How many of you worry the name you pick is too popular?

[LDNmummy]

I let DH pick our LO's future name as long as I could use my grandmothers name for her middle name. He wasn't too keen on it but was happy to compromise and I wasn't too keen on his choice of first name but was also happy to compromise; so we are both happy.

But the main reason I wasn't immediately happy with his choice of first name, was simply because of how popular it is. I had a look at the popular names list and it is a constant toward the top of the list.

It doesn't bother me now as her entire name is very unusual and I felt happy for him to have the honour IYSWIM. But I was wondering how many others are put of by a names popularity?

Not disagreeing with you, Tammy. If you think, yourself, a name is too popular, and you are worried about it being merely trendy rather than classic, I can see the problem. But if it is a fabulous, classic name and you love it, don't be swayed by others' prejudices. (I'm now aware that calling a name classic may be falling into the same trap, as I prefer classic names to more recently devised ones.)

Overused is instantly a pejorative term rather like common, why not stick with popular?

DH wants to name DC2 after his grandpa if it is a boy. His grandpa's name was lovely and I am more than happy to use it.

It is very popular at the moment and I worry slightly that he'll be Ferdington 'X' for the entirety of his school career but it is a nice name with a nice story.

Obviously not Ferdington to clarify!

I don't like very popular names because I get bored of hearing them all the time. If I already know five Emilys, and meet another, I won't think, 'Oh, what a pretty name!', I'll just think, 'Oh, another one'. Unusual names are interesting and refreshing, and IMO do a better job of identifying someone. I've always been known as Firstname Lastname because there are so many of us, but my son will only need to state his forename for people to know who he is.

I'll never understand the animosity towards unusual names on these boards. Some people like to blend in with the majority, and some people like to be a bit different: can't we live and let live?

(Apologies to any parents of Emilys)

Another one here who regards names as identifyers. What is the point of naming a child Jack or Grace when these names are already used by tens of thousands other little children... Yes, we're all influnced by fashion and seem to like to follow trends, but life would so much more interesting and easier (certainly for teachers ) if we all tried a little harder to increase the name diversity.

When I meet yet another adult Steve or Mike, for example, I find it so much harder to remember their name. Same for children. In our class last year we had three Jacks, two of which shared the same surname initial...

I really wish mumsnetters were more supportive of more name diversity, but anything outside the top 20 is often slated as 'too foreign', 'too chav', 'too posh', 'too unusual', 'too hard to spell/pronounce', 'too old fashioned', 'too 1970s', 'too plain', or, my favourite 'too try hard' etc. etc. If we were all a little braver and open-minded and used more uncommon names, then a lot of the pre-judgments would disappear as these names become more 'accepted'.

If you choose a popular name because you love it, or it has family connections, that's fine. However too many people choose popular names either because they can't be arsed to investigate the tens of thousands of names out there (not a difficult task, just requires reading a book or looking on a few websites) or they don't have the self-confidence to name their child something that isn't Olivia, Oliver, Jack etc. I find that quite sad.

That's reassured me a bit Cattleprod. I just worry that I'd be explaining the family connection to everyone when they ask me dc2's name if it is a boy to 'justify' it if you like. I think that would be sad iyswim.

DD is adopted so came with her name. It is a very old fashioned name but with a unusual spelling. Spelt correctly it is very rare but with her spelling I have only found one other child (in the states with the same name). I quite like it now but it did take some getting used to.

If someone really loves a very popular name and gives it to their child for that reason, then fair play to them, it's a good enough reason as any - but for a lot of people just loving a name isn't enough of a reason to bestow it on someone as their main identifier for the rest of their life, and that's also fair enough.

If you look back to our parents' generation, their parents were obviously influenced by the 'lovely', 'popular' names of the time - Joan, Margaret, Mary, Patricia, etc, etc. Then you look at the 'lovely' 'popular' names from our generation - Claire, Karen, Joanne, etc. The names are lovely - they must have been for enough people to choose them and make them popular.

But - all those names are dated; in some cases very dated. That's what happens with anything is popular and/or 'trendy' (for want of a less naff word). If something is very fashionable then it's inevitable that one day it will no longer be fashionable and often not just unfashionable but positively eschewed.

Nobody had my name growing up (although it is very popular now) and I loved always being the only one in my class. I also like not having a name which sounds dated to today's ears, or being Tilly X, Y or Z because there were so many of us.

I think some people find it hard to get their head around the idea that Olivia or Isabella will one day conjure up 'Margaret-like' associations for future generations. At the moment they sound so pretty and current that it's virtually impossible to envisage them sounding fuddy-duddy and matronly, the way Margaret and Joan do to us now.

So yeah, I can totally relate to why some people want to avoid very popular (to use an un-pejorative word) names...

I should add - Mary isn't a dated name; it's a classic, but it is very associated with my parent's generation. Obviously some names are classic and withstand the tests of time, but not very many at all IMO, and I think it's fairly widely accepted which ones those names are.

Tilly, that sums up my feelings excactly.

When people say 'a popular name is popular for a reason, namely because it is nice' I always think: Yes, the name is perceived as nice AT THIS MOMENT and everyone wants to be part of that fashion, only to accelerate its eventual fall out of fashion.

Even if you choose a less common name now in years to come it may be more popular. I named ds1 George 18 years ago-not many around. Now it's 9th ( I think) on the top 100 list ! Still like it despite it being a popular name for dogs/cats too !

You're right Plump, but at least by choosing a name outside the top 100 you've got a better chance of it not becoming too trendy. And your child is not likely to have to share his/her name with same aged children.

Well, George is a classic name that stands the tests of time! Like BBB says, you'd never be able to pinpoint which generation a George belongs to.

IMO names fall into one of three categories -

• Long-standing classics, often the names of Kings and Queens. Popular 100s of years ago and still used now - Elizabeth, Edward, George, William, Anne/Anna, Mary, etc...

• Names which go in and out of fashion, which I reckon most names probably do fall into. My name falls into this category - was very unfashionable when I was given it in the 70s, but I was named after my grandmother and it was popular then (a load appeared in the obituaries right after I was born!). The circle has turned again and it's popular right now (for a limited time only!). It's Isobel.

I'd say there's a division within this category though, with some names obviously peaking in popularity much more than others and it's these ones which will trough (i.e. date) much more, too. Name like Sarah, Mark, Emily, Sophie, Samuel, Benjamin being more or less fashionable over time, and then names like Ruby, Olivia, Daisy, Poppy, Amelie, Ava, Evie, Oliver, Jack, etc having more of a propensity to date due to being that much more popular - but which will also have their turn in the sun again over time.

• Flash-in-the-pan names - yooneek spellings, Jaydon-Braydon-Kaidon type names, which are very unlikely to see the light of day again, or at least not be actually popular again.

Yuck hate "common "names posh, chav or otherwise. What's the point..cool kids get a nickname anyway.