to hate popular names

[macbooksticker]

Well I actually love a lot of the popular names at the moment but I wouldn’t use them as I grew up with an awfully popular name in the early 80s and DSD1 had the same issue in the 00s and 10s. We both dealt with our peers calling us ‘ourname X’, teachers not remembering us or confusing us with other pupils with similar names etc.

I just don’t want that for DD. I want my child to be able to be seen as an individual and have a memorable name. DH thinks I am overthinking it as he likes the classic popular names of the late 2010s. AIBU?

DD’s name wasn’t popular when she was born in the early 00s, but it has become more common - I hear it more on TV etc now. However she used to hate not having anything with her name on growing up!!
DS has a popular ‘classic’ name just because we always liked it. He is the only one in his class at secondary w that name though, in primary there were 2 of his name in the year. DD had 2 of her name in the school (was 3 form entry!).

Currently DD1's l name is number 20, DD2 is 61 & DS's name is in the 6,000's!

When they were born:

DD1 - 1 (was top of the lid for the next 7 years)
DD2 - 307
DS - in the 5,000's

None of them have ever had another in their class so popularity isn't an indicator of that.

DD1's class had 5 Chloes (38) & 3 Caitlins (76)
DD2's had 3 Sophies (151) & 2 Mollys (90)
DS's has 3 Sonnys (863) 3 Finlays (2,906), 2 Rorys (783) & 2 boys called Ross (841)

Numbers in brackets are popularity the year my kids were born. It really is hit or miss unless you choose a name way up into the thousands!

My daughter has a very popular name. It isn't vanilla.

When I named her the name wasn't as popular as it is now. It is still a lovely name that I am glad I used.

I have a son with another popular name and three children with classic names.

I picked the names I liked. The popularity of the names wasn't really a factor.

@AhoyDelBoy

The Office of National Statistics collect the data on births etc in England and Wales, and they produce lists of all names in the year ranked by popularity (provided at least 3 babies were given that name). They usually release the data for the previous year around August / September, so the statistics for 2018 baby names probably won’t be out yet.

If you google Office of National Statistics + baby names then that should get you to the relevant section of their website.

@AhoyDelBoy this one goes back to 2000 www.babycentre.co.uk/popular-baby-names

You can find the rest on Wikipedia 😊

Thanks

I don’t think name popularity now makes as much of a difference as it did 20 / 30 / more years ago. There’s a much wider pool of names used these days.

The most popular baby name in 2017, Oliver, was given to less than 1% of the babies born in 2017. There’s going to be parts of the country where it’s more popular than others, but still, you’d be unlucky to have your Oliver being one of many in a classroom.

Incidentally, there were 2 duplicated names in DC2’s nursery class. One was ranked at about no. 25 for that year of birth. The other was ranked at about no. 130.

Dd1 and ds are top 25. Dd2 is top 3. Either none or just 1 other in their year.

I was at school with someone in the year below with the same name and surname. It happens, never bothered me.

Dd1 and ds were names I had liked for ever. Dd2 was named in a gas and air haze.

I don't get the obsession over names these days. People act like it's a crime if one other child in the town they live in has the same name as their child. There was actually someone who said they were upset about their dd having the same name as one other child in their class. Who gives a shit really.

I have a very very uncommon name - it has held me back as people can't remember/pronounce /spell it and so they are more likely to contact my colleagues with more conventional names and, therefore, forge links etc

@AhoyDelBoy

Also names.darkgreener.com/ let’s you track popularity trends of specific names (in England and Wales) since 1996.

Well when we named DD2 her name was not on the most popular list at all. The midwife asked me what we were naming her and when I told her she said she hadn't heard that name being given before in all her 25 years of midwifery but on that night my DD and another baby girl born on the same night had been given the same name! Then Bam! Next year in the top 10 or 20. So OP it's actually hard to call. What you think is uncommon and pretty turns out to be what everyone else thinks.

My children's names are
Rhona
Hughie
Laviska
Scarlett
Alana

I'm not keen on classical names like Catherine,George,Harry and Isobel. There's literally thousands of them. I'm not keen on out there names and names like Florence, Beatrix, clementine,willow,wren,river,fox.

I like names that are heard of but not common or something someone I know has.

My DD is an Emma and we are yet to meet any other Emmas at all the baby classes we go to. There are a few Ellas, a lot of Charlottes, and then a lot of 'old lady names' that are making a comeback.

We chose Emma as it's a pretty timeless and classic name, it's easy to spell and doesn't come with any 'baggage' or preconceptions. I suppose some people might find it boring but I don't really like a lot of the 'fancier' names so it's horses for courses I suppose!

I actually find it fascinating how popular names arise - 15 years ago even I don’t think I had even heard of or considered the names that I now hear everywhere:
Ava
Isla
Eva
Ella
Ellie
Evie
Esme
Elsie
Archie
Alfie
Arthur

In my year at school there were multiples of Emma, Hannah, Sara/h, Rachel/ael, Laura, Rebecca and Amy. I think it would be lovely and unusual to hear those now!

You can’t really tell how it’s going to go. The no 1 name in my county last year was only no 13 for Scotland as a whole.
ds1’s name was top 20 when he was born. We’ve only met 2 others
Ds2’s name was 80ish when he was born and I know of 2 others.
Don’t think there’s much point stressing about it!

Actually the only Emmas we have met have been the mums! There were quite a few in my year at school - 4 I think. So was obviously more in vogue in the mid 80s.

You can never tell whether a name is going to become popular, though. DSis's was very unusual when we were growing up and I practically never encountered anyone else with the same name. It suddenly started being used around 20 years ago and now it's all over the place.

YANBU l wouldn’t want my child to have the same name as everyone else. I had a unusual first name at school and a boring middle name (every 3rd person my age has it!). I never had to be EL8888 Smith for example

Try nameberry?

Emma was the top name for girls last year according to good housekeeping here

My DD's name is in the top 5 but haven't met another one yet - even though we are in full swing of baby groups etc. None of my close friends know another one either so I think it can be a bit pot luck. On the other hand I met two Aurelia's on the same day recently - lovely name but not in the top 10.

My DH and I both have quite classic names and decided we would rather she was name then surname initial than go for something out there that she would spend her life spelling. Each to their own though!

I'm not a fan of the very popular Ella, Jack, Olivia, Oliver names but on the other hand I'm far LESS of a fan of monstrosities like Nevaeh-Rose, Sunshine-Spa'rkle or Jayden/Brayden/Kayden/Layden.

There are hundreds - probably thousands - of names which are underused but are perfectly normal. For example, in Scotland they publish lists of every first name given. There was only one girl registered with each of the following names:

Seraphina, Caroline, Candice, Lorraine, Linda, Olympia, Margarita, Kimberly, Judy, Kay, Gayle, Frederica, Evangelina, Julianna, Lucille, Nadine, Yvonne, Enid, Estelle, Patricia, Monica, Theresa, Tania, Shona, Sinead, Ursula, Dora, Diane, Daniella, Viviana, Sally, Rowena, Rhoda, Prudence, Persephone, Corrina, Pauline, Christine, Claudine, Blanca, Clementine, Adrianne.

Not all to my taste, but definitely tick the box of being a proper name, yet unpopular.

@OwlinaTree I think that's America? It's a lot more popular there.

There was 4 of my name in my glass at high school and now I have a group of mum friends in the village. There's 5 of us and 3 of us have the same name. We picked an old name for DS and I only know one other somewhere down the country. Mind, if he had been a girl, we had a name on the list that one of the same name mums in the village named her DD which would have been very confusing!