Where are all the Olivias?

[newmumma]

Ok, me again...... we are still debating names - am due on Wednesday. Am just wondering where all the Olivia's are? Its meant to be number one name in UK but I don't know any, my friends don't know any, its not really mentioned on here when talking about popular names??? Can anyone help? We love the name but popularity is putting us off......

Well DDs got three in her class and there are ten in the school of 400ish kids.

We are in Sheffield. There is a 9y Olivia in DD's class. Only one in the school (approx 100 girls) I think though. DD's middle name is Olivia and it is also the middle name of one other girl in her class.

I work in an infant school - approx 125 girls I guess - one Olivia I think.

My friends 2 year old is named this. But thats the only one I know.

Clearly on a special island prison with all the Olivers - I don't know a single one!

I know a few Olivias. And loads of Olivers. I guess there's a lot of regional variation.

Also I think other names are more popular, but because there are several ways of spelling them (eg. Isabel, Isabelle, Isobel / Lily, Lilly) they appear further down the list than they actually are...

There's only one way of spelling Olivia AFAIK.

There are 2 Olivias in my day nursery, one in DDs class at school.
IME Olivias tend to be "princesses" though (pfb, a bit spoiled by daddy)

I'm a Rainbow and Brownie leader in London and we have loads of Olivias, along with Izzy and Isabellas...

I know two Olivias, one in her early 30's, one about 3 weeks old.

There are many more of the Something-Mae/May around here, I agree it's a regional thing. Not sure how that helps though, sorry.

If the popularity issue worries you it would be risky to pick the number one name though. What other names do you like?

Think list is down to the following:

Emilia
Olivia
India
Alice
Alethea

Maybe we just need to wait until we meet her (hopefully in a couple of days!!!)

I have two good friends with daughter's called Olivia. The trending names with our friends are Amelia and Annabel.

I have one but she is the only one in our village and the only one in the school. We are in Norfolk.

I have a 20 yr old Olivia. Love all the names on yr short list apart from althea. Agree you will probably know when you meet her.

I love Alice

Yes, best wait until you meet her to be really sure and it won't hurt to be nameless for a day or too if you need a bit more time.

Good luck for the birth.

DD is 12 months. In that time...

I've met lots of Isabel, Isobel, Isabelle, Isabella variants.
I've met lots of Amelia/Emilias.

I haven't met an Olivia.

We are in the East of England. You might want to see if your local hospital keeps stats as I noticed that ours don't quite match the national picture.

On the national statistics doc you can see the top ten names by region.

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-225089

Open the excel spreadsheet and look at table 4. That shows you where they are. Olivia is definitely very popular everywhere, even if you haven't met them!

oooh yes that is helpful! I am in London - see Olivia is number one in London and also in SOuth East! Mind you I do think HoHo is right - if you added all the Isabel/ol/ellas etc together that would be higher, seem to meet one of those everywhere! Still weird I don't know one. Just checked the coat hooks at DS's nursery.... following girls names appeared (all only once though apart from my son's name, of which there are two grrrrr (George):

Imogen
Amelia
Amelie
Olivia
Ruby
Sofia
Sophia
Sophie
Mia
Maya
Lola
Harriet
Santa (!!)
Emily
Emma

p.s. Alethea was my grandmother's name - I love it, and love Thea as a nn but DH thinks it sounds like Alicia with a lisp so has vetoed. Alice is vetoed because of the song which is VVVVV annoying. I think its going to end up being Emilia Anne. Unless we meet her it doesn't work ..... We don't know any Emilias or Amelias either (although do know one Amelie).

I do find it fascinating that these names are popular as I have loved Olivia / Amelia / Emilia since I was v young - must be a reference from our youth which has made us all like these names at the same time!

Emilia is lovely. As are the others but that's my favourite

I know of one Olivia amongst friends and one LIVIA in dd's Gymboree class, not sure about her nursery. Imo I no longer think it's that popular now. It's been taken over by all the Rubys / Isabellas / Ellas and Evas!

I know only one Olivia. My DD! I agree that for such a popular name I'm surprised I've never come across another. Lily and Ruby are the ones I hear most now which is ironic as they were both on my list as more 'unusual' choices.

I also have an Olivia (13), but that's her "naughty name" :o, she's almost always Livvy/Liv. I've only come across two other Olivias in all that time, she's never been at school with another one. I have a reception starter this year and it seems Katie is the number one name where I am (East of England)

There was an Olivia in the cosby's - at least that's where I remember it from.

When my Olivia was about 5 I was talking about Shakespearean heroines and DH was looking a little puzzled - what relevance to our DD?

I explained, that's where we got her name from - Olivia, Twelfth Night?
Oh no, he said, I thought it was from that little girl on the Cosby Show, never heard of the Shakespeare one ...

Love 'Thea', really pretty.

My DD had one Olivia in her small class at her old school, and has one in her class at her new school. I know of several more, though, including one of my mother's sisters, who is 71. She was so embarrassed by her incredibly outlandish name when she was growing up that she used to tell everyone she was called Olive. How times change.

I know several Emilias/Amelias. Your DS's nursery seems to have most of the popular names covered - they all tend to crop up in my children's classes too. In the end, I think you just have to choose a name you absolutely love, regardless of whether there's one or a million other children with the same name.

I know 3 under 18 months, another 3 under 5 years.

Amelia is bang on trend round here. I know 5 under 18 months.

I used to know an Althea, nn Ally or Thea depending on context. Alethea is lovely.