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?

Give your child an unusual name for the sake of it and all you are doing is making sure they have to spell it out every single time they are giving it out over the phone. Just choose a name you like. Who cares if there are lots of them. It doesn’t matter.

Headintheproverbial

hahahaha

I just asked my dd (the one with the top 10 name) if she could choose any name for herself and change it, what would it be? Initially she just said her own name, as she likes it and couldn't see herself with any other name...then she paused for a bit and said 'I've always liked the name Mary'. How funny, that's the most plain name there is! I think anyone who desires to make their children stand out though a name simply can't know how they are going to feel about it or whether this is going to give them any sense of confidence about themselves or their individuality either. I feel very individual and distinctive at work, even though there are a few more with my name- no-one confuses us as what I do makes me distinct, not what I am called.

DD is 20 and hates her name.

It was popular 20years ago and is still right up in the names charts now, but we named her after a relative.

She would prefer Florence !!

Both our sons love their names, they are slightly more unusual (quite catholic) but are rapidly climbing the charts.

I always wonder the opposite why would a name being popular put you off if it's nice it's nice.. there's such a variety of names about now that even if you chose the most popular there's not going to be loads in each class 🙂

YABU I've got a very unusual name and I was bullied at school because of it. I've chosen names which were in the top 10 for my kids because I never wanted them to suffer as I did. I was determined to give my kids "normal" names and that is what I did.

DD's name is fairly classic, not unusual but outside the top20. We chose it because we loved it and it suited her more than the other names on our shortlist (& still does). I know a few of varying ages but there are only two in the entire school of over 400. Naturally they are in the same class but they're very different and it's never been an issue for them or anyone else. Far better to pick a name you love, popular or not, than saddle your child with something you've made up to be different

mina1

I never thought of it that way, that's a new perspective on it! I've got an unusual name and so have my children I like it, hated mine growing up but as an adult I love how unique it is!

YABU Popular names are generally popular because they are lovely names.
Far better than choosing 'comedy' names - as a teacher I've known two kids whose names made them sound like Satanists and one girl whose first name combined with her surname made her sound like a stripper / drag queen. That's a form of abuse, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm a teacher and wanted names that I didn't already have a fixed idea of what that child would be like - still one of the names is in the top 20 now and he had another in his class even though i'd never come across one before !

Having worked in a school, it was extremely noticeable that the top sets were full of Jameses and Emmas, etc names which were under-represented in the school as a whole.

The more originally named children were all a lot less academic. There seemed nothing very original about them apart from their names.

There were exceptions to this of course but it was definitely noticeable.

This thread has confirmed that some people do actually think that giving a child an original name will give them an original mind.

Top 10 boys names include Thomas, Jack, Harry, Oliver. They're classic names! There are 90 year old Thomas' and Thomas' being born today. It's not going to date

With the exception of Thomas, all the names you list have been in and out of fashion at some point. I am in my late 30s and know no-one called Jack, Harry or Oliver my age. The first two weren't even considered proper names when I was younger but diminutives of John and Henry.

In fact when I was at school about 85% of the boys in my year had one of six names

John(athan)
Matthew
James
Mark
Paul
Michael
Andrew

One of mine is Oliver. The year he was born it was the number 1 name (still is?). He's the only Oliver in his school never mind his year.

You never can tell.

Striving endlessly to be 'different' and 'unique' is pretty much the most conformist thing you can do nowadays anyway.

I want a 'like' button for TammySwansonTwo's comment on 'Wigbert'

My daughter is an Amelia. We didn’t decide on her name until I gave birth and hadn’t looked at any lists. After 9 miscarriages I never believed she would get here but I wouldn’t change it now. I also only know one other Amelia and my daughter is 2.5

My DC has a name in the top 5. He was named after my DF who died while I was pregnant. Popularity of names cone and go, it wasn't at all popular in the 70's/80s's for example. A friend of mine name her daughter Molly in the 90's, when no one was using the name. Loads around now!

All mine are in the top 10! I picked them because they are nice, traditional and won't cause them any embarrassment or constantly telling people how to pronounce or spell them. They all also have family names somewhere in there two first names and one middle name.

non conformist people I hope they will be

I find this odd. We need to conform to a fairly great degree to be able to function as a society and as an individual.

Going to school is conformist. Going to Uni is. Not killing people is conformist (grin) . I have many hopes/wishes for my dc but specifically being non-conformist is definitely not one of them!

I can't abide names chosen for their 'alternativeness' or madey-uppy names and yes, I probably do make a snap judgement.

My children's names were chosen because they are lovely names; I don't remember how popular they were at the time, but I thought they would stand the test of time. My own name really dates me. My parents' names (who would be in their 90s and 70s respectively) are both now top 10. My mother hated her name!! She always used a diminutive form of it.

My 18 year old Emily is in the fortunate position now that her name is never going to date her!

My 20 and 18 year olds had Mollys in their classes.

I had an unusual name growing up. I was named after my grandmother, so it wasn't an unusual name in the family, but I've seldom met anyone my own age (or older) with my name.

It's really quite popular now . People are often surprised when it turns out I'm the parent - they assume I am introducing my DC! I have met more under 10s who share my name in the last 7 years or so than I had met in my whole life before.

How you are as a person is what makes you unique, not your name. Someone with the most unusual name could be a complete bore and vice versa.

My two have classic names, not sure if they're in the top 10 but wouldn't care if they were. I wanted names that they wouldn't get judged for and suited them. Couldn't care less how many kids have the same name.

I don't get the unique name thing.

Don't care whether name is top of the pops or not. Parent or parent has chosen name usually because they like it and hopefully flows with surname. All different reasons for choosing a name. What I cannot stand are all the pop star type name and made up ones. Think in Sweden you are not allowed made up ones, have to select from approved names. Should do that in UK and prevent all that embarrassment the kids will have starting school and later life.

Hi all.

Ok so let's just make it clear that every parent is entitled to call their child whatever they want.

When I had my twins, I didn't find out what I was having and my husband and I having waited 9 years and IVF didn't choose names before we knew the sex of the babies and they were 3 days old before we even got close to deciding on what to call them.

All I knew was I (personally) didn't want my kids to have names in the top 20.

I was in class at school with "big Nicola", "little Nicola", Claire R, Claire M, James G and James T etc etc

Don't get me wrong I didn't want them to have far-out whacky names but I didn't want them to be one of 10 Oliver's or Olivias either.

We chose their names on what we liked and what we felt they looked like.

So, at no 71 in the previous years top 100 names we chose Lucas and not even in the top 100 names , we chose Katherine.

The following year, Lucas moved to 36 and Katherine still didn't make the top 100.

I love their names, my mum dislikes Lucas. Tough - i wasn't changing it !!

When my two started school? There was one other Lucas 4 years older but no Katherines.

There are loads of kids with top 10 names in their school. And they all have
(to varying degrees) the differentiating nicknames that I didn't want mine to have.

But school will be such a tiny part of their life in proportion to their whole life that so what?

I went 38 years without going to school, college and 5 jobs with another "Kim" and then I started a job with a lady with my name. It didn't make ANY difference whatsoever to my thoughts on our name. It was just a coincidence.

I do know people who have changed their children's names by deed poll having had a change of heart.

So let's just let everyone have their own choice and be happy in the knowledge that we had our own free choice, whatever we all chose.

Happy Sunday everyone

X

Boysofmelody both my sons' names are in that list (born 20 years as part. What were thee girls called, because I'd like to know if DD is on the list?