How important in popularity when choosing names?

I have a popular name for my generation and I hate it. I think it’s common, unimaginative and is a bit embarrassing.

Bit of a balance for me I wanted something known but not 'trending' due to risk of there being lots of others and it sounding dated after the peak.

I've realised I think of some names as a group. So my DD is 3 and there are loads of short girls names beginning with vowles (Ava, Ada, Isla Evie, Eva) and would avoid those because i find them too common as a group even if not individually, if that make sense.

Well IMO you’ve got to find the sweet spot - a name is to identify you do you don’t wanna to be one of millions, but also my kids love meeting people with their same names, finding personalised things in shops etc.

Also absolutely classic that you try and be whacky and then turns out your name is newly top 10, a year after yours is born when it’s too late, because everyone else had the same thought.

People can choose what they want. It doesn’t bother me at all. I’m just observing the fact that some names become popular for a year or two then fade away and become very much of a certain time. Others are timeless. You won’t find many grandads and newborns called Jayden but you’d find plenty of Jacks for example.

It wouldn’t occur to me when naming a child to follow or not follow what other people are doing. If I like the name I’ll use it regardless of whether or not it’s popular.

Both mine and DHs names scream born in 70s.
So we really wanted to avoid this with DC. BUT it is actually a lot more difficult to do this than you think.
DC1 is a classic name and we thought fairly unusual however it has become more popular particularly with lots of varients. Forever correcting the spelling.
DC2 has a more unusual name, he wasnt a fan when he was growing up as he could never buy anything with his name on it He likes it now.
DC3 classic but fairly uncommon DC doesn't like it.
DC4 classic but again we thought fairly uncommon until a member of royal family used it.
Which annoyed DC, still she may always be thought of as younger than she is!
Agree there is often local variance in popularity, when eldest DC joined reception at small village school there were 5 Sophies in a class of 15 and there were only 7 girls!
I think you just have to choose a name you like, preferably one that is easy to pronounce and spell and that initials dont spell out anything awful.

I'm not saying it never happens, but it was literally every class in the 90's! There's far more variety now.

I don't have the stats, hence my reluctance to just accept it.

It is statistically true in general. Especially for the earlier years, I picked 1996 out of thin air but you could pick almost any earlier year and it would almost always be correct.

There's more variety now and more people are trying to be different.

My son has a classic, Biblical name. There are 4 in his class!

@SouthLondonMum22 , it's correct for those examples, but I'm not convinced that it's true in general.

It's correct.

For example, in 1996, Jack was the most popular boys name used 10,779 times and Sophie was the most popular girls name used 7,087 times.

In 2023, Mohammed was the most popular boys name used 4,661 times and Olivia was the most popular girls name used 2,906 times.

No one is saying that Olivia is unusual but it was used far less than Sophie was in 1996 yet is still the most popular girls name.

Going back even further when you are talking about Michelle's and Gemma's and Michael's and they were used many more times than the most popular names of today.

Oh well, it's cool to be ahead of the curve.

@Blueplu , there's a happy medium.

I'm not convinced about So popular names 20-30 years ago were used far more than nowadays so statistically those who hate having a popular name in the 70s/80s nowadays with ‘popular’ names it won’t actually be as prevalent.

Names are popular because new parents generally pick from a small pool of names.

So you can’t have a trendy name because you don’t see it as timeless and clearly snooty but then you don’t like people who choose non popular unique names

So popular names 20-30 years ago were used far more than nowadays so statistically those who hate having a popular name in the 70s/80s nowadays with ‘popular’ names it won’t actually be as prevalent.

For example say in the 90s the name Charlotte in the top 5 or so would have 4-5 thousand babies called it and now the same name ranked around 5, say Isla will only have 2 thousand baby girls called this name in 2025.
People are choosing from a wider pool of names nowadays so it means that names although seem popular aren’t like the number of babies given the name in the 70s/80s.

There is a reason names are popular because they’re nice and people like them.

Agree with this. There are certain trends with names that don’t tend to last or age particularly well. At one point everyone was a Jayden, more recently it’s been Arlo. But both drop out of favour unlike names like Harry, Jack and James that are consistently popular and timeless.

I think the lengths some people go to to make sure their dc has a ‘unique’ name are sometimes ridiculous. Popularity generally doesn’t bother me at all, it’s popular for a reason. Some people are desperate to have a dc who stands out and lumber them with some ridiculous made up name. One of my dc has a popular name, the other less popular but still very normal. It doesn’t factor in my choices.

They might be well known but they are hardly easy to spell (apart from Diane) - Claud, Hillary, Maude, Lindsey, Graham are all equally used spellings (if not more popular spellings in many cases). And there’s a reason most of them are considered quite dated - I don’t know anyone with those names younger than their 50’s at best so people are likely to make assumptions.

Having said that, there are plenty of names outside the Top 100 that do sound less dated and are well known and easy to spell - Robert, John, Owen, Evan, Julia, Serena, Antonia, Verity etc etc. It would be harder to guess how old one of those are (I’ve met one or two of each under 20 as well as older ones) and generally there is only one popular spelling.

Exactly. Here are some names that are very unusual these days: Hilary, Maud, Diane, Graeme, Lindsay, Claude.

All very easy to spell and well known.

It was important to me but you don't have any control over how popular a name becomes. When we named DD, she was named after her Grandmother. The name had not been in top 100 ever, I don't think. And then 2 celebs named their daughters that name and BOOM! It's been one of the most popular girls names of the last 20 years. It still pisses me off lol.

I ruled out top 100 names. All the popular names in the OP are names of dcs in both of my dds classes, and that would bother me. Dd1 has a rarely used name that I've only met a few times, DD2 has a name that is a bit more popular and I've met maybe twice as many, but they've never been in the same class or activity as another person with that name.

Quite a few kids in toddler groups/school have different but similar sounding names, and tbh I always get them mixed up - I expect it happens to them often.

I avoid popularity. My name isn't very common and I like it that way. I felt sorry for people who had the same name as others, and you get known as your name plus initial. I cringed when 3 of the girls in my coffee group (total 10 people) named their kids the same thing.

a Name being too popular automatically ruled it out for me

I'm with the PPs who pointed out that names are identifiers and that there are so many beautiful names outside the top 100. I avoided the top 100 for this reason, even though I liked Maya and Sienna.

I have yet to meet another child with DD's name, but there are a couple of girls in her school year with similar names (think Mary, Marie and Maria). That said, the girls' names in this school do seem to be a teacher's nightmare. Amelia x2, Emilia x2, Emma and Emily, Eve, Eva and Ava, Lily and Lilia, Isla and Isabelle... Perhaps I should have been braver!

For me it was very important to not have a commonly used name
But I've always wanted an unusual name when I've planned my baby names! I was never going to have a usual one!

In the end I chose an not common name but not out there either. Dad was surprised it wasn't more out there actually!

It was just over the top 100 names when she was born. But that was rare enough to me and we've only come across a few with her name.

But it's whatever you want it to be!

I honestly haven’t ever paid attention to the top 100 but have just looked it up and thankfully dislike the majority of the names. I think Ella, Olivia and Amelia are the dullest names going and surprised they’re so popular. My children’s are ranging from 300s to 1100 in popularity and my own name is in the 800s. I can’t imagine having to encounter the same name as my own constantly, I bet it would be annoying. I’d also be disappointed if all the names I liked where in the top 100 and would question why I was so unimaginative.