four in a class - really?

[mogandthecat]

I've noticed on here that many people seem to dread the possibility that their child may be one of 'four or five' in a class. Just thinking about this when my friend showed me the list for her dd's reception class intake the other day. Of thirty children there were only two names replicated, each with two children with the name (one of these being Ruby, which was the most popular name for the year anyway). When I was at primary school in the seventies when there were probably fewer names used overall there was only one duplicated name in a class of 20 girls (Claire). So, just out of interest, what names are there more than one of in your dc's classes and are there often '4 or 5' of one name or is this actually an extremely rare occurrence?!

and in my sons school and their year groups there are lots of Ellas, a few Olivias and quite a few Alex and James.

3 Charlottes in DS's Reception class of 30. Luckily they liked nicknames, so one Charlotte, one Lottie, one Charlie.

I was one of 3 of my name in my spanish class of 18 in secondary school.

and in my class of 24 back in secondary we had a Kate, a Katherine, a Kathryn and a Catherine.

Joshua was popular not so long ago, in our class of 8 we had three of them.

My jack is the only one at his nursery and I only know one other. Several Kaydens and Lillys though

Growing up (child of the 80's) there were certainly lots of James, Johns/Jons, Sophies, Samanthas/Sams, Marks, Matthews/Matts, Bens...

I was only one of three Nicolas in my year of 250+ and I was happy enough with that.

we have a few jacks in ds2's year and also Jacob/Jake is quite popular.

Bizarrely my ds3 is called Dylan and is the only one in his class, i thought it was commonish, certainly more common than my other childrens names.

and yes Lily is another one that popular, oh and Caitlin and Freya :)

There were 5 or 6 Sarahs in my year of seventy girls, I was born in 1982, 4 louises, same year and 6 Stephens.

I was one of 4 of my name in my primary school class, at uni there was another girl with the same first, middle and surname as me and the same date of birth (I never met her, but found out at the medical centre when they kept mixing up our notes). At my current work, there's another woman with my first name sat only a couple of desks away from me, I've worked places where there's been 3-4 of us in the past.

So it does happen, and it's bloody annoying.

"are there often '4 or 5' of one name or is this actually an extremely rare occurrence?!"

When my mum started school, in Germany, there were 4 Ilse's in her class, so she had to start using her middle name. This was back in 1920 something.

In the 90s when I was at school I was actually one of 6 in my year, 2 in my class. Have been to many schools and my name is and was still popular.

In DDs nursery (65 children in total) there are 3 Evies, 2 Daisys and 2 Olivers.

When DD was at Rainbows there were 3 Olivias, out of 13 girls.

There were 7 Catherine / Kathryn / Katherine's in my history class at school.

There are 3 James's in my family. I also have 4 friends called James.

Among my friends there are 5: Emma's, Helen's, Claire's, Daniel's, Joanne's and Andrew's.

And yes I have nicknames for them all to avoid confusion eg. for the Daniels there is Just Dan, Fit Dan, Techno Dan, Greasy Danny and Danny Fanny.

I loved some of the top 100 names when I was pregnant with both mine, but DH and I resisted the temptation to choose one and both our names are rather unfashionable. So far I haven't met any kids their age with the same names (even though they're normal, traditional names). At DS1's nursery there are 3 Thomas' in his class and they have more than one Ella, Amy, Scarlett in the top two classes.

I'm a Melissa, born in the 70s, and was one of three in my school (but mercifully the only one in my year). My sister is a Sarah and there must've been a couple in each year and she finds at work she's always one of several Sarahs. Ditto Claire/Clare, Emma, Louise, etc.

I'm like HoHoLaughingMonster - there were four Catherine/Kate/Katies in my class at senior school. And about 10 Sarah's in a year of 200.

I have taught a class with four Harrys and three Joshuas. Currently have 2 Megans, 2 Lucies and 2 Harleys,

We've got two Jacks, three Daniels, two Lillys and two Sophies in our school year.

Reading this thread, I think we should all be more supportive of more name diversity - it really would make life easier (and more interesting)!

My dd is in a class of 11 boys and 9 girls. 4 out of those 9 girls (including dd) are called the same name, or a derivative/diminution of it.

In DD year there are 3 Charlie's (one is a girl though same spelling), 3 Adam's, an Amelia/Emilia/Amelie - very muddling, but only one Jack, one Sophie, one Oliver and one Max which surprised me as also very popular. There are 9 Isabelle/Isabella's at DD Brownie group and some have the same surname initial.

When i was at school Michelle and Claire/Clare were the most popular. Mine was the only one though.

DD has a name which no one else in the school has and isn't that unusual (as in we've all heard it and know the spelling etc)

There are 6 Graces in our current reception class of 25.

6 Graces !

DS1 had 3 Lucys and 3 Bens in his class.

hellokitty123 I know! I saw the class list and was very grateful that my DH had vetoed Grace for our dd

3 Georges in ds1 class 2 are known by their lastname the children came up with idea and the staff/other parents refer to them with these as well now!! The 3 Georges think its realy cool!