Would you let the popularity of a name in another country put you off of using it?

[FingersCrossedLegsNot]

I live in Ireland but I often dismis names that I like due to them being popular in Enland. My thinking behind this is that the names in question will more than likely end up being popular over here a few years later! What are your thoughts on this, should I just forget about what is going on in other countries?

Just to give an example, Phoebe and Beatrice are very popular in England though I don't actually think these names will get very popular in Ireland it still bugs we that they are very popular in a country so near to us iykwim?? I think I may be sounding crazy and irrational!

I think Ireland is more conservative than the UK when it comes to naming their children. Names that wouldn't raise an eyebrow in England would flabber the gast of many an Irish person.

'Fraid so.

If you're planning to stay in Ireland I really wouldn't let the fact that a name is popular in London put you off!

When choosing a name we picked one that wasn't in the top 50 but were told by our friends living in Australia it's very common there and know its very popular in NZ too but that doesn't bother me as long as there's not loads of girls with the same name as dd in her class Iyswim

Yep we are planning to stay in Ireland. Also the frustrating thing here is that only the top 100 names are released so I have no way of knowing if something is hovering outside the top 100 so I generally use the stats for England and Wales! Though I don't think the top 100 in Ireland has actually changed that much in the last 100 years lol! Squoosh you are correct re the Irish being more conservative with names!

I really don't understand the fear of names being too popular unless I suppose you've tried to choose something "different" only to find that every other child that you meet has that name.

My children both have very popular names (Daniel and Emily), but I knew that when I chose them.

It wouldn't bother me. Do you have any actual examples of names popular in England shooting to popularity in Ireland later on?

DD has a name that is really common in Ireland and not really that much so in England. At least I can get stuff with her name on it somewhere

Seriously, you wouldn't use a name you love because it's popular? Let alone popular in another country?

You will have to call your children Scrofula or Embolism then. I think I can guarantee that neither will ever be popular anywhere.

There you go. Done and dusted.

Why make this so hard? I can understand you wanting to avoid the very very most popular names if you don't feel much for them anyway. But the name has to be outside the top 100 names of another country???? I don't understand the logic!

Like Jux said you may as well resign yourself to something horrible now as there is a reason that names are popular...

Also I think when they do top 100 names they should give you the nunber registered for each name and then a total birth rate. For example if 95% of newborns were called Chloe then numbers 2, 3, 4 etc on the list really are not going to be common. I know I've gone a but extreme with my example but you get my drift!

I purposely avoided popular names - didn't take into account other countries too much, although the only relevant countries (we're in a different one now from where the DC were born) have more or less the same popular names.

There is a vast swathe of names in between the top 10-type, overly popular names which will inevitably date (and sometimes badly) to a particular era - and silly names such as Jux's examples.

I don't understand why people struggle to get this so much, to be honest.

I am glad that I don't have a Sarah/Claire/Joanne/Nicole/Karen/Angela/Andrea type name from my generation - nice names as they are and no offence intended, they are tired and dull now through overuse.

As I say, there's a zillion and one names in between massively popular and made-up, individual yoo'neeq names. It's not about trying to bestow a name on your child that no-one else will have; but about choosing a more timeless, less dateable name that isn't all over every playground and school classroom, and that won't, in another generation, be positively eschewed because it's so done.

Your name is your main, and by far most widely used, identifier - why add to the multitude of Rubys, Millies and Evies if you don't have to?

What Biggles said.

It has always struck me as uncanny how names seem almost to seed themselves. Like a dandelion clock, the little seeds blow gently in random directions and in the same way a long-disused name will embed itself into the minds of prospective parents all at the same time. And everyone thinks they're being really original ..... It's weird.

Great analogy. :)

And it amuses me when people say, 'names are popular for a reason - because they're nice'.

Well, no, otherwise the same names would forever be popular, generation after generation. Names aren't popular because they're nice; they're popular because they're currently in fashion.

And then they go out of fashion, and suddenly they're not so nice anymore. Instead, another set of names is nice.

Holy crap my kids names are very popular in the UK...your post got me snooping around the top 100 in other countries. Hmm, well I guess that means they will be popular here (Canada) soon too. I can see how it could put you off but try not to think on it too much....names swing in and out of popularity and you never know what will catch on like wildfire a year or two from now

I really don't understand questions like this. Call your child whatever you like as long as its sensible & won't lead to a life of shame