there will be two with the exact same name in one class.

Yes. I’ve named my DC fairly popular names (because I love them!) and surprisingly they’ve ended up being the only ones in their year with their names.

I have a name which was very popular when I was born - there were three of us in my class at school. But since leaving school I’ve only come across two others in the past 25+ years. I liked having a popular name - I loved seeing it on items in shops!

Both of my DC names weren't popular when the were born (DS2 was number 99).

Now both are top 5 or 10. I'm furious to be honest. I'd rather everyone had just carried on calling their children Oliver.

I have quite a popular 90s name, and I’ve always been happy with it. The only thing that’s slightly annoying is when you end up as one of multiple in a certain setting, and you can’t just be known by your first name - so at work, I’m usually referred to by my full name.

But you can’t always control for that unless you go for something really unusual. My DD’s name is about 90th in the lists, but she was one of two in our NCT group and I’ve come across a lot more than I expected - whereas the boy’s name we liked is right at the top of the lists, and I literally haven’t met a single child her age called this.

So when our next arrives, I’d worry a bit less about popularity - although personally I’d probably still steer clear of names that I thought were likely to be short-term fashionable (to the extent that it’s possible to spot those now!)

I'm pregnant and planning to call my son Michael.

It's barely in the top 80 😮

Jack and Isabel are classics that have belonged in every generation going back a long way. Nothing like Kevin or Tyler.

This!

This question has been asked loads on here. I find it interesting that the OP interprets “popular” names as parents not trying very hard. As though those people didn’t put any thought into the name and thought any old thing would do? Why wouldn’t you assume they thought long and hard… and happened to agree on a name that lots of other parents like too? It’s almost like you’re looking for something to sneer at in other people. I don’t care about names being either unusual or popular - it wasn’t a basis on which I decided or ruled out names.

We picked names that we liked and had meaning to us - I had no idea where they sat in terms of popularity. Although interestingly, my now grown up son is called Zachary - there were 4 others in his year group at secondary school, but when I looked up where his name was in popularity, in the year he was born it isn't even in the top 100. It is now, obviously it's pretty popular, little Zachs everywhere 😂 but I literally know one Oliver and that's been number one for years!

I don't really understand the obsession some people have with weird unique names (and it isn't just wanting your child to be the only one in their class with that name, because no one ever wants to name their child Gary or Clive or Tracey in order to be different, it has to be Azulya or Ptolemy or Frobisher)

Takes all sorts to make a world tho eh

So cool

My DD is in 6th Form now but she goes to school with lots of Ellies and Rubys and Isabellas. It's just the fashion of the time. My own daughter's name was fairly popular but like pp I didn't check the polls.

My own name was popular in the seventies and there were two other girls in my class with the same name. Now it's quite rare to name a baby girl my name.

DS name is high top 10, it was just the only name we could agree on 🤷🏻‍♀️ there's no other kids in his class with the same name and only one in his sports clubs.