To wonder why people care about the popularity of baby names?

[fluffyanimal]

I can understand why you might not be able to decide between a selection of names. Or that you might want to know whether a certain combination of names sounds odd. But if you like a name, who cares whether it is popular or vanishingly rare? Why not just call your baby the name you like? I genuinely don't see why anyone would be concerned about this.

I purposely chose a name for DD that (that year) was 88th in the popularity stakes. I didn't even consider names in the top 50.

I was one of 3 of my name in my class of 28, and one other had the same middle name as well (very popular combination that year - thanks for that mum). I hated it - especially as I was the one in the middle ie (and names have been changed to prtect the innocent) there was Tall Doreen, Pretty Doreen and Doreen. I was neither tall nor pretty .

DD's name now is very popular - but we've never met another one the same age as her yet

tigermoll you rather prove my point that people shouldn't care that much about it, they should just pick the name they like! I mean, bully for Charlotte Church if she called her child the same as mine, proves she's got great taste!
ninkynonker, I don't think we should pander to people's assumptions. We should try to combat such attitudes.
aubergine we do have surnames to help people differentiate! And I would hope my PIL could recognise my voice apart from their own daughter...
lesley33 interesting about the research into unpopular names contributing to loneliness. That might be the one argument that could hold any weight with me.

I never understand it. Either you like it or you don't. I know that I will always meet people of my age with my name, it doesn't bother me.
If you choose James (lovely name) you expect to get others. What makes me laugh is when someone went out of their way to be different and they get another in the same class anyway!

Because I have always been one of many with my name in every single area of my life. I am 40 years old and have never ever worked or studied anywhere where I wasn't known as Gwendoline L instead of just Gwendoline. I am pig sick of it. Even when I was a nanny one of my charges had the same name so I was Gwendolinelacey. I hate it. There are 3 of us in my office, someone calls out Gwen and we all stick our heads up, only to be told, oh no, Gwen Z. It gets right on my tits.

So DD1 has a name just inside the top 100 and the name we are currently considering for DD2 is somewhere around the 1800 mark. I would not consider a name in the top 50.

ilkboo - you're dating yourself there!

Whether your name is common or rare, at some point when you're a child it's probably going to become a pain in the arse. My name is not especially common (usually just outside the top 100) but is very similar to a much more popular one. I spend my life correcting people - doesn't bother me now, but when I was a teenager it made me want to scream. I've given up trying to second-guess - my children will have names I like, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that nothing goes horribly wrong (like the emergence of a new politician/X Factor winner/high profile criminal with the same name)

I agree OP, but similarly it is a reality.

Damn, posted too soon. At the end of the day regardless of the parents' motivations, the child is the one who will be stuck with the name and any associations. To not consider that would be cruel, not a moral stand.

A name being in the top 20 would put me off it. Oliver/Olivia springing to mind as examples of names I used to like for future mini VPs, but I would never consider them now solely down to their popularity.

I'm trying to put my finder on exactly why that is OP, maybe partially due to the inevitable irritations listed above, partly because DP and I like to be a bit contrary, and partly because I was lucky enough to have been given a pretty perfect name myself in that its normal, yet unusual in that I've only ever met a couple, and at the same time its not freakish/out there. I'd like to find the same balance for my own DCs...

Ninky your last is a fair point. For example, I certainly wouldn't want to call my child Adolf or Saddam...

*finger not finder. God having a CRAPPY typing day today grr at self

fluffy because I didn't like it. I couldn't tell you why, I just didn't. It was irritating at school because I would drift off daydreaming and the teacher would say the name and I had the moments of terror when I was left wondering if they meant me when I didn't have a clue what had been asked. It's a name with a couple of different spellings and people would always muddle up which of us spelled it which way. It was just annoying.

Amusingly, my mum thought she was being original. She knew no one with my name when she named me. And to be fair to her, I can't think of anyone older than me with it either than I know or in the public eye. It just suddenly became v popular in the mid 70s.

I would prefer to give dc's an unusual name, i didn't meet anyone with my name until i was 8, and was taken down to meet the new kid in P1 with my name. however at high school she had 3 others with my name in the school.

My name is very popular now and has been in the top 10 for years, so numerous personalised stuff. which i have always loved.

Agreeing with eurochick and Gwendoline - I grew up in Ireland with what was probably the single most used girl's name of the decade in which I was born, and there were six of us in my all-female class of 30 all through primary school. (My parents appear to have chosen the name for precisely that reason, which tells you a lot about their desire not to stand out in a crowd and for their children to be average in every possible way!) It was only when I was in my twenties and had moved abroad that I realised the sheer pleasiure of hearing my name called in a public situation and being reasonably sure it was me being looked for - in fact, I remember the exact moment, walking down a street on a winter day.

I appreciate that other people have the opposite problem with the spelling or pronunciation of an unusual name, but my own experience has made me determined to at least consider the likely popularity of any names considered for the child I'm currently carrying. YMMV, obviously, but I remember feeling as though my name

Well I grew up with a very unusual name, which I always got teased for. It's also in a song, which would be sung at me by everyone I introduced myself to (each of them so thrilled at their oh-so-original-and-amusing response ). It drove me mad.

When I left home to go to university I took the opportunity to shorten it to something much more normal, in fact pretty common. I much prefer it, even though I often have to give my surname when I phone people so they can distinguish me from the others they know. There's only a handful of the people I know now who know what my real name is and that's just the way I like it.

Having said that, I am currently pregnant with our first and DH and me are agonising over whether to go with the names we agreed on years ago. We love them, but we've discovered that both the boy's and girl's name regularly feature in the top ten. Would our kids resent being lumbered with something so unoriginal?

I think it's probably fair to say that either end of the popularity spectrum can be problematic

Sorry, hit post too soon - I felt that as a shy child, my name actively hampered me from having an individual identity because there were so many others.

i have never ever met anyone with the same name as me and i very rarely hear it - there is one celebrity with the same name who's moment of fame was before i was born. i am more than happy with my name and like that i don't hear it every day so i tried to choose an unusual name for my kids that they wouldn't hear every day.

There are two little boys called Indie in my DD's nursery class - I actually feel sorry for the parents who have obviously tried hard to find an unusual name.

I chose names by the following criteria:

1. We liked it
2. It had some kind of meaning to us (I.e named after someone or liked the meaning/origin of the name)
3. Not so popular that there would likely be lots of them in the class (so out of top 100 at least)
4. Not so unusual that people hadn't heard of it/couldn't spell it/ thought it was weird

Worked for us, I love both the DC's names and people never ask us to spell them but often comment on how lovely but underused they are (at least to my face anyway!)

oh I'd love to know the names cheese, your criteria makes a lot of sense.

My name is very common, as in there are a lot of us and it's back in the top five. But some names, whilst they might be popular could never be considered "common". I just can't envisage a name like Olivia ever being seen as chavvy.

I've said this before...

As a teacher I've seen how children get round having other children with the same name in the same class. I once taught a class with 4 Bens in. Two had the same initial. So they were known as Ben + description. It was okay for "sporty Ben", but not so great for "thick Ben".

I also taught a class with several girls called Amy in, and again felt sorry for the Amy with the unfortunate hair cut as she was always known as 'Amy Microphone head'. I even remember a conversation going something like this once...

A: Blah blah Blah Amy...
B: Which Amy?
A: You know, Amy M
B: No, which Amy?
A: Amy Microphone head
B: Ohhhh! that Amy...

As a result of seeing many unfortunate nicknames bestowed upon children with popular names, I avoided all names in the top 50.

'Amy Microphone head'.