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Baby names

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

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Original poster

Would you pick a name in the top 200??

110 replies

nappyaddict · 04/09/2012 08:50

I've heard a few times that names in the top 200 will date and be the next Sharon/Tracy/Kevin/Trevor etc, unless they are timeless classic names that have remained in the top 200 over decades.

Do you agree with this?

Did it affect your choice of name?

If you liked a name and then found out it was in the top 200 would you change your mind about it?

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IShallCallYouSquishy · 04/09/2012 18:47

There were lots of lovely names I liked when thinking of names for my DD however didn't choose based on the fact they were just so popular. The Sharon/Tracey etc of this era.

My DD's name has gone from 3126th to 613th on that list rezzle! Eeek I've gone for something getting more popular

amck5700 · 04/09/2012 19:03

To put things in perspective, in Scotland in 2011 the No1 boys and girls names each had around 600 children named those. There are over 2000 primary schools some of which have more than one primary class - so the chances of having loads of kids with the same name in a class are actually pretty small even if you choose the No 1 most popular name. Obviously there will be clusters etc, but is it that big a deal really? i think it happened in the past more so as there were fewer overall names that people chose from so the top names would be used far more frequently than they are now.

monstertufts · 04/09/2012 19:41

We were going to name DS (just turned 1) Reilly but changed our minds after discovering that Riley (same pronunciation) was about number 25 in the list last year. This year it's even higher, and it's number 4 in Wales, so we're glad we didn't go with it! In the end we chose a name that is so rare, it's not even listed in the statistics - they exclude names given to fewer than 3 babies in order to protect their identity :D

DD's name was 130-odd on the list in 2009, when she was born. I've never met anyone with the same name, although occasionally friends tell me they encountered a child with it. And it made an appearance on CBeebies birthdays a few weeks ago, albeit with an ugly spelling :P

(I love watching the birthdays on CBeebies, just to see what people are calling their children!)

MERLYPUSS · 04/09/2012 20:01

My son is Thomas. I was told when expecting and announced I liked it as it was a timeless and strong name that it was 'dirt common' by a relation. I took that to mean popular. He is one of 3 in his year. Not that dirt common then......

whyismymindblank · 04/09/2012 20:06

Does anyone know if these name lists just include popularity as first names, or are they middle names too? If they're middle names as well then maybe that's why sometimes they come up as v popular, but you rarely meet someone with that as their first name?

ivykaty44 · 04/09/2012 20:11

I picked dd1's name as I liked the name and it was the only one I really liked. I certainly didn't look to see how popular it was as even If it was popular then I wasn't going to give her a name I didn't like.

As it happens it was a popular name for a while and there were a few about and still are. I still love the name and wouldn't change it.

Kveta · 04/09/2012 21:21

both my children have top 5 names. chose both names because a) we love them and b) they work in both our countries of origin.

Mintyy · 04/09/2012 21:23

Both my children have top 2 names. I defy anyone to beat that!

Kveta · 04/09/2012 21:30

Mintyy, mine might, DD was only born this year, so not sure where her name will be in the stats! DS was no 1 name for his year of birth.

sonnieboo · 04/09/2012 21:34

whyismymindblank, I was wondering that too and asked the question a while ago. Apparently the list only includes FIRST names (not middle names) and only those first names that were used at least twice.

sonnieboo · 04/09/2012 21:35

Minty and Kveta, given that there were thousands of babies given the top most popular names it wouldn't be surprising at all that there are lots of them around!

tinkfairy · 04/09/2012 21:42

Down from 848th to 2843rd this is the position of my name lol not very good name to use

iggi777 · 04/09/2012 21:49

We had been keen to give a name to ds1 that turned out to be in the top 5, and yes it did put us off. Fast forward five years and there are three boys with that name in his class. Still a lovely name, but just a bit too popular.

Ample · 04/09/2012 22:23

I chose a name because I had always loved it (dh too).
It is my favourite name of all time.
I love how it looks on paper and will never tire of hearing it. It didn't occur to me to check whether the name was popular. I agree that there is popular and then there's popular classic. DD is the latter

Ample · 04/09/2012 22:30

On the otherhand, I would change dd's middle name in a heartbeat. Even though it does suit her, I still wish I had gone with my first love which would have suited her too and not settled with dh's first choice of middle name.

gettinganumbbum · 04/09/2012 22:50

at the times they were born my ds's name was ranked 353 and my dd's was ranked 305, my ds's is now 402, it wont show me my dd's for some reason, just out of curiosity i did my name too, there wasnt anything for me, dont know whether to feel special or neglected

Mum2Luke · 04/09/2012 23:24

My 3 are called Graham (21 yrs) Naomi (19 yrs) and Luke (10 yrs). The eldest was after a family friend, Naomi was out the bible (as we have a Ruth in the family) and Luke just came, he was nearly a Daniel but I didn't like 'Danny' or 'Dan'.

sleepdodger · 04/09/2012 23:32

I have a biblical but less common name, v rare growing up
Now Saturday morning supermarkets full of them...
DS was to have his granddads less common but fab name which then turned out to be super common and apparently try hard according to mn
As it was he didn't suit it when he finally appeared and after consulting every book going for a perfect unusual but not try hard name settled on a lovely solid one which is in top 10 but so far only met 1 other which is easy to yell

merrymouse · 05/09/2012 06:42

I like dated names though.

I have moved on from the Victorian/Edwardian revival, and am now trying to promote the names of my mum's generation (Janet, Bridget, Patricia etc.).

I can very much imagine that Tracy will be popular again too.

SoupDragon · 05/09/2012 06:49

Can you think of 200 names, of the same era, which are the equivalent of Sharon/Tracey/Kevin...?

MousyMouse · 05/09/2012 07:30

we checked for the top names in uk germany and sweden.

unfortunately dc's name is very popular in the other gender and the short version (which we call most) is similar sounding to a few other names...

MaryPoppinsBag · 05/09/2012 08:05

I just chose names that I liked.
DS1's name was chosen before we'd even started trying to conceive.
DS2's name was chosen after his brother started calling it him before he was born. Luckily he was a boy, although it'd worked with a slightly different adaptation for a girl.

Both names are strong classic names. They have since risen into the top 20.
We have yet to meet another with DS1's name but there will be another boy in DS2's nursery class when he starts.

dottyspotty2 · 05/09/2012 08:21

All my childrens names where chosen because I liked them oldest always said I'd call my first daughter that out of them all the youngests is most popular but only know a few with her name only ever met 2 people with my sons name and he's 18

comelywench · 05/09/2012 10:30

It never even crossed my mind to check the popularity of DS's name. We just loved it and named him it. He's two, and so far I've only ever met one more baby with the same name. However, it's supposed to be soooo popular now, so maybe we'll come across more when he goes to nursery.

At the soft play area we were at the other day they call out the kids names to let them know their time is up. There wasn't one other child with the same name as DS so I don't think we're in too much trouble.

Mumsnet inform me that it will date horribly, but he hasn't built a tardis yet (should I be worried and post on behaviour and development), so I think the fact that his name is of the time he lives in shouldn't be to much of an issue.

I have a rare name and it's a PITA. DM should've stuck with Kirsty, but was spooked by a "oh that's getting really popular isn't it" comment, and must've thought "I'll fix her". She did.

hellokitty123 · 05/09/2012 10:44

The more popular/widely used a name already is, the more likely it will be that the child will have to 'share' his/her name in school, at work etc. This is not the end of the world, but can be a pain (and I've worked in schools and our local scouts groups). Depending on what area you work in, it can be helpful to be identified easily - again, this gets harder if your name is Jack Smith or Harry Jones.

We recently had our bathrooms renovated and every second tradesman was called Steve - can get a little confusing at times....

So I think we need to remember that we name our children so that they can be easily identified and that there are lots and lots of great names that are outside of the top 200 or so (just perhaps not currently 'trendy').

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