Active discussions

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

four in a class - really?

234 replies

mogandthecat · 10/10/2011 14:48

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?!

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
tammytoby · 14/10/2011 14:45

"not sure why people seem to think it is a really bad thing!"

Are you serious? How can having a class with four Jacks or five Sophias (two sharing the same surname) not be a pain for everyone involved Shock.

bruffin · 14/10/2011 14:45

In DS's class there were 3 Matthews but DS is Sam and there were only 2 in the whole school.
There were 4 of me in one in my junior school classes.

In DDs class there were a few Joshs and Elyshas

tammytoby · 14/10/2011 14:49

And, mog, it has nothing to do with feeling 'less individual'. It simply has to do with being identifiable (which is what a name is there for). That's all.

MerryMarigold · 14/10/2011 17:38

My dsis had 2 Leighs in her class last year (yr5/6) - both girls
My ds has 2 Adams

manicinsomniac · 14/10/2011 17:59

I teach the following duplicates:
Year 8:
4 Georges (class of 15)
2 Annabelles (class of 13)
2 Chris' (class of 15)

Year 7:
2 James' (class of 17)
3 Georginas (class of 17)

Year 6:
2 Alice's (class of 16)
2 Bens (class of 14)

Year 5:
3 Olivers (class of 16)
2 Mias (class of 16)
3 Isabelle/as (class of 17)
2 James' (class of 16)

When I was in 6th form (2000-2002) there were 4 Sarahs in my form out of only 7 girls. 2 of the Sarahs had the same surname and the other 3 of us all had top 10ish names too.
The year group had 6 Sarahs, 5 Emmas, 4 Lauras, 3 Rebeccas, 3 Joanne/as, 5 Andrews, 3 Davids, 4 Thomas' and 3 Ryans.

RantyMcRantpants · 14/10/2011 20:37

mopsyflopsy Fri 14-Oct-11 14:12:51
"So we were first name, first name with a y stuck on the end and I was my first 2 initials"

Depending on the name, this may or may not work so well .

It is Dawn, so Dawny (unfortunatly she became Dawny prawny because of the lack of hygiene, children are cruel) and I was DC Grin

AngieWatts · 14/10/2011 20:45

I thought of this thread this morning when I was at a toddler group. No name duplications, bit definitely the zeitgeist was in full swing. And yes, I live in a naice middle class area Grin

Ida
Imogen
Ivy
Isis

Ella
Isabella
Annabel

Eva
Ava
Evie

hulabula · 16/10/2011 22:13

"I teach the following duplicates: Year 8: 4 Georges (class of 15)"

"There are 5 Sophias in my Dds class and to make it even more confusing 2 of them have the same surname too!"

"6 Daniels in my primary school class. Nearly 50% of the total boys."

How do you teachers differentiate between them - by asking the kids what nicknames they prefer, by adding an initial/surname or how? I'm genuinely intrigued!

Kaekae · 16/10/2011 22:33

My son has just started reception at a three form primary school and when I got the list of names in his year, he was the only Oliver!!! I was sure there were going to be more. We have a James and two Jamie's in our class!

cakeismysaviour · 18/10/2011 16:26

Eeek, lots of George's out there! My DS is George and I knew it was a popular name when we chose it, but I would rather he wasn't one of many in his class! Mind you a friend who teaches at a primary school in the area says she has never had a George and most of their boys tend to be Jayden, Connor, Charlie, Harry, Jaime, Morgan etc. Fingers crossed!

When I was at school we had (in a class of 31) three Daniels, three Andrews, three Lauras, two Jennifers, two Katherines, two Katies, two Sarahs and a Gemma and Jemma. Looking back I feel very sorry for our teacher!

When I was at uni there were so many Daves that they all had different nicknames eg Disco Dave, Afro Dave, Big Dave etc. They all seemed to like their nicknames and seemed to try and live up to them as much as they could.... Grin

fastweb · 18/10/2011 16:40

I'm a '68 Sarah.

There was never one of me, and sometimes as many as four of us.

In my very first job I had a name change forced on me because they already had a Big Sarah, Little Sarah and a Sara. As did the Karen who started the YTS with me.

I speant a year getting shouted at cos I never could get the habit of responding to yells of "Amy!" meaning somebody wanted my attention.

Other than that, I really like my name.

evamummy · 18/10/2011 16:51

fastweb Grin

first1 · 18/10/2011 20:41

I'm an 86 Lucy. There were four in my class and 7 in total in the year at my secondary school. Hated it then, still hate it!

LidlVoice · 18/10/2011 22:36

In my class (back in the 70s) there were two Brigids. I have never met another one since!

sparkle12mar08 · 18/10/2011 22:37

In my sons class:

3 Georges
3 Alexanders
2 Freddys
an Amelie and an Amelia
a Maya, a Mia and a Mina.

Phew!

tammytoby · 19/10/2011 08:36

Really sparkle, poor teacher Shock!

LillianGish · 19/10/2011 08:49

Probably safest to go for something that has fallen entirely out of fashion if you want to be really unique - Gertrude, Edna, Doreen anyone or maybe Derek, Rodney or Keith?

KPT083 · 19/10/2011 08:54

In my class there were no duplicates - however Kelly, Kerry, Kaleh and Keelee mush have been confusing enough :-)

rainbow2000 · 19/10/2011 11:52

Ds1 is called Dylan,theres loads of them but luckily he was the only one in his class.I must have just got in.

rainbow2000 · 19/10/2011 11:56

Meant to say in ds2 class there were 3 Dyland,couple Jamie and 2 Daniels.In ds1 class there was 2 Kevins.

poppyknot · 19/10/2011 12:03

I remember there were multiple Fionas and Karens in my classes in the 1970s.

DH was one of about eight in his dept with his name at one point. He is in IT and it is a very common IT name it would seem Grin

JiltedJohnsGhoulie · 19/10/2011 12:27

Lillian actually know a little Keith [hshock][hsmile] also know a little Donna and was a bit surprised by that one especially as her brother is named Pita, sorry Peter [hgrin].

jellybeans · 19/10/2011 12:35

There was always more than one with my name in each class-luckily it is a name with many nn. Partly why I chose more unsual names for my DC.

repeated names (same class) at my DC schools

Nathan, Oliver, James, Thomas, Charlie, Abbie, Georgia, Jack, Jacob, Sam, Aimee, Ben, Harry, Holly, Maddison, Elizabeth, Archie

toddler groups..Harry, Evie, Ella, Grace, Evan, Isabelle

Fishpants · 19/10/2011 15:23

I was one of 3 Sarah C's in primary school.

Teacher would say it during register 'Sarah C, Sarah C, and Sarah C?' all of us harmonizing 'Here' at the same time.

Sigh...

samstown · 19/10/2011 16:08

In a class I taught a while back there were two boys with exactly the same first AND second name (same spelling and everything). In the same class therre were also two boys who had opposite names, so one was called X Y and the other was called Y X if you see what I mean! Most confusing!