To wonder why you would pick a name in the top 10?

[FreckledFrog]

So the latest top 100 baby names have been released this week. It has prompted me to wonder why on earth you would pick a name in the top 10-20 names.

There are thousands of beautiful, unique names out there, yet so many people are happy to pick the same names despite knowing their children will go to school with multiple Olivia's, Noah's, Amelia's or George's.

Do these people not desire some originality for their children?

Am I being unreasonable? I have a very very unusual name and have picked less common names for my children and I wonder if this clouds my judgement?

Surely, until you start mixing with lots of people with children (which often only happens once you have your own), you don't realise what is very popular. So you hear some names, think 'they're nice' and then use them?

YABU... Others may judge you for having an unconventional name! The names could hold special meaning to a particular person, or be a name the parents have loved for a long time, or may have been the only one both could agree on. Most of the names are clearly quite pretty if they made it into the top ten!

You know you are being unreasonable.
A name doesn't make a person any less individual.
I picked top 50 names for my children (at the less common end) but my daughter still ended up in a class with a child of the same name, two very very different girls though.

Of my generation ther are millions of Emmas Claires Janes Sarahs... So what? Maybe they like the name? Maybe, despite being popular, it's the name of a favourite aunt or something. Or it is international, easy to pronounce, easy to spell...

Each to their own.

My son chose my baby's name. It's in the top 20. I don't care, it's beautiful and suits him 🤷‍♀️

It is quite interesting because subconsciously, when you name your child, you are putting out a message about who they are and who ypu want them to be. Most people are ordinary so it isn't a surprise that that is what they aspire for their child, too.

One DC has a top 10 name and we've not come across another one at school / clubs.

He has always been the only one of that name in his class (in fact it's 2 classes and he is still the only one out of 60 kids)

Other DC has a more original name, outside of top 100 and we met 2 of them within a week!!

Surely you pick a name because you like it, whether it's in the top 10 or not?

It took us two weeks to find a name we both liked for my first DC and had no idea until afterwards that it was such a popular name. Top name for a couple of years and top ten for last ten years or so. It bothered me but not massively. Second DC got a very unusual name to compensate. Both kids happy. Its no biggy.

My dds (all 3 of them) have very popular names, one of them even has the ubiquitous O name . I love their names, I picked them because when I was pregnant they were our favourite names at the time, they still are. Each of my kids are the only ones in their school year with their name, it's luck of the draw. I know two kids with the same more unusual name who are the same age, live two streets apart and will probably end up in the same class, tbh both sets of parents are ripping that another parent had the temerity to use the name.

It would have put me off if my dc names were top 10. I like to be different

YABU
I don't get this current trend to find a 'different' name purely for the sake of being different (as opposed to just because you like the name)and getting bothered if the name you like is popular or a few other children have it. It doesn't make the name any less special because someone else shares it with your child.

I didn't know dd2's name was top 10 popular until I met another 2 in the first few weeks of having her. She is very likely to be in a class with another one as i know a sibling of a child the year below dd1 is also called the name and there's about 4 months between them.
Tbh I would probably have used her middle name as a first name if I'd realised but I still love the name and it's her name. She's at the toddler stage where she uses her full name anyway and it's unlikely that anyone shares first middle & surname with her!

Dd has an unusual name. There are only around 50 girls named it every year in england, scotland and wales.

I ve always loved her name however i ve had a fair few nasty comments about it.

With ds i decided i would go for something not really popular but definitely heard of as a name! However i never realized how many people have made up their own spelling of it and nobody spells it the traditional way anymore. I have to spell his name out every single time someone is going to write it down.

Dd is called Devon and ds is called Zachary

I totally agree. I have an unusual name, so my children. I don't want to be Sarah C. It can't be made up though.

YABU

In England and Wales there were 696,271 live births last year and 5017 of them were girls called Olivia (the most popular name) and I am sure there are many more schools than that, so plenty of room for little contact with someone who has a similar or the same name.

These days so many people use a whole range of names that even the most popular ones aren't used that much.

Unique names. Therein layeth the problem.

YABU. And I can't take anyone seriously who uses a greengrocer's apostrophe.

The thing is you cannot predict if a name will become opilar or not.
When I was a child I remember a distant relative having a baby called Oliver and thought how lovely and unusual it was, he was a gorgeous baby. I didn't know any other Uber's then. Now it's the most popular name.

My DS has a name that's around 200th here but top 5 in Ireland. We liked it and it goes well with our surname which is a bugger to match names with. Simple really.

Moon Unit?

That wasn't in response to you TriJo

Olivers not Uber's.

Dd has double barrelled name, both parts are within the too 50 names.i frankly couldn't give a rats. They were picked because they had individual meaning to us. We adored one name and the other was picked for a very specific reason. She is no less unique or individual as a result of this.

You are being utterly unreasonable. Who are you to judge?

I have an 'ordinary' name. It has hardly held me back.