Does it MATTER if the name you choose is top 5 / top 10 / whatever? DH thinks so - I don't!

I did like more unusual names than dp in general.

We really liked Sadie for ages but then went off it. After I had dd I made friends with a woman down the street with a dd called Sadie the same age as our dd.

I also really liked Isobel but dp wasn't as keen. I thought it was unusual but actually when you take into account the various spellings it's very popular, much more so than the name eventually did go for. I thought this was very popular but actually isn't very trendy at all these days so I havn't met another X the same age as dd though I've met quite a lot who are 20ish.

Go for what you like and what goes well with your surname and the names of your other dc.

I mean it would bother me, not that someone else using the name would be a problem.

Depends. If it's top 10 and trendy I would have a problem with that. If it's one of those evergreen names, then it wouldn't bother me.

Me and my sis have the most common name for our year. Mine drives me crackers. There are 5 of us at work (out of about 40) and there were 5 of us in one class at school. Plus there are different ways to spell my name so even though its so common, I have to spell it each time.

Having said that DS has a top 20 name and there aren't any others in his class.

And bf gave her DS what she thought was a really unusual name and there are loads of them about.

Try to go with something that isn't so popular in your area which you both like.

DS1 was top ten for the year, yet there's only one other in entire school- popularity still varies from place to place.

My name (Claire) was chosen by Mum for being rare- most (literally) of the girls in my class ahd the same name! Ditto my sister Nicola, whose best friends ats chool were Nicola and er.... Nicola!

She hit the jackpot with her third, Sian, which was virtua,ly unknown themn. As a result poor Sian endured many yuears of beingc alled Stan at playschool etc.

Just choose a name you like, nothing else matters.

DD has a very unusual first name (by accident rather than design), I looked up the stats on a website once and I think there were only 12 in the UK or something. One of them is at her small school (although a couple of years older)so DD is known as "XX in Y2" rather than "XX in Y5"!

No it doesn't matter! My name was the top name for the year I was born and yet I was the only one in my school year!

There were about 7 Kellys though (and 4 of them were in my circle of friends) and they were never bothered.

We had a lot of comments about how unusual DS1s name was when we had him but a year or 2 later it was in the top 5! DS2s name is also in the top lot and it appears that DDs name is creeping up the list too now (in fact there was another born at the same hospital about an hour before her).

I don't think it is important for your child to have an 'individual' or uncommon name as they will be their own little person regardless who they share a name with. As long as you like the name and it suits them then who else matters?!

I have an unusual name, when i was at school i didn'tlike being different, not being able to have stickers, pens etc with my name on, comedy mispronouciation, now i love it and would hate to have a common nsme, i think you have to consider will they be constantly having to go by abbreviations or nicknames because theres 4 in their class/ office, equally will the be having to tell people how to pronounce/spell it?

I agree with meglet, I was one of three with the same name at school and found it very annoying. It is worth remembering that the 'top whatever' list may not apply where you live. It certainly doesn't here. Choose a name you like, its your child, buggar everyone else.

my name has been in the top 20 for years (possibly forever) and is horribly common. There were 4 of us in my class at school and I really didn't like it as the teachers would get muddled. Its nice to be individual and have something bit less common.

Naturally I am going out of my way to give my small people different names.

We are finding it SO much easier to agree on girls' names than boys.

Also dh is so faddy, he goes off things, it's really irritating.

He also sits and reads out the most inappropriate names in the book at night just to annoy me when I'm trying to read.....

Also, the stats can be misleading. Spelling differentiations or slight variations, mean a name can appear two or 3 times in the top 100. When you hear that name, you won't know it is spelt differently, so it may well end up being 'heard' more than any of the top 5 names. e.g Isabella, Isabelle, Isabel. Sophia, Sofia, Sophie. Grace, Gracie, Eve, Eva, Evie.

My DD1 has a top 10 name. It was a shock to me when naming my child that DH didn't like any of the names I had always had in mind and I didn't like any of the names he had in mind. I forgot that it wasn't all MY choice So, DD1's name was the only name we liked on at the time.

She does have another of the same name in her class at school. But then again there are 2 Harriets and that's far from a top 10 name.

For DD2 I liked Annabel and for awhile wished we had called DD1 that name as it is less popular. If we had called her Annabel, she would have been one of two Annabels in the class!

We didn't name DD2 Annabel But her name, which is ranked between 40 and 50, is heard more frequently in our area than DD1s. You can't win. It is best to go with the name you and your DP like the most.

If it matters to you, then it matters. If it doesn't matter to you, then it doesn't matter (of course, the you-and-DH-disagreeing scenario doesn't help there). I think it also depends on how common / unusual the surname is, TBH.

Most of the names we considered for DS but rejected prtly for being too popular he has ended up in a nursery class with at least one boy with that name, so I'm glad that we personally opted for a name lower down the popularity scale.

My DD1 has the most popular girls name for the year she was born (and several years before and after her birth too I think). It suits her very well and she loves it. Funny thing is that there is only one other at nursery with the same name (big nursery) and I rarely hear other children with the same name - seems other mums who liked the name changed it slightly - no idea how it stayed at the top really, I guess it must be a geographical thing. DD2's name was 60th on the list and we are bumping into little girls with the same name whereever we go. I would say if you really like the name, go for it regardless. I bet you'll not regret it either.

btw my name was the top girls name for the year I was born yet I rarely meet another person with the same name. I was always the only one in my class at school.

I guess when we are older, we don't necessarily mix with people the same age so in our group of friends we can still be very unique yet have a relatively common name.

I think that as long as the name is SQUONK you'll be okay!

you have to wait until he's been your birth partner and he's giddy with relief at your safe delivery and then you say "oh but we have to call him 'fuckybollocks' (you do realise that you have now made me think that that is the too-posh name )he so looks like one" and generally overbear him with the hormones etc

no

I love teh name Evie but it's just everyone's favourite name at the moment . I have another name (For a girl) which I always said I would use. It's a variation of my dad's name (he died in 2000) but I have a real fear that my brother and his wife may use it. If they do I am sorry but I am going to use it too.

I love Daniel but dh says it's far too popular and everyone will call the child 'Dan' or Danny and he's not that keen on those.

I don't mind a name being popular myself.

ok mamag, i now have this picture in my head of loads of kids called One, Ten etc

Before you have a child it's hard to grasp what it will mean if a name is #1. Would every second child be called that name? Or every fifth?

I think it would be useful to have a percentage next to the rank.