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Baby names

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

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Original poster

Do you discount names you love based on popularity?

38 replies

littlepeas · 29/07/2013 10:58

I'm not that bothered - my dc have top 100 names - but I really love Sophia and find the popularity is putting me off. Should I just pretend that the top 100 doesn't exist?? The other contenders are Imogen, Hermione and Lucia - the only name that has no issues at all (matching sibling initial, insane popularity, alliteration with surname, possible confusion around pronounciation, slightly iffy meaning when considered alongside the meaning of my dd's name) is Imogen - does that mean it wins by default?!

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Onyabike · 29/07/2013 11:06

I would always say go for the name you love the most, you will regret it otherwise.

RugBugs · 29/07/2013 11:15

Impending arrival is being called Evelyn, DP wants to call her Evie as a nn. The popularity of Evie certainly freaks me out a little bit! It's not quite the same but it certainly worries me, just not enough to disregard the name.

MrsGSR · 29/07/2013 11:23

My sister has quite a popular name, there were 2 or 3 in her class at school etc. My name has never been top 100 and I've only ever met one other person with it. Growing up I always wished I had my sisters name as I could never find pens/keyrings with my name on, and always had to spell it out to people. Now I love my name, but I wouldn't be put off a name just because it's popular. All the names me and DH have chosen are top 100!

Repeatedlydoingthetwist · 29/07/2013 11:34

Ditto what MrsGSR said! Our choice came down to one top 100 choice and one very unusual one, we honestly couldn't decide and in the end it came down to the fact that I really like having an uncommon name now, whereas I can name at least six other people with my sisters name without even thinking (it helps that I no longer have an urge for pens or badges with my name on!). So no I wouldn't be put off as such but it did factor into my decision making.

squoosh · 29/07/2013 11:50

Top 10 is one thing, top 100 gives you a lot of scope for some quite rare names.

MissTweed · 29/07/2013 12:03

When choosing my names it did put me off.... Quite a bit! (I'm a sarah from the 80's so I've been there!!! Lol) but........ My choice of boys names were classic as I think boys would rather have a good strong classic name eg James, Thomas, etc etc and the choice of boys names is tiny compaired to girls names. Whereas for girls I certainly wouldn't have picked a popular name. I used to love Isobel a few years ago then it went crazy popular, then the same with Matilda (Tilly) and Amelia. I'm having a boy but if it was a girl it was going to be called Tabitha but since then (only a few months) I've seen loads of baby tabitha's!! (I work in a hospital and see all the newborn names) so whatever I chose could quite possibly have been the next big thing so to be honest just go with what you love as you never know, the name you chose for individualness might just be the next most common name. This helped me get over the commonness of my chosen boys name.

siluria · 29/07/2013 12:10

I have an unusual name - way way way outside the top 100. I like it and have always liked it (though did used to get annoyed with the pens/keyrings thing!) I always thought I would choose an unusual name because of this.

I have an Isobel (2.1) and am about to have an Alice! Both popular. But DH and I love the names, they flow really well with the surname, and they're just the ones that felt right. I've gone with my gut about the names and I'll let the rest worry about itself. Pros and cons to both popular and unpopular names, I'd say.

JRmumma · 29/07/2013 12:19

Top 100 could still be quite uncommon, top 10 would be a no go for me. Before we even started considering names i checked out the baby names tables for the past few years but to be fair i wouldn't have chosen any of those names in the top 10 anyway.

Our chosen name is low low down in the tables (only 10 per year the past few years in England and Wales) and ive never met a child with the name. Well, until last Friday that is, only 4 weeks till due date and find another child with the name! Doesn't put me off though, i know there still aren't going to be thousands of kids with the same name, of the same age. And 99% sure there wouldn't be any in the same class at least.

FromageFrog · 29/07/2013 13:56

Oh JRmumma, share the name - I'm dying of curiosity now

whyno · 29/07/2013 14:00

Hmm top 100 wouldn't put me off. Top 5 does (although weirdly only for girls) even though I really, really, don't want it to and don't think it should! I wish I didn't look at the stats.

By the way I have a feeling Imogen is becoming more popular so if it really does bother you I'd steer clear. I'd say it might well be more popular than Sophia when the stats come out this month.

Also, Sophia is gorgeous!

MrsOakenshield · 29/07/2013 14:05

we gave DD a name (in fact, 2 names!) that we subsequently discovered were extremely popular. I don't know another child with her name, and in her recent nursery class photo of 49 children, she was the only one with her name (though there were 3 of another girl's name which I didn't know was popular). I do know more than one child with much more obscure names (2 Manons, 2 Ottilies).

Oh, and there's no Sophia in her class (though my cousin has just called his new baby that). Call her the name you love. Just because a name isn't popular right now doesn't mean there won't be 3 of them in her class by the time she starts school!

LazyMonkeyButler · 29/07/2013 14:06

It has never bothered me - DS1 & DS2 both have names regularly found in the 'Top 10'. They are both classic names though, which just don't go out of fashion.

DD's name was number 20-something when she was born 2 years ago, but has crept up the table to just below the Top 10 now.

However, these are the names we love - and we would have chosen them even if there had been 20 others in the same year at school, because we wanted our children to have the names we loved the most.

As it is, DS1 is the only one with his name in his entire year at Secondary. DS2 is one of 3 in a year group of 200 (again at Secondary) and DD is the only one of her name in her primary school class.

I was born in 1975 & have one of the standard names of the age. There were 3 of us in my small (18) primary school class. It didn't concern me though, TBH.

LazyMonkeyButler · 29/07/2013 14:06

Not primary school - nursery school. DD is only 2 .

JamieandtheMagicTorch · 29/07/2013 14:41

I gave DS2 a name that I thought was uncommon, turned out it is common.

It annoys me a bit, TBH. In a way I wish we'd used his second name, which is less of a faddy name.

He likes his name and it suits him, though.

It was harder to find a name for him in the first place, because he was out second boy and there were only a few names we could agree on.

If you love a name, it might annoy you more, or less. Depends.

Original poster

littlepeas · 29/07/2013 14:44

My dd's name is also an s initial, so that is a bit of a concern as well. Our preferred boy's name also begins with an s, so I'm obviously drawn to it!

OP posts:

JamieandtheMagicTorch · 29/07/2013 14:45

We can help find another name you love, and there are no issues with.

Smartiepants79 · 29/07/2013 14:46

No.
Our 7 month old is called Evie. I had no idea it was apparently so popular until I started reading it on here! I just loved it.
I simply do not understand why people are so bothered by a name being popular.

JRmumma · 29/07/2013 15:40

I don't think many people actually think to check the tables when choosing names and so most clearly aren't bothered by popularity. Nothing wrong with having a popular name, its just something i would like to avoid. But at the same time i wouldn't use something too obscure either.

Frikadellen · 29/07/2013 15:47

Yes it puts me off and I was gutted when dd1's name went in on the highest riser the year she was born.. it has kept a certainpopularity (in the late 20's) for years now (She is 15) but I do love the name (Phoebe) so not regretted it but I really didnt want that popular a name. None of the other 3 have

MissTweed · 29/07/2013 16:34

The other thing to remember is that the name table are out of date even as soon as they have been released!! The current one is for 2011 (2012 being released next month I believe) so the current stats are from 2 years ago!!! What was top ten then wont be what it is during 2012 and won't be what it is now!! I know that Stanley, henry, Edward, Albert, Matilda, Martha, Imogen and Tabitha are really really popular RIGHT NOW (I work in a hospital so see newborn names) but these aren't shown in the out of date tables. So you could pick a name thinking it was way down the table but everyone else could be doing the same and that name is suddenly top 10!! Who would of thought Stanley or Albert would get so popular?? Basically, don't worry about the tables.... It's changes constantly!

looki · 29/07/2013 16:37

Yes it puts me off considerably more than it should tbh. I certainly won't use a name from the top ten but being in the 20s wouldn't bother me so much.

I always thought I'd use the name Sophie but its popularity has turned me off it completely. Silly I know.......

squoosh · 29/07/2013 16:42

In my case familiarity does breed contempt.

StrangeGlue · 29/07/2013 16:47

I let the top 100 put me off long listed baby names iyswim but I wouldn't have let it put me off names I loved.

sleepingbeautiful · 29/07/2013 16:47

Yes, top 10 or 20 names put me off because I was always name.initial at school and I didn't like that. I think we are safe with DS's name, but DD's seems be increasingly popularity as a newish 'sleb unfortunately shares it

Wbdn28 · 29/07/2013 19:09

Go for the name you like best. Even the most popular names are only given to a small percentage.

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