Would you rule out a baby name you love if it is popular?

I've got a Jack so no! Mind you he's mid 30s when Jack wasn't as popular as now. But I still would have called him that even with how popular it is because it is a family name.

It depends on how popular. My DD was going to be Joshua if she was a DS. But the sheer popularity of the name put me off the name totally. But we gave her a popular name anyway as we were not put off by its popularity. It’s not quite as everywhere as Joshua use to be though.
I think if you still love the name and the popularity has not put you off then use it.

But yes, I would just pick the name I liked and not worry about popularity.

You can see the names that are creeping up the popularity charts on the ONS website. I don't think it's that common for a name to suddenly pop into the top 20 from nowhere.
If a name has jumped from 99 - 48 - 22 then it's going to be trendy and possibly much higher next year.

you can't control how many others you encounter. You can a bit. If you choose something like Sophia or Evie, it's highly likely, but you could find that your Therese or Valentina is one of two in her Reception class.

I would just pick the name I liked and not worry about popularity.

For one thing, the names that are popular for children now won't necessarily be as popular in the new baby's age group (this goes both ways- there's a whole section in Freakonomics about the phenomenon of parents feeling they have independently chosen an unusual name only for it to turn out to be top 10 in that year).

For another, even if you manage to pick a name that isn't nationally popular you can still end up with three in one class- names aren't evenly distributed- and then imagine how you'd feel to have given up the name you actually wanted. Just go for the name you like, and accept that you can't control how many others you encounter.

When I was pregnant with DC2 (didn't know what I was having until I gave birth) I absolutely ruled out the name Joshua. It wasn't a name I loved although I didn't dislike it either, and was so popular and had been for a long time. Then I had the baby. We joke he may as well have had Joshua tattooed on his head as it was so obviously his name. 20 years later and we've only met a handful that are his age anyway.

And of course I love the name now.

I always loved a name that ended up Top 10 when I was pregnant (always the way!) so I found names I also loved but didn't make any rankings and only considered those

Knowing a name was popular put me off them which was helpful, I guess!

No, while I don't like a lot of the current popular names if I had had my heart set on it for many years I wouldn't rule it out, I may consider other less popular names but if you really love it, it doesn't matter if a load if others love it too.

I wouldn't go for a top 20 or 30 name personally.

Do you want your child being Florence C? Big Florence or Little Florence? Blonde Florence?

I keep reading 'name use isn't as saturated now as it used to be' but I don't think that's true.
Names tend to go by location and demographic, so you might be in a pocket where the name isn't much used, or one where it is extremely popular.
Where I live, there are popular names that aren't in the national top 100.

I've just looked up a name used by 2 of my neighbours and it's not in the top 200!

Yes. We ruled out Evie, Evelyn and Grace. I meet children called that every day at play groups now and am glad we did.
And Ollie and George for boys, ditto.

DS has a classic top 10 name that we loved and still love. As PP’s say we hear his name out and about but we haven’t actually ‘met’ anyone in his age group with his name through baby classes, playgroups, nursery etc. There were 3 Chris’ in my class at secondary school in the 90s but there were only 1 or 2 names in the whole class that weren’t in the top 20! (And they were the ones that got stick for it iirc)

Now the breadth of names used is so vast that the names making the top 10 are only being given to 2000 or 3000 kids in England and Wales out of +- 300,000 (of the appropriate sex) being born.

3000 kids, 18,000 primary schools. It doesn’t stack up that there’ll be a guaranteed 3 Theo’s or Oliver’s in every class.

Yes, without thinking twice. There were four of us my in my class of 30 throughout primary, and it felt generic and a bit miserable. It took me until well into adulthood and living overseas to start responding naturally to my name if someone called it. There's something depressing about only being about 7 and having already learned that when someone called 'X!' statistically, they probably meant someone else.

Yes. Being a multiple of your name at school / work / gym is irriating behind belief.

Having to be Louise A or Louise G or Louise V in your 50's feels silly. It's worse in Teams meetings when you don't have obvious face to face connection. <<was that me or the other one?.. hand up....>> "which Louise do you mean?". For ever.

@seahorsessky , Prince Harry made the name popular and he was born at least 12 years before the first Harry Potter book.

Thing is, no one knows for sure-Harry seemed an old man's name until the Potter books, so if you deliberately pick an old, unpopular name, it might suddenly be popular again.
Are you meaning a popular, classic name, like Charlotte, Elizabeth etc? Or one like Karen, Linda, etc, eg very popular for its time, but not as seemingly classic (apologies if they do come round again!) because there's a big difference, and I would tend to go for classic.

I have loved my youngest son's name since I was around ten years old. My other half vetoed it first time around but I "won' for our second. It's not in the top 100 in the UK but I'd still call him the name even if it was.

The most popular names are used for less than 1% babies.

Mine have super popular names that when I chose them were not! Typical!

I think it depends, if it’s just yet another Evie or Ava or Olivia or George then I wouldn’t, personally.

Depends on the name, how popular it is and how long I'd loved it, and on whether I thought the name would stand the test of time.
I tend to go off names when they're overused.

Depends really on whether it’s revival to being a popular name has marred it at all. I used to like Paige and Abigail when I was a teenager, I named my kids in my late 30’s and never would have chosen those names then

No. My youngest has a very traditional but popular name but I love it and always have. He is 20 now.

I have a popular and traditional name myself which I love.