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Baby names

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

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Original poster

Did you change name choice due to popularity?

61 replies

lollydollydrop · 15/01/2014 00:48

And did you regret it?

Just wondering whether we should stick with an agreed old favourite name of ours or change it due to being so common at the moment?

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HoratiaDrelincourt · 15/01/2014 06:28

We were avoiding a name for popularity, but went with it in the end because it was the only one we both liked enough to use.

It annoys me slightly that he is always known with an initial or his surname, but less than not using the name would have annoyed me iyswim!

The next baby, we chose a less common, but still well known name. Eight days later another school mum used it for her new baby - it's a one-form entry school feeding into a single big secondary school so no avoiding each other.

In another school year the only duplicate name is Oscar - it's hardly unknown, but I bet both sets of parents thought they were being adventurous and expected to be the only one!

kreecherlivesupstairs · 15/01/2014 06:33

No, because I had no idea of the popularity (to come) since we were overseas and secondly, it was the only one we could agree to.
I regret it now, not because of popularity, just because I think we could have done better.
The only good thing about it is DD loves her name, and remarkably she is the only one at her school with it (Ruby).

gruffalosfriend · 15/01/2014 06:39

We name our children so they can be identified easily. This is much easier if they have their own name.

Also, fashionable names fall out of fashion eventually, making a name sound dated.

Therefore I would avoid very popular names. In other words, popularity affects how much I love a name!

gruffalosfriend · 15/01/2014 06:41

And I find it hard to believe that anyone naming their son Oscar thinks they are being adventurous!

MotheringShites · 15/01/2014 06:45

I've only had wobbles about using popular names after reading the nastiness that gets spewed on here. Loving the name is the most important thing.

Incidentally my three are the only ones in their school with these names!

JapaneseMargaret · 15/01/2014 07:00

No, sorry, nobody who calls their son Oscar expects him to be the only one in the class...!

We avoided popular names by virtue of going with family names for both, but it was easy to avoid them anyway, since all of them are so ubiquitous as to be dull and repetitive.

MajesticWhine · 15/01/2014 07:12

Yes, we avoided Olivia because it was no1 in the list. But my children all have very popular names, without that being my intention so you can't predict it. The one who was going to be Olivia has no other Olivias in her class and yet there is another girl with her name.

HopeS01 · 15/01/2014 07:55

I have changed my name choice due to popularity, and I'm really glad I did!

HoratiaDrelincourt · 15/01/2014 08:29

Oscar is not a popular name at all round here. Those are the only Oscars in the school, and we haven't encountered another at toddler groups, classes, etc. This ain't Islington

Theonlyoneiknow · 15/01/2014 08:37

Oscar also not popular here, i dont know any

Theonlyoneiknow · 15/01/2014 08:37

But in reply to the OP, no popularity didnt really matter we just chose a name we both liked

gruffalosfriend · 15/01/2014 08:39

A useful place to look is at the ONS lists - it shows you how often every name was used in a given year. This helps to avoid names that are already in the top 20 or so.

gruffalosfriend · 15/01/2014 08:40

And I would be surprised if Oscar wasn't in the top used names!

MotheringShites · 15/01/2014 08:57

Oh and there's one Oscar in the school (very middle class Herts).

BigW · 15/01/2014 09:04

When I chose the name of my son (about 20 years ago!) you never heard it. A couple of years before he was born it got very popular. It bothered me a bit, but we still used it.

I realise it's weird that I decided on his name when I was a child, but I always wanted a little boy, so...

hardbeingme · 15/01/2014 09:12

We avoided Olivia with dd, there aren't in her year but there is one over the road. I regret more not going with Claudia as it means lame - still love that name.

In hindsight it wouldn't have mattered and was really a case of pfb - with my twin sons i picked the names and then the checked the popularity - both top 20 - and decided that i wanted the names regardless.

dreamingofsun · 15/01/2014 09:49

we especially chose names that weren't especially popular and then had people we thought were close friends copy it - so whole rational of doing it and never having another child floating around with same name was cancelled. so there are never any guarantees. i would go with one you like.

hatsybatsy · 15/01/2014 11:07

It's impossible tos econd guess what will be popular in your school though? Jack was top of the lists for years and yet - there's only one Jack in our school while there are lots of oscars and Milos.... When DD was at nursery there were 2 Seths in her group!

I chose a more mainstream name for ds than dd. Deliberately. I grew up with a boy called Edwin and he was teased pretty mercilessly. Original does not always work.

SaucyJack · 15/01/2014 12:13

Nah.

We've finally decided on a name for our DD3 (due Feb) that's becoming more popular than DD1&2's names, but I don't care that much.

It just feels like the "right" name to me.

It's not that common tho. I wouldn't ever give a kid of mine a name that they were likely to be sharing with friends or relatives.

BananaHammocks · 15/01/2014 13:17

Why is it so important that the name is not popular in your local schools? Your child may grow up and move away or work in an office with a wide range of ages.

Bowlersarm · 15/01/2014 13:19

Yes we did. The midwife delivering told us it was too popular, and wrinkled her nose up! No I don't regret changing it.

BunnyLebowski · 15/01/2014 13:26

I haven't but I would deliberately avoid using popular names if I liked any of them.

I just don't understand the mentality of choosing a name from the top 20 or even 50.

Why would you want your child to have an already oversubscribed name?

There are hundreds of beautiful and underused names that aren't too out there or wacky. I'd rather my child had one of those and a wee bit of originality about them than be yet another Olivia, Oscar, Emily etc.

shootingstar1234 · 15/01/2014 13:31

I have always loved Lily but that has become immensely popular so thinking of using it as a middle name if the time ever comes!

Theonlyoneiknow · 15/01/2014 14:07

One of the names on my list for DS (Harris) rose from out of the top 50 to number 17 in space of two years! Some things you cant predict . This is in Scotland. I know three babies called Harris now

gruffalosfriend · 15/01/2014 14:10

"It's impossible to second guess what will be popular in your school though?"

No, it is fairly easy actually. Just have a look at the past few years' ONS data and avoid those names that are rising into/up the top 100.

There are SO many lovely underused classic names that are not currently 'fashionable' and won't sound dated in a few years time.

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