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?

DD has a top 10 name.

Meh! I've always loved it. I don't worry too much about what other people call their kids tbh and I work in a school so it is part of my life. I'm not a fan of yoonique spellings because I think it's unfair on the kid.

What struck me about the list was the lack of gender neutral names. All the girls' names seemed quite 'pretty'. Nothing wrong with that of course but I was struck by the lack of variety.

My DD1's name was top 200 and a bit old-fashioned 26 years ago. It's similar now.
What's happened to DD2's name, Isobel, is a bit more interesting. In the year of her birth, it was number 55, two places ahead of Isabella, and way ahead of Isabel (77) and Isabelle (89).
18 years later, Isabella and Isabelle have zoomed up to 7th and 8th respectively and the old English spelling Isobel has dropped out of the top 100.
My liking of Isobel dates from meeting my first at my prep school in the late 1970's. She was in the year above.
I'm not sure why the continental spellings have gained in relative popularly.

OP my point was your whole thread is about how awful it is to have common names and how you don't want that for your children. Yet you've given your son well used, popular name.

I don't understand why the spelling matters really- whether you're Catherine or Katherine you're still a Catherine.

Anyway. My children's names are Grace Thomas and Florence

My name was very popular at school but in 51 years I have never been called first name first initial of surname - my whole name but never that,

I have had to spell it many times because of a brief flurry of people trying to be different by adding a y. Luckily It died a swift death and is now even more dated than my name.

@Iheartjordanknight my post is about top ten names

If there's a Miles, then the fact that he's Myles won't save him from the name surname initial. That's how my dd got hers, the other child has a differently spelled version- but said aloud, it's the same and parents/teachers get easily confused. No-one in her school has her name spelled like her (in a very conventional way). Like someone said, don't take up professional gambling.

We were fortunate to love a name that has been around for hundreds of years, people have heard of it, most people (but not all) can spell it - but for the last ten years only 5-15 babies in England, Wales & Scotland have been given it (and it has never been really popular). I like the fact it is unusual (but not bonkers imho) but I like the name more than the unpopularity.

I'm surprised that so many people are bothered by the lists. I just assumed that people picked a name they liked and went with that.

Both my boys have names in the top 10, good solid traditional names. I know 2 other boys called the same as DS1 and 1 other the same as DS2. It's really not a problem!

I also like the fact that their names make them fairly anonymous, that it's impossible to judge them based solely on that. I would love my boys to grow up to be creative, unique (isn't everyone unique ultimately?) men, but I don't think their names have any bearing at all in that.

If there's a Miles, then the fact that he's Myles won't save him from the name surname initial

Don't be silly. Everyone will be able to sense the y when the teacher calls his name...

My dd1's name is between 50 and 100 in England and Wales but is top 10 in several European countries and top in at least 1. Dd2 is somewhere around the 500 mark but is popular in Wales. (We are English btw) Can't decide if that makes them unique and special or ordinary joes. Perhaps it depends on where they are at the time.

I think it's a certain type of parent who thinks they need to give their child a yooneek name, just so they don't 'fade into the background'.

Totally overlooking the fact that young children want to conform and be like their friends! And for many children, a name that makes people look twice is actually distressing.

I'll never forget in DD2's Y1 primary class, a tiny little boy with crippling shyness and used to cry every time his DM dropped him off. His mother, in her infinite wisdom, called him Tiger.
Every registration inevitably led to 'Roarr!' noises from the class when his name was called. Poor kid.

My DS2 has a name that became very popular just around the time he got it. It was something like number 18 in the top 20 the year he was born, but has since been top 3 popular some years. To be honest I probably wouldn't have chosen it if I'd known quite how popular it was going to become, but I'm also glad it's not so rare that people can't remember it/spell it/always say "Oh, we used to have a dog called that".

The number 5 name (chosen because it's in the middle of the top 10) is Jacob, which in 2016 was given to one in every 76 boys. That means 1 in every 2.5 classes, and in an average school, a couple per year group.

So statistically unlikely to need to be "Jacob [surname initial]" for his entire life, I'd say.

Well name fashions come and go. I'm surprised James is no longer in the top 10...it was very popular for years.

Four people in my family were given them unusual names which subsequently became very familiar. Maybe we're just fashion leaders with names.

I've only met one Isla....they must all be living in a different part of the country.

I told my friend "name her what you want, the only thing that matters is whether YOU like it" and immediately wanted to kick myself. No that's not all that matters, your kid will be stuck trying to find employment and going to school saddled with that name. I was always annoyed at having a bland traditional name "Katherine" but it's never been a hindrance in life so maybe that's a good thing after all. Super strange or "trendie" names can be a stumbling block, it sucks but it's a fact

Do these people not desire some originality for their children?

Indeed how inconvenient of me to fall in love with a book aged 9 and want to use the name of the author. I should have predicted the name would have been popular when I had DD 18 years later

Personally I would never pick a top 50 name. Apart from the fact I don't particularly like any of them, my child having a generic name would bother me. However, lots and lots of people would probably never pick the names I've chosen in a million years! I think each to their own so for that reason yabu, even though I personally feel similar to you.

Top 50 generic???? bloody hell!

My parents thought my name beautiful and unusual when they picked it. Most popular name that year.
My best friend did the same for her dd. Comfortably top ten that year and for four years after.

There's nothing worse than an 'I've got such an unusual name' bore

How the hell can a name be generic?!

The girls name I have earmarked isn't even in the top 100- unfortunately the boys names (after mine and DH's Dads & Grandads) are all fairly classic and popular

I think that if you love a specific name and it seems to suit your baby, just go with it- I wouldn't necessarily look to avoid a top 10 name just so I could make my children have more original/unique names.

We've known for years that if we had a wee boy (who is being induced on Thursday) we'd call him George, long before Prince George was a twinkle in anyone's eye, as it's DH's dad's name and just a solid, lovely name. Now it's top 10 in England and Wales BUT we are Scottish, living in Scotland and it's not even top 50.

Wouldn't care if it was, though. Even less than I care when people ask how a staunch republican like myself can bear to use a 'royal' name