Is my name too popular?

[flossyflo]

34 weeks pregnant and thought we had it all sorted...

Girls name chosen as Isla months ago (in all honesty I had the gmail account already registered a few years ago not that husband knew that).

But... am now having second thoughts as just checked the ONS website and found it is ranked number 15...

Should this affect my decision. I always loved having a more unusual name and would like daughter to feel the same.

DD2 has a name which isn't even top 100, but there were two at her nursery. The other mother had really chosen unusual names for her DC, so she, in particular, was a bit surprised when DD2 rocked up!

I don't know any Islas, but I don't know many people with babies, as my DC are a bit older, now.

I think that the issue with Isla is that it's a name which has had a rapid rise in popularity. See this chart here: names.darkgreener.com/#isla and then compare it to Iona names.darkgreener.com/#iona.

Iona has bobbed around at about the 300 mark for the last ten years or so, whereas Isla ten years ago was about the same, but has since risen each year since at quite a rate. So it is very of the moment.

I like the name Isla. My friend chose it 3 years ago and we all thought it was unusual, now they are everytwhere, it does seem to be very of the moment and will probably date.
However, My DS1 has a top 10 name (more classic - in the Charlotte mould) and has never had another child with the same name in his class or groups. DS2 has a name which is down in the 60s/70s and has another in one of his classes.
Magic's point about the variations affecting the populairty listing is important too, you can't move for Amelia/Milly/Lily/Lillie/Mia and Evie/Eve/Evas round here, those names are much more popular than their position on the list would suggest.
If you love it, and it's the name you've always had in mind, then use it.

I know loads of babies and only one Isla so it might be a bit of a regional thing. I'm in a big Northern city. I also have a very popular name myself (5 of us in my year at school, about 4 within a few desks at work) which is fine, at least everyone knows how to spell it!!

It may be more popular than it was, but it's still only given to 0.32% of babies - about 1 in 300.

Am I the only one that's never heard this name before?

to the child i dont think it matters at all. i had an unsual name child and to me that did matter, i quite like it now, and it is more common in children than in my day

go with the name you like

What about Shona instead? I love Isla and Orla, but they're both getting really, really popular. I had a friend called Shona at school and always thought it was a really lovely name. It's similar but not as common....

I agree with Bakingtins in that there seem to be soooo many little girls called Amelia/Lily/Mia/Evie etc, and also little boys called Oliver/Oscar/Noah, yet according to some charts these names aren't even that popular (although they are near the top). It also seems like every little girl that has been born in the past few years have the same middle names - May/Mae/Grace/Rose. They're beautiful names, don't get me wrong, but I always groan a little inside when I hear about a new baby with one of these names. I do think it depends where you live though, surely it can't be the same everywhere!

ChocolateCoins -Isla Fisher? Isla Blair? Isla StClair? Isla Mujeres?

How would you feel if you chose a different name, and then there were two of that name in her class?

Worse than if there were two Islas?

My eldest dd's name was unheard of 23 years ago when she was born - except as a name for cats or puppies now it's about number 14!

I really like Isla. It's our back up name for DD because of the Scottish theme. What about Cara? It's just off Kintyre and means "dearest" in Gaelic.

I named my ds Raphael which isn't popular. I then did a parentcraft session when he was 11 days old (showing couples how to change nappies/bath the baby etc) and two of the pregnant women there liked his name and used it. If I don't move and they don't move, there will be 3 in his class.

You never know.

I know 2 Islas (one spelt Islay) one is a young teen, the other about 7. It's not that popular or faddy where I live.
I thought I was giving my DD a fairly unusual name, but in her tiny school and class of only 4 other girls, there is another with the same name..there's another a couple of years older and I know of at least 2 more local babies with the same name. Unusual - ha!
I think if you like a name, use it.

My dd's name was no. 5 the year she was born and no. 1 the year after - I love it though, and we don't know many others!

If you love a name, go for it!

It's a lovely name but it is very popular, and because it sprang out of relative obscurity right up to the top 20, rather than a slow climb, it's going to date quite a bit over the years. Is that a problem for you? Only you can decide.

If you want to stick with Scottish islands, what about Ailsa, Cara, Shona, Iona or Vaila? Or Muck if you want to go REALLY unusual...

Isla is not faddy and I don't get the attitude that a name will date, it's rubbish! Maybe the makey uppy I so want to completely original names might date, but proper names do not date. People grow into their names imo. When did you last meet someone and think "that name is so dated"?!

Personally I know no islas nor have I heard of anyone using it.

So go for it and ignore the snootiness cause it's in the top 20! That's a v mn specific attitude imo.

It's a lovely name.

We spent our honeymoon on Islay and actually conceived our DD there

We would have loved to have called her Islay but it clashed badly with out surname.

Think along the lines of Isle of Man!

Isla is very popular right now, but very nice in my opinion

I love the name Isla! I'd say go for it, does it matter that it's in the top 15 or whatever? It's a beautiful name.

I don't have kids (yet) but already have a mental short-list of names, I don't think I'd be swayed too much by where they are in the popularity polls.

The fact that names 'date' is not rubbish. When did you last meet a baby Dudley, Trevor, Kevin, Patricia, Barbara or Maureen?

Nothing wrong with those names, but our generation isn't exactly rushing to use them for their offspring - because they're dated to our ears. We may not necessarily use the word dated, we might think 'old-fashioned', 'middle-aged, 'frumpy', 'tired', 'dull', 'boring',* etc, etc. But the outcome is the same. The names are eschewed because they're not current, and have negative (not bad) associations.

I'm also not saying this is a reason for not picking a name you love. But like it or not, there are people out there who don't want their child to have a popular name for this exact reason. It sounds nice now, but won't forever. And when there are so many lovely names out there, it is very tempting to go for one that has more of a timeless, less-used quality about it.

*Disclaimer: I don't necessarily think these names are any of the adjectives I've listed, and can definitely see how some of them will be re-claimed in another generation or so, because they'll sound fresh to their ears. :)

serin, we had the same problem -- Isla was the girls' name both DH and I loved (this was just before it became wildly popular) but it isn't an option with DH's surname, which could well be the same as yours (nor does it sound good with mine, but on aesthetic grounds in that case).

I always loved having a more unusual name and would like daughter to feel the same.
Then, quite frankly, Isla's not the name for you.

If you decide that popularity/trendiness isn't a big deal, Isla is a pretty name and a perfectly nice choice.

Taking into account combined spellings, Isla only drops from 15th to 20th. Check out this excellent list: www.britishbabynames.com/blog/combined-spellings-2011-girls.html

Every toddler group we've been to seems to have an Isla or two!
It is a nice name, though.