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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To avoid top 20 names when picking a name for my baby?

108 replies

Mooveover · 05/01/2018 12:16

I am not bothered about my child having a completely unique name, and I don't like 'made-up' names. I want something fairly traditional.
However I don't really want them to be one of several kids in school with the same name.

AIBU to avoid top 20 names? Even though that means ruling out some really lovely names?

I'm aware the popularity of names can really change, eg someone I know picked a name a few years ago thinking it was quite unusual, yet now it's really popular and she's gutted.

OP posts:

MrsKoala · 07/01/2018 21:37

At one point there were 5 Sebastians in DS1 class at preschool. It was a name i liked but didn't choose because it was so popular. As someone who grew up with a not unheard of, but unusual name (only one in my school), i decided to choose the same for my dc. They are all out of the top 100 and i'd be really surprised if we met others.

Waterlemon · 07/01/2018 21:39

Ds1 10yrs has a very traditional boys name which was top boys name for the year he was born. His middle name is a family name that was very old fashioned uncharted name when he was born, but has become much more popular. DN has it as his first name and there is one other in his nursery.

Ds2 has a traditional but less popular name - or so I thought!

Ds1 has rarely crossed paths with a child with the same name yet we regularly meet children with ds2 name.

Just chose a name you like. You cannot predict these things!

TheGirlWithAllTheFeathers · 07/01/2018 21:44

Ignore top names. Call your child something that works as a child, teenager and adult.

Hippee · 07/01/2018 21:46

I chose a name for DS1 that had been number 1 for several years - he's 11 and only once been in the same class as another. DS2 and DD have reasonably unusual names (not in top100/80 for their birth year) and although there have not been any others in the school, we have bumped into two other sibling combos with the same names in the area.

ilovekitkats · 07/01/2018 22:07

I actively avoided top names.

DC’s name was around 151 on the top 200 names. I had it in mind and that swung it for me. She’s the only one in her school and clubs and it’s by no means a weird name.

Fulltimemummy85 · 07/01/2018 22:11

I dont get why so I would care how popular a name is. I would much rather have a popular name than a strange name. I have never met an Oliver or Amelia but there are 2 girls and 2 boys in my daughters with the same names both of which are not seen as common.

BuzzKillington · 07/01/2018 22:12

It can come back to bite you on the bum.

Our son's name wasn't in the top 200 names when he was born, it is now in the top 10

The only comfort is that we were first so he is the only one in his age group.

Sparklywino · 07/01/2018 22:14

I tried so hard for my ds to be a Noah (dp veto'd it) I still love it as a name but it's seriously popular.
We choose a name that is no where near top 100s in the UK chart..but..when I looked into it further it was 14th on the Scottish chart and there were 294 of them born on the same year as my ds.
Turns out, I hear other parents calling out ds name ALL THE TIME. It's fine though, I still think it's a great name

eastwest1234 · 07/01/2018 22:14

Does it really matter?

Choose a name you like and will continue to like as the years go on.

It's ranking is pretty irrelevant

eastwest1234 · 07/01/2018 22:15

Its not it's

Wishfulmakeupping · 07/01/2018 22:16

I avoided top 50 there's still another one off dd's name in her year honestly aboidvthe top 150

GinnyBaker · 07/01/2018 22:16

I was one of five girls with the same name in my class at primary school. It was a massive pain. As a consequence DS has a very unusual name .

If you want them to be the only one in the school with that name, you need to exclude top 100, not just top 20.

blinkineckmum · 07/01/2018 22:16

Top 20 names tend to be at the top because they're good names. There's a lot of pride, it seems, in picking an unusual name, but another way of looking at it is that those names are less popular for a reason.

Ketzele · 07/01/2018 22:23

I picked my dc's name because (a) it was the only name that me and dp could agree on, and (b) it was number 41, which I thought meant 'not weird but not too popular either'. Only every pregnant woman in the UK had the same thought, apparently, because it leapt to the top 10 within a year, and has been in the top 3 most years since.

My other dc is adopted, so I've ended up with two kids whose names I am, frankly, not that keen on. But you know what, it is really not that big a deal. If you love your kids, you can't help but end up a little fond of their names

MrsKoala · 07/01/2018 22:31

Out of interest does anyone know where to find out how popular a child’s name is if it’s not in the top 100? I’m sure I saw a site once but I can’t find it now.

herecomesthsun · 07/01/2018 22:41

There's a link on this thread for that, look below!

Touchmybum · 07/01/2018 22:44

I wouldn't get hung up on lists, just pick a name you love. My name immediately dates me to a decade. My eldest's name is probably less popular now than it once was but my second's name is now a top 3 name, and she is 18. She won't ever be dated the way I am!

thegreylady · 07/01/2018 22:48

11 years ago my grandson was named Finn. I thought it very unusual and had only heard of one other. Now it is so popular though the longer versions are more common. There are three Finlays in the school and only one Finn but the three all use Finn as a short form.

PinaColadaSong · 07/01/2018 22:51

DS name was no1 boys name 3yrs running when we had him, and pretty much hasn't dropped out of the top 5 in the last decade.

But "unusual" names are becoming so popular that there is only ONE other child in his school of 200+ with the same name as him, and there were none in his nursery!!

Pick what you like and don't worry about how popular or unusual it is

Firesuit · 07/01/2018 23:21

DD has two mainstream traditional girls names. One was shared by 15 people in the UK in the year of her birth, and the one we actually call her by has risen from being shared with 4 other people in her birth year to 20 in the most recent year.

Link to a site that uses ONS statistics:-

names.darkgreener.com/#june

Looking on the actual ONS site, one name peaked in about 1962 and the one we use in about 1932.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/bulletins/babynamesenglandandwales/2016

Tippz · 07/01/2018 23:28

Who cares if it is a 'popular' name if it's a nice name?

You don't wanna end up with a kid with some Godawful name like Theodore or Martha or Constance or Hugo.

Mrsknackered · 08/01/2018 07:49

Tippz 3 of those are pretty normal names! Constance is more unusual but I like it

MrsKoala · 08/01/2018 08:11

Thanks herecomes, i was in bed on my phone last night and must have missed it.

Tippz that's rude. Those are all perfectly normal names.

babybythesea · 08/01/2018 08:16

DD1 has a top twenty name. There are no others in her school with the same name. The only place where she has been with another is Brownies. However, there are two Ottilies. So you can give your child an extremely unusual name and still end up with a double!

Whizziwig · 08/01/2018 08:19

I had an uncommon name at school. I hated standing out so deliberately chose top 20 names for my children. They are the only ones with their names in their primary school. There are two children named Lois in the same class though. Don't avoid a name you love because you think it's too common.

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