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AIBU?

To be really annoyed that my all time favourite girl's name is so bloody popular?

92 replies

Theicingontop · 26/01/2013 17:54

Isobel.

Really miffed. I was convincing myself up until now that maybe it's not that popular, and besides, I'm in love with the Scottish spelling and everyone else goes for the fancy French version, so she'll be a bit different when it comes to school.

Starting to realise that if I don't want my so far imaginary daughter to be one of hundreds of Isobels I'll have to rethink it. Kind of disappointing. I've had it picked out for years.

Anyone else?

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LiegeAndLief · 26/01/2013 22:47

If you like it, go for it.

We called ds a very very common name that has been in the top 10 boys names for about the last 50 years. He is in Y2 now and there has never been another one in his year, I don't think there is one in the whole infants now!

Dd on the other hand has a less usual name and one of her best friends at preschool has the same name. They call each other "Other X".

PiscesLondon · 26/01/2013 22:47

My best friend has an isobel, i love that spelling, much better than isabel and isabelle. I'm in the north west & isabella is much more popular than isobel, i only know my friend's daughter with the name.

Most popular names around here seem to be ava, lily, amelia, isla, isabella, and scarlett is also quite popular.

I love gabrielle, but worry that's a bit too popular?

Pixel · 26/01/2013 22:06

Ds was going to be Samuel. Then I read a newspaper article that said that Samuel was on the 'ten most popular names' list and I was worried that he'd end up at school with a class full of little Samuels, so we used it as a middle name.
Do you know he's nearly 13 and I've never met another Samuel? Yet his school was full of boys with the name we chose instead. We picked it because we hadn't heard of anyone with the same name for years, yet suddenly there they all were. To top it all, a couple of weeks after he was born a couple of film stars named their baby the same so everyone assumed we had copied them.

PoppyWearer · 26/01/2013 21:59

We also decided on DS's name years ago, in tribute to a family member.

Now a hugely popular name, there are loads of them, but it's his name for excellent reasons, and suits him down to the ground.

Wouldn't have chosen another name for him.

MidnightMasquerader · 26/01/2013 21:57

Isobel is not a 'timeless', 'classic' name; it's one of the most cyclical names there is, swinging in and out of fashion wildly.

I was given it in 1973 and it was desperately old-fashioned then. I am named after my grandmother, with my other grandmother's name for my middle name. My Dad told me that just after I was born a load of Isobels turned up in the obituaries - the old ladies with the name dying off! He was really worried that they'd made a terrible choice, but rationalised that I could always choose to use my simpler middle name when older if I hated it too much! Little did he know that by then, everyone would be all over the name again...

Yes, I was tormented with 'is a bell necessary on a bike' though childhood (and it was years before I even got the joke, embarrassingly enough) and Izzy Wizzy let's get busy.

God, massive flash back, haven't heard that phrase in years!!

I like the name now, but resented it as a child.

By all means choose it, but be warned, it WILL date.

hrrumph · 26/01/2013 21:55

Unfortunately v popular name. My dd is 7. Two isobel/isabelles and two isabellas in her class. It is the helen/claire/sharon/tracy of the 2010's.

sugarplumpfairy · 26/01/2013 21:51

I'm a nurse and the amount of elderly people I have looked after who have had such pretty names like Lucy, Emma or Alice (my DD's name!) and they actually ASK to be called another name like Winnifred/Avril/Enid or suchlike Mad.

BestIsWest · 26/01/2013 21:41

Why worry if you love the name? Both my DCs have very common names, top 5 names for the years they were born. I think DDs may even have been the no 1 name. However both have names we loved for years before and continue to love. I loved DS's so much I gave my dog the name when I was 7. But they are MY commonly named DCs.

oohlaalaa · 26/01/2013 21:30

I wanted to choose an unusual name, but the only name DH and I could agree on was Ava, which is a top 10 name, but we love the name, it suits her perfectly, and I couldn't give a monkeys about popularity now.

A friend who was pregnant at the smae time, wanted an unusual name too, but could only agree with her DH on Matilda (Tilly). It's not been an issue for her either. It's not the issue you expect.

Choose the name you love.

Pontouf · 26/01/2013 21:29

I feel your pain. DH and I decided on DS's name back when we first met in 1999. It wasn't at all an unusual name at the time but it wasn't that popular either. We totally fell in love with the name and always said if we had a son that would be his name. By the time DS was born 11 years later, it was number one on the boys names list in 2010. We went with it anyway and it totally suits him. We have been lucky that we haven't met any other children with his name (other than strangers at soft play. None at nursery/no friend's kids etc). Now I am pregnant with DC2 and have been told it is a girl. We decided when I was pregnant with DS that our daughter would have a variation of a name which was only moderately popular at the time (top 50). It is now number one on the girls list. Totally infuriating but we still love it and are probably going to use it.

inkyfingers · 26/01/2013 21:28

A friend was talking about her DD Antonia and I had a lightbulb moment; that would be the name for my non-existent daughter!

1944girl · 26/01/2013 21:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TiddlyOmPomPom · 26/01/2013 21:28

Nynaeve did you get the bloody Sooty rhyme too??! "Izzy wizzy let's get busy"
It was a pain at primary school and returned with a vengeance at high school with a whole new smutty meaning! Grrrrrrrr.

I hated the bicycle joke too.

TiddlyOmPomPom · 26/01/2013 21:24

I may be a little bit biased as its my own name, but I say stick to your guns!
It's impossible to predict popularity, if you love it go for it.
Mind you, if you marry and change your name, Isobel might not go with it! I had always wanted to use my Grandads name, but it just didn't 'go'. Ah well!

I didn't meet another Isobel until I was 30, so I'm the plonker who turns around when someone is calling their 3yo across the playground!

halcyondays · 26/01/2013 21:24

I didn't know Isobel was very popular. Dd1 has a name that is supposed to be one of the most popular for the year she was born, but she's the only one in her year at school.

NynaevesSister · 26/01/2013 21:23

This is a shock! Had no idea it was so popular. I never knew another Isobel growing up or even now. Isabelle is the closest and only met her recently. Suffered horribly at school with the bicycle joke.

My favourite aunt was called Lily and we have a family name of Mae for all first born girls so if son had been a girl she'd have had a popular and posh name from what every one has said!

Pigsmummy · 26/01/2013 21:20

I am sad that Emma is no.2 most popular last hea when we called our DD that! Thankfully our surname is unusual

Footlongbeef · 26/01/2013 21:14

I have an Isobel. She is 5. I'm a primary school teacher and hadn't come across many isobels/isabelles etc in my time teaching either (or any annoying ones...). I researched it too and the year she was born it was in the top hundred but quite low down. The following year, after dd was born, it was top 20. So perhaps the moral of the story is whatever you choose is going to be a product of your generation and may become popular no matter how hard you try to find something different but not wacky. If you love it, go for it. BTW she is the only one in her year at school. Had similar with DD2 - midwife actually said she had two born with the same name that same day and hadn't had any girls called that for 20 years. It is now also a popular name!

shebird · 26/01/2013 21:12

I had also chosen this name which i loved and which was not that popular when DD was born. DH didn't like it as he didn't want her to be known as Izzy (reminder of a not so nice girl from the pub) so we chose another name which seems to suit DD better. Sometimes you need to wait to mer your little one before deciding.

SolidSnake · 26/01/2013 20:54

Most popular girls names when I was in school were Katie, Sophie, Emily and Zoe

Tanith · 26/01/2013 20:48

I imagine Sharon, Tracy, Debbie and the rest will become popular again when their present holders are in their 80s. Seems to be the way it goes with "old fashioned" names coming back into use.

When I was at school, Ruby, Isabel, Emily, Amelia, Florence etc. were granny names never to be used for babies.
Tracy, though! My class had 4 Trac(e)ys, 3 Debbies, 3 Sharons and 2 Julies.

ClartyCarol · 26/01/2013 20:11

Isobel is fab, and nowhere near as overused as Isabelle or Isabella.

I know this sounds awful but Ishbel sounds to me like how a pissed Scotsman would pronounce Isobel.

Like Elspeth a lot.

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3monkeys3 · 26/01/2013 19:57

My dd's middle name is Isobel - love it. I used to care about the popularity of names but have given my dc progressively more popular names and don't care now. What about ysabeau? I think it's gorgeous!

Mandy21 · 26/01/2013 19:48

I have an Isobel and love it, she is 7 now and it wasn't popular at the time but obviously has been done and done ever since. As others have said, all of my children have been named after much loved family members - so in a way it was decided before we even considered whether they were "popular" names.

But I also agree that just because its popular, it doesn't mean that there will be lots of them. I also have a boy - unbeknown used the most popular name in the country, but he is the only one in his year.

Child number 3 - christened the bump from the start but didn't tell anyone. One close friend from work and very close friend from university christened their daughters with the name we'd chosen in the 2 weeks before we had her, but we still used it as it was "her" name by then. Makes for interesting afternoons when we catch up with each other!!

I think unless you go for something very unusual, which has its own problems, there is always a danger that a name becomes popular in the months / years after you've given it to your baby. Just go with a name you love!

MumOfMissy · 26/01/2013 19:44

YANBU. I told a guy at work whose wife was preggo my fave name, Anastasia, and they went and nicked it! Grrrr!

How about Isabeau? Same French feel, more unusual. Was considering it for my DD. if not, go for Isobel. She'll always be your Isobel, the others won't matter.

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