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

No. My son has a top 10/20 name but I have loved it since I was a teenager. I really can’t imagine him being called anything else. Also, even very popular names now aren’t as saturated as they used to be. We hear his name out and about but we aren’t falling over loads of boys with his name. I’m around a lot of babies and young children and the spread of names is huge. I hear different names all the time, very few repeats.

Yes.

I think names are a large part of a person’s identity and sharing a name with three other children in the class/uni/workplace is odd.

But that’s my opinion. You do you.

No, especially if it’s a name I’ve loved for years.

Yes I would. I liked the name Bella since I was a little girl and had a book about a rabbit called Bella (Bella’s Secret Garden). Anyway I became pregnant a couple of years after the Twilight film came out and when people asked what names I liked, I said Bella and every time people said “Oh because of Twilight?” I decided I would never use that name!

Yes, because the shortened version of my full name was popular when I was born- there were 3 in my class and I didn’t like it. Luckily my full name is very uncommon so I used that instead. I deliberately chose names that aren’t in the top 100 for my DCs.

I would, yes. The point of a name is to identify you on different settings, and I would feel that my child's name wasn't serving that purpose if they ended up becoming Olivia J or Theo P. It doesn't have to be super rare, but definitely outside the top 50.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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. 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.

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!

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?

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 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!