To think unique child names take away some childish delights?

[EugenesAxe]

I was musing about this today - my DS (4y) came to me and said a boy on a certain CBeebies show had the same name as him, and he was really chuffed about it.

There is a book we read in which DS likes to point out some names in a school that are his and his two cousins' (all names in recent top 10s).

One of my favourite things about The Twits when I was young, was that it was 'For Emma'.

It seems popular these days to search for a unique name and I sort of think it's a shame that people forget the vague affinity you feel when you meet someone with your name. Or is this just me and AIBU? Not a very important one to be fair.

The DC have 'unique' names in England but not at home. DD2 loves meeting people with her name and we do have books with the DCs names in them (or the author). But avoiding tat with names on it is a very good reason to aviod common names IMHO.

I disliked people having the same name as me and was always drawn to less common names. Could never find my name on name stuff anyway - it was all Emma's and George's. Also is so annoying having to clarify which 'Chloe' you're referring to etc etc.

Can I offer a slightly different perspective? DH and his sister have very unusual names not because PILs wanted them to be unique, but because my DFIL comes from another country with a different 'stock' of names. It did annoy them when they were kids that they could never get personalised stuff with their names on: their lovely Granny once found somewhere that would do any name (not such a common thing in the 1970s).

The real problem, though, is that, despite their names being perfectly straightforward to pronounce and spell, lots of people seem to have a mental block with any 'funny' foreign name.

DD has a very easy, though not super common, 'British' name, in reaction to to this.

DS1's name isn't that well-used but there is one other in his school (older than him) and he def feels an affinity with this other boy despite having nothing else in common.

My youngest son has a fairly uncommon name, with a really common (as in frequent not Ugh! haow common ) and we have only ever found one single thing with his actual name on it.
He always goes by his full name as there are several "short-form" boys at school and it gets tricky to tell them apart sometimes, and it is a bit peeving sometimes, especially as all his siblings have easily found names so to speak.
We honestly never gave it a thought when we chose the name; it's only as he's got bigger we've realised that his name is rarer than we thought, possibly because the short form as a name in its own right is so popular.

We had six Michelles in our home room class (28 girls) one year in high school. :)

Sometimes you have to travel to find the pens and cups etc with the unusual names on them.
And buy the whole range!

Our dcs names are becoming more popular now, and there are more of them around. It's nice I think.

God. I love my kids names veri biblical not frequently used but not unusual either.

I really liked being able to get personalized stuff (mugs, keyrings, etc) when I was little.

I find it quite irritating that I can never find a can of coke with my name on now. And my name is not an unusual one.

Same thing happened to me Curious. I turned up to a baby music group when Dd was tiny . I signed in, told them her name and the woman said "that's the 4 th *** today"! And so it was for the rest of her childhood! I don't really mind though. My name is not unusual and I've never really had strong feelings about it either way.

That Coke name marketing campaign has worked well hasn't it?

As a child I used to look through the personalised things to make sure they didn't have my name. I also hated other people having my name and am now fed up that it is becoming more common.

I have a very unusual name which would never be on any personalised thing. I remember being a bit sad about that as a child but it was a bit irrelevant really as my parents would never have bought me that sort of thing in any case.

I really don't like the idea of sharing my name with anyone! I've never met another me, but there was an actress on the TV for a bit with my name and I automatically really disliked her I'm afraid.

I don't think so, I have a unique name and my reaction upon hearing someone has the same name as me is pretty much the same reaction as I would have turning up at a party and discovering someone had the same outfit on.

I have a conventional, but fairly infrequent name. I occasionally hear of other ones, rarely meet them and have never known one. I would have the same dress reaction as Lally. As a child I could only get personalised stuff on summer holidays to the country my name comes from.

There is a website which you can check the cans of coke to see of they do your name/nicksname, and then buy it believe its £2.99 plus P and P...but if you spend over £10 P and P is free - worth a shot!

My name is very popular now, but when I was a child no one had ever heard of it. I hated it! To the point where I had a phobia of introducing myself because people always said "what?"

I sometimes feel a little sad that there will never be a coke bottle or key ring with my name on it in this country. It's fairly uncommon over here. It's more popular in another country, but with a different spelling.
I do like having a less common name though. It's the only interesting thing about me!

Ordering personalised stuff off the internet is just not the same as turning a rack in a gift shop. DS has a name which is popular enough to be present on all racks of tat, DD's is a bit more hit and miss (more popular in my generation). She loves it when she comes across someone else with her name on tv, in a book or in real life. Same here, I don't want personalised stuff but I get a warm feeling inside when I meet another me.

I went to school with a girl who had the same first name AND the same surname as me. It was brilliant, we were great friends. The school i work in had five Emilys in one class last year, and they were like a fab little gang. Kids aren't bothered by this, only parents

There's more to life than personalised keyrings. Surely there's more worth in the "affinity" feeling when your name is not absolutely everywhere like emma/thomas/Charlotte? I mean you must have that feeling fifteen times a day with one of those names?

Mmmmmm. I am in my 50s. My first name used to be fairly common but was already becoming less popular by the time I was born. From the mid-70s on, most people have associated my name with a massively divisive figure in recent British history . It's obviously not as bad as being called Myra or Adolf - in fact, it's really not that bad at all, but I'm sure that association is one reason why my name has remained relatively uncommon.

I'm wondering now if this was a small factor in our decision to give both our children ultra-popular, classic names. Far less chance that a name shared with hundreds of thousands of other people is going to be tainted by association with one notorious person who happens to have it.

My name was very common when I was growing up(Natalie). I hated it mainly down to my older sister having a brilliant first and middle name. I have never met anyone with either of her names. I gave my children names which meant something to me but would make them the only in the class/school with that name.

I was one of eight in my form at secondary school. I hated it and have since changed my name to an older form of the same name.

My DDs have names that people have heard of, but aren't in the top 100 (yes, I obsessively checked). They are Helena, Felicity and Miranda. I have met a couple of small Felicitys, but don't know any Helenas or Miranda's under 30.

Interesting replies - I must say since the myriad companies that offer bespoke personalisation of things came along, I was thinking less of being able to get stuff with your name on, but the fun of seeing it pop up in the everyday. TBH, if people choose a real, uncommon name, I wouldn't be inclined to judge them for it at all; I was thinking more about the people that alter spellings or just make a name up entirely, in order to have a 'unique' child.

Although I know my sister had name personalisation disappointment a lot as a child - her name is averagely common and becoming far more popular; I think it's beautiful, but for some reason it was rarely featured! Unlike my very common one (see OP). Ironically, my name is so simple and 'common', that I hardly meet any children being called it these days. It always takes me by surprise if I do meet one among my children's peers!