Choosing a popular name

[sherberthesheep]

we like the names Emily for our baby daughter but I know that its very popular and has been for a few years according to the name stats. I've read a few threads on here where people have chosen popular names and not realised it was popluar and then regretted their choice because its everywhere and don't want to have the same thought.

So I was just wondering, how popular is your DCs name in their nursery/ school/ area and does it bother you? With hindsight, would you have chosen a different name?

Part of me says it doesn't matter but then I have doubts when I see others have regretted choosing a mega popular name. Just looking for some helpful advice before we make our choice!

If you love the name, then I don't see the problem.

We wanted well known names for our DSs they are good solid names, recognised, and so far the whole primary school there is only three of DS1's name and 4 of DS2's name so it's not too bad. The names we fancied are popular, so be it, it's not that bad.

Not quite what you're asking but I have a very popular name for my age group. I was one of 4 in my postgrad seminar group -- it was only a small class (about 20) and mixed as well! It was annoying but, in spite of this, I don't think I'd want any other name. I was lucky as I was the only one in primary school but had 2 good friends at secondary school with the same name and another at university. There were also a few in my halls (although a few went by nicknames). So far have avoided others at work but you never know! If my mum and dad had picked their original choice of name (Harriet - much less popular in the 1980s than my name), there'd have been two of us in my class at primary school but, saying that, I've never met another my age since. I think that just goes to show that you can never tell.

I like my name, it's like Emily - classic and not embarrassing! - and people always know how to say/spell it. I don't mind being 'Gwennan X.' (not my real name!) and close friends often call me by my surname (fine by me - it's also a given name, thankfully, and sometimes used for girls so not too weird). If you're going down the Emily route, make sure you've got a decent surname and preferably one that's not too common. It's easier to be Emily Colville or Emily Graham than Emily Williams or Emily Smith.

For my own children, I prefer names outside the top 50 for girls and I'm a bit more flexible for boys since boys seem to have so many more nicknames.

My only concern with Emily is that, as classic as it is, it sounds like loads of other names currently in fashion:
Milly/Millie
Emma
Emmeline
Amelie
Amelia
Emilia
Ella
Ellie
Cecily
Lily
etc.

That would bother me the most. I'd rather be a Jessica (I think around #4) or a Ruby than an Emily because there are far fewer names that sound like them and so they don't seem as popular.

The thing with Emily is that, due to all the names I've mentioned above, it seems way more popular than it is.

The internet stuff wasn't really so available when I named my kids so didn't do all the research on-line for popularity etc.

We chose No1 sons name pretty much from the puplished Graduations in the paper when we were in the hospital - it's a pretty normal name - probably around top 50 in his birth year - we come across the odd one and it doesn't bother me.

No2 son's name was a bit more difficult to choose - it's a bit more unusual and would be really uncommon at the time and place we named him. We moved and discovered for geographical reasons its a bit more common here than it was. For some reason it bothers me more when we come across others - even if all of them have a different spelling.

So in conclusion, if I picked a popular name it wouldn't bother me if we came across others, but if I picked a rare one and then came across other children with it, it would bother me more.

Who said the answer had to be logical!

Emily is a lovely name.

We have an Emily its a lovely name.

Just checked in my eldest birth year his name was 24th (in Scotland) and younger son's - born the following year was 89th in the alternate spelling and no children were named his name in his spelling that year - can't get the same stats for the following year for some reason.

DS1 was top 50 or something in his birth year, but weirdly all the male babies on the ward had that name! We rarely if ever encounter another.

In his class there are three of the top girl name, but only one with the top boy name.

DS2 has the top name for that year. We know a few - most groups we go to have at least one other. We use an unrelated nickname which looks like it is going to stick, so I don't think it will be an issue anyway.

I was one of three in my English class with the same name; there were another couple in my year; it never bothered me. Curiously now I don't know anyone under eight with my name.

I think some names are regional - when DS1 was tiny you couldn't move for little Harrys and Lilys, but they were barely top ten nationally that year.

A hundred years ago, the top names (John, Mary) were given to around a quarter of children. Now it's more like 1%, so even the top names are fairly thinly spread, and in most cases your child is more likely to share a birthday with a classmate than a name.

And of course some names are popular because they're good.

Oh and I agree with Gwennan that the published stats are misleading. The combined stats (where dedicated people with far too much time on his hands combine eg Lily/Lilly/Lillie and the first half of DB names like Lily-May) often give quite different results, and jump a name from 23rd spot to top three.

Our dd is Emily too, but she's the only one we know...! I checked out a bunch of nurseries in our area when I was still pregnant (we have long waiting lists!!) and I did surreptitiously check names on the lockers to spot the really popular names... (there were no other Emilys).... I quite liked Eva and Esme as well but DH is far too traditional so we went with Em.

My 3 year old boy has a very popular name (not by my choosing). I hate the fact that it is so popular, but if I was a big fan of the name I wouldn't particularly care .

It also depends where you live though. It isn't so bad around where we live, but 200 miles up the road in the town where my mum lives, every other boys has the name.

both my DC have very popular names (DD has a variant of the one you like OP, just spelled appropriately for DH's language, DS has the name that was #1 for his year of birth) - I honestly love more and more that they have names they don't have to be 'brave' to live with, and DS loves meeting other boys with his name at pre-school.

I keep hearing people saying 'oh, what a brave name' to parents who have called their newborn Spartacus or Caligula or Agamemnon - and yes, those names may be unusual, but it's the child who has to live with it - on balance, I'd always prefer a more popular name.

Oh and one other thing that might be good or bad depending on your point of view... There is not much that rhymes with Emily so at her nursery where they play a lot of rhyming games, they call her Lemony Emily, which I quite like but DH does not!

alark - what a lovely post. I think that Emily is just beautiful and fwiw, I only know two despite the fact that I have 3 children aged 8-3 (so baby groups, nursery, school for nearly 9 years now) and as a primary school teacher for 7 years before that, I never taught one. I went to university with an Emily too.

Horatia makes the best point - some names are popular because they're good.

Just to add a bit more agreement to the thread, my DD1 has the no. 1 name for year of her birth, I didn't realise at the time and I'm glad I didn't as may have put me off, there is only 1 other in her school (2 now in DD2's preschool) but really doesn't seem that popular in our area. DD2 also has a very popular name again I know of a few (although they are more variants) it really does vary area to area, so maybe do some local research with new mums to see if it's very popular near you might be a good idea?

DD1 is an Amelia, it was top 10 when we had her and now of course is number 1.

I have heard others, but love it just as much as her sister's much less usual name. It suits her, and she is always Amelia - she doesn't have a nickname. I think that it won't particularly date her either, as it has been popular for a while, like Jessica, Emily, Sophie. If you love the name there is n point picking one you like less, you will always regret it.

And Amelia is the only one in her class at school, and there are no Emily's. There are two Aysha's though so you just never know.