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Original poster

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

155 replies

Butterflybluebell · 08/09/2026 13:53

Would you discount a name for being too popular, even if you really loved it and have loved it for years?

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Flutterbees · 09/09/2026 14:03

No. All my children have names that were top 10-20 when they were born and are still very popular. The youngest in particular. They are all very unique, independent kids, so sharing a name with a classmate is really no issue at all. I love that there are no issues pronouncing or spelling their names, and that they are good, strong, classic names.

Summerlovingtheraspberries · 09/09/2026 15:43

No I would use it.
Who knows what will be popular in years to come.
I would never choose a name based on its uniqueness. Lots of so called unique names become popular.

ChocolateCinderToffee · 09/09/2026 18:52

I'd use it as the middle name I think, although I've never had kids so haven't been in that position and my favourite names tend towards the weird and wonderful.

ChocolateCinderToffee · 09/09/2026 18:55

Iocanepowder · 09/09/2026 12:00

I will add that it wasn’t just a case of there always being several girls with my name in the 4 different schools I went to, but at other hobbies and now at work. I shit you not that I was in a work meeting the other day with 21 people in it and 3 of us had my name.

I was briefly in a team of 17 people, five of whom had my name.

OrdinaryGirl · 09/09/2026 19:09

Yes. I would avoid a popular name, though obviously there’s nothing wrong with picking one that a lot of others have chosen.

Am fed up with own name which was in the top 10 for like a decade when I was born. It dates me hugely and I wish I had a classically timeless name - something beautiful that could be the name of an 80 year old or an 8 year old. But that’s Holy Grail territory.
Gave all our boys names that are classic and spelt the usual way but they are ones that nobody else in their year has, except for ONE other kid. Years later it still feels like a good decision.
Find that sweet spot OP!

BananaWhip · 09/09/2026 19:30

I had an unusual name and hated it! I wanted a popular name like my peers!

Original poster
Butterflybluebell · 09/09/2026 20:28

Helenbelena · 09/09/2026 13:10

There is a HUGE difference between a truly unique name and an overused fashionable one.

There are literally thousands of beautiful normal names outside of the top 100 or even outside the top 250 most popular names. By choosing a less common name the chances of having to share your name with 3 others on the classroom or at work is significantly reduced.

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Unique means the only one. It doesn't mean rare or different. The actual definition of unique is the only one of its kind.
So you can't have a truly unique name.

Yes chosing a less popular reduces the risk of being one of many for sure.

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Original poster
Butterflybluebell · 09/09/2026 20:36

StationJack · 09/09/2026 13:23

That's because you have chosen the name. If I said my list was Susan, Julie, Karen, Deborah, Tracey and Jacqueline, you probably would think them awful but those were the top names at one time.

Did the parents who picked one of those names have good taste?

Out of Olivia, Amelia, Isla, Lily, Ivy and Freya, which ones will be thought of as 'good taste' in 60 years' time?

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Yep. Some names are popular because they are trendy for the time. These will date badly.

Some names are popular because they're just strong names and have been in use for decades

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Original poster
Butterflybluebell · 09/09/2026 20:40

But let's take Cleo, Edie, Romy, etc as an example. Not in the top 100, but very trendy at the moment if you look on social media.(I love all these names BTW) but they all follow a certain vibe. So imo, blend into one in a sense.

Still love them though 🤣.

Margot I also love but this will date very badly. I think Alba is also heading that way. Again, love the name though.

OP posts:
peoniea · 09/09/2026 20:42

Yes

Iocanepowder · 09/09/2026 20:46

ChocolateCinderToffee · 09/09/2026 18:55

I was briefly in a team of 17 people, five of whom had my name.

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I wonder if we have the same name 🤣

StationJack · 09/09/2026 20:48

So you can't have a truly unique name.
You can make one up but someone else might use it.

SockQueen · 09/09/2026 21:00

ChocolateCinderToffee · 09/09/2026 18:55

I was briefly in a team of 17 people, five of whom had my name.

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When I was in a rowing team at uni, my crew (8 women) included Cat, Kate, Katie X2, Kathy and Catherine. I'm one of the non-Katherine names, and my middle name is the same as the other one's first name!

WorkCleanRepeat · 09/09/2026 21:15

No I would use it. My name was extremely popular. There were 12 of us in my year at secondary school.

As an adult ive never met or worked with another.

ExquisitelyDecorating · 09/09/2026 21:25

No, not at all, there have always been at least two of me in classes at school, workplaces etc and it doesn't bother me at all in fact I quite like it. I seem to have popular initials too. I'd far rather have a popular name than one everyone asks how to spell, or asks why you chose it, or has generally just never heard before.

Original poster
Butterflybluebell · 09/09/2026 22:01

StationJack · 09/09/2026 20:48

So you can't have a truly unique name.
You can make one up but someone else might use it.

Exactly. An actual unique name, is just a made up one!

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Helenbelena · 09/09/2026 22:29

Butterflybluebell · 09/09/2026 22:01

Exactly. An actual unique name, is just a made up one!

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Every single name is made up

StationJack · 09/09/2026 22:45

Helenbelena · 09/09/2026 22:29

Every single name is made up

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They were once but there's a huge difference between making one up for your own baby and one that might have been made up centuries ago.

Original poster
Butterflybluebell · 09/09/2026 22:47

Helenbelena · 09/09/2026 22:29

Every single name is made up

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From centuries ago.

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StationJack · 09/09/2026 23:07

Or millennia.

Lionelrichiesarmpit · 09/09/2026 23:13

My name was quite rare when I was born but 10 years later is became hugely popular, so now not only do I have 5 people at my work with the same name, they’re all younger than me! Coincidentally exactly the same happened with my son’s name. Very unusual at the time,
now in the top 20.

You just don’t know how popular names will be in the future so you may as well go for it.

Confetti57 · 10/09/2026 08:06

Butterflybluebell · 09/09/2026 08:58

I do agree with this, obviously statistically more likely to be one of multiple in a class with a very popular name. However as somebody has mentioned you could end up choosing a much less common name, and actually still be one of at least two! Like I said before, my DCs name barely makes the top 100 yet I seem to come across them everywhere (primary age) and there's at least another one in their year.

I get that this bothers people to varying degrees as well. It's all preference isn't it. I just wondered whether going for a less popular name, just because it is less popular, is it really the right thing to do?

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Yes same here unfortunately. DS's name is barely top 100 but his name is everywhere around here. There is another one in his class and a few more in the school. He's been known as his full name (first name+surname) since nursery.

It does bug me a lot, as not having a super popular name was one of my criteria. But somehow there are so many more of his name than Olivers, Noahs, Leos etc. So you just can't really know.

That said there was no other name I liked near as much, so even knowing this, I would still have picked it.

But if you have two contenders, I'd go for the less popular one.

Fantomfartflinger · 10/09/2026 08:12

Could you have it as a double name so that it is not the same as 20 others in a school for example?

Rocknrollstar · 10/09/2026 08:37

Butterflybluebell · 08/09/2026 14:34

I do agree with this somewhat, but there is no way we could all have a truly unique name.

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We chose what we thought was a unique name but when DD went to grammar school two other girls in her year had the same name. She’s never forgiven me. She says the name we rejected because we thought it was too popular would have been better.

ExquisitelyDecorating · 10/09/2026 08:47

That's another thing, I have an unusual-at-the-time middle name (more popular again now). I got teased mercilessly for it at primary school and wanted it to be Jane or Louise like everyone else. I hate it and am SO grateful it wasn't given as my first name.