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Original poster

chosen popular name

55 replies

blondie72 · 14/06/2012 13:44

My daughter is 3.5 and we chose a really popular name for her and I regret it every day. My husband thinks I'm mad but It's driving me crazy. Anyone else feel the same? Is there anything I can do?

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squoosh · 14/06/2012 13:48

You chose the name because you liked the name. Presumably you still like the name, you just don't like the fact lots of other girls share her name?

Try to remember why you chose it in the first place and focus on that. Or come up with a cool nickname.

Surely after 3.5 years (?) the name becomes kind of irrelevant, it just becomes part of the person. No?

squoosh · 14/06/2012 13:48

But if it's only 3.5 weeks, just change her name. No biggie.

3boysgirlontheway · 14/06/2012 13:54

Is it Ava/Eva/Eve?

That is the only name I think I would regret, no idea why, but, it just popped into my head. If it is that I don't think you are mad!

nizlopi · 14/06/2012 14:01

I wouldn't change it now. If when she's older, she doesn't like it and wants to change it then thats her call, but its the name you chose and the name she knows now, so changing it would be a bit selfish on your part and confusing on hers.

WhereMyMilk · 14/06/2012 14:03

DD is now 8. At the time, her name was not common popular. Now it is.

I do wish we'd gone for name 2nd on our list now, BUT her name is her name. I do still like it and it suits her. I just wish no one else had used it :o

Lunarlyte · 14/06/2012 14:18

DD1's name is very popular (though not as popular when she was born in 2009 as it is now) and DD2s name is becoming increasingly popular.

I used to have quite snobby views about how awful it would be to bestow a popular name, but do you know what? I couldn't give a flying fck now because we chose our daughters names because we genuinely like/d the names and they have significant meanings to us. A Squoosh quite rightly said, your little girl's personality should have usurped the quite base 'is it popular?' quandry and Nizlopi* is right to say that it would be selfish of you/confusing for her to change it now.

Let it go and just give her a cool NN or call her by her middle name. Better still, just call her by her given name and don't give her a complex about it, because at 3.5 she'll be picking up on the tiniest bits of crap you project her way.

I apologise if I sound harsh here.

Lannie33 · 14/06/2012 15:17

If she's 3.5 weeks, change her name or go by middle name. If she's 3.5 years then give. Having said this, my aunt adopted her daughter at the age of 2.5y and gave her an Estonian name (she had been given a Canadian/English name by her birth mother) and it seems it was never an issue.....
I totally sympathize as I'm having the hardest time deciding on my daughter's name....one of the names is kind of popular and I really don't want her to be one of 2 or 3 in her class (not sure why I hate the idea of this so much...I just do!!). Maybe if you tell us her names we can help think of nicknames?

Lannie33 · 14/06/2012 15:18

Oops..i meant if she's 3.5 years then give her a cool nn or (or use middle name).

Lannie33 · 14/06/2012 15:19

PS my husband also thinks i'm crazy b/c of my indecisiveness. Men just don't understand!!!

Frontpaw · 14/06/2012 15:27

Is it a fairly common name or did you name her something that has become common over the past few years (so Jane or Lily?). As long as its not Jordan, we'll forgive you.

boyfallingoutofthesky · 14/06/2012 21:08

Hi, I understand how you feel as my daughter, aged three, also has a name that has become much more popular since we named her. It does get to me sometimes but my partner thinks it is not an issue and says we (he) would have called her that regardless as it is the best name!

I know it is silly and cannot explain why exactly it bothers me, as she is very much her own person anyway, as someone has said, and even if a name is popular there are still probably less than 2 or even one percent of babies born with that name per year. In my case, I am a natural worrier and need something to focus my worry on and (as my partner has pointed out) this is what my brain chooses to fix on when there is nothing else to worry about (so actually I should be pretty happy!)

When it comes down to it, she is 3, she knows her name, it is her and it is too late to change it. Just try to remember all the very good reasons you chose that name in the first place.

rachel234 · 14/06/2012 21:21

How old is she? If she is under age 1 then you can change it easily.

If she's older, how about you find a cool nickname?

bigbluebump · 14/06/2012 21:42

Does she have a middle name that is less widely used?

peachypips · 15/06/2012 19:42

Am mega curious now about name!

Hoti · 15/06/2012 21:45

I don't think that popularity is a good reason to regret a name. You like it or you don't, do you regret it for any other reasons? Do you not like the name?

Lannie33 · 16/06/2012 02:48

me too peachy!! the suspense is killing me!

misslinnet · 16/06/2012 20:10

Maybe try and focus on what it was you liked about the name when you chose it - I'm hoping here you didn't choose it simply because you thought it was unpopular!

Or could you call her by a nickname? Like say Millie instead of Amelia for instance?

(and Frontpaw, Jane was a name I was considering for DS if he'd been a girl, and it was something like 1000 th most popular in 2010)

Original poster
blondie72 · 17/06/2012 18:04

Her name is Olivia, named after a friend at school. I didn't even know about popularity charts at the time. I think the issue with our choice is that it's so similar to Oliver so I'm forever meeting Olivias, Livvy's, Olivers and Ollies. It was nice to read boyfallingoutofthesky post. I think I must be the same.

OP posts:
MamaLazarou · 17/06/2012 18:54

Does she like her name?

FormerlyTitledUntidy · 17/06/2012 18:59

Oh Olivia is lovely. :)
I have an Eve who is seven so at the peak of popularity. Within her class there are 3 variations. It doesn't bother her at all. Sometimes I wish she had a more unusual name but the other names we liked are equally popular :o
It''ll just be one of those things, she has a popular name, so what?

JimbosJetSet · 17/06/2012 19:02

Popular names are popular for a good reason - congratulate yourself that you chose a name that so many other people think is beautiful too! She has a classic name that will allow her to become who ever she wants to be in life - whether she chooses to be a rock star or a hair dresser or a Judge, it will suit her perfectly.

peachypips · 17/06/2012 19:36

Olivia is lovely. Really beautiful. I have only met one baby down here called Olivia so it is not popular everywhere! X

Surf25 · 17/06/2012 19:56

Olivia is a lovely name. I only know of two, and that's out of loads of wee ones across preschool ages.
Be confident in your choice and the reasons you chose it. I do understand, we picked a name for dd2 that wasn't ranked very highly on the charts (60's or therabouts i think, not top twenty but a slight variation on a name that has been very top ten for ages i think) when we chose it and we chose it because we loved it and its meaning. Ever since she was born i have been hearing of other wee girls with the same name and on another thread on here asking for the four most popular baby names in your local area it must be one of the most commonly appearing ones.
However, we chose it because we love it! And i guess the other parents did the same, there are worse things that could happen!! Your daughter is so much more than a name!

PixieCake · 17/06/2012 20:19

Olivia is a beautiful name, but if you are worried about its popularity then maybe start to call her by a less common nickname (livvy, lia, viva)

You might find that once she starts school there actually aren't that many of them.

wigglesrock · 17/06/2012 21:04

I am in danger of outing myself but here goes Grin I have a 4 year old Olivia, she has just had her induction at primary school. Out of a huge intake of P1s she's the only Olivia, she was the only one in nursery school as well.

The popularity of the name doesn't bother me in the slightest, I picked it because I loved it when she was born, I know there are allegedly Grin lots but I've yet to stumble across them. She gets Liv sometimes but not Livvy.