Popular baby names you're bored off...

[flowerygirl]

I swear every child under 5 I've met in the past year have been called Jack or Isla. Failing that, Josh or Isabelle.

Lovely names but so bored of them. Anyone else bored of any other names?

But it is people STILL choosing Isabel after it is already popular that makes it become overused.

I like isabella and lily, unfortunately they do lose their appeal the more you hear it.

Isabella and Lily to me were always 'posh' names and have been spoiled by being given to 'non-posh' children, especially when you hear them shouted in a rough glaswegian accent!

Noah. Isbabella. Isla. Edie. Ava. Oscar.

Lovely names but so boring now!

What a stupid thread. Names are popular because they are nice and people want to call their children nice names - however they might define nice. Taste fluctuates and surely anything can be dated by its popularity at a moment in time.

My daughter has a name that has been mentioned a lot here but we like it, she suits it, it has meaning for us and people know how to pronounce and spell it. What's the problem?

I'd much prefer that to some bullshit made up word, and I don't really like very traditional names either. They're just not my taste.

Only on mumsnet are the only acceptable names either William / Edward / Catherine / Elizabeth etc or Iago / Wolf / Persephone / Clytemnestra etc.

I also doubt very much that parents name their babies just to copy everyone else - popularity is simply a consequence of being much liked.

I mentioned it was only part of the 'problem'. Yes, people are still using it after it becomes popular.
There could be many reasons for this; family connections, don't have any idea about name chart position, don't care about name chart position and so on, and so on.

I still think you need to be able to predict trends (maybe use ONS if you really care about such things, I don't personally) to try and avoid your unusual name becoming popular in the near/far future.

"Isabella and Lily to me were always 'posh' names and have been spoiled by being given to 'non-posh' children, especially when you hear them shouted in a rough glaswegian accent!"

"Wouldn't then you have to be really good at predicting future popular names in order to avoid the overused name scenario in the future? Choose something then which has never been popular, or likely to be?"

No, just avoid names that are already in the top 10 or top 20. I'm honestly surprised how many parents are currently considering already overused names. People on these threads even ask whether it's ok to use the name of their nephew or best friends' kids - as if there weren't any other options!!

Just one example. Elsie was outside the top 100 in 2010. Now it's at number 47. In just four years!

You're over simplifying, hellokitty. Just avoid the top 10 or 20?

Many people won't know positions of names in the top 100. Many will not care (I'm in latter category)

Only on mumsnet are the only acceptable names either William / Edward / Catherine / Elizabeth etc or Iago / Wolf / Persephone / Clytemnestra

Very true.

Names become popular by being popular, don't they? The more babies that are called a name, the more people hear that name and think "that's nice, I think I might call my baby that name".

Popularity is definitely not a bad thing at all, though it seems that the cycles of popularity make many people quite easy to age by their name alone - I expect a Laura or a Dave to be in their 30s or 40s, because I grew up with so many of them, I expect a Phil to be in their 60s because that's my dad's name etc. Just like in a few decades time people will expect most Harry's to have been born c.2010, most Amelia's c.2015.

I can't think of a single very popular (i.e. top 20) name of the past decade or so that I don't like. Names tend to become popular because they are nice. They might not be someone's personal taste but they are still nice names.

Re people commenting on names on boards like this, though, that's just pretty normal. If everyone like every name out there it would be a weird, weird world and we'd all probably be called the same thing.

hellokitty - I'm honestly surprised how many parents are currently considering already overused names Er... ?

A parent can call their baby whatever the hell they want to. Why on earth shouldn't they call their child a currently popular name? Does a child somehow become a bit more special by having a less popular name?

perhaps it's because a lot of parents don't give a stuff and just want to choose a name they love?

And what the fuck has living in London got to do with anything - DD (Ella, fyi - a beautiful name for my beautiful girl ) was at an uber MC arty media-tastic nursery in S London, and there was a complete mixture of the popular (Harry/Noah/Isla/Evie) and the obscure - many of whom didn't have quite such obscure names as their parents probably wanted them to have.

Names become popular by being popular, don't they? The more babies that are called a name, the more people hear that name and think "that's nice, I think I might call my baby that name".

Absolutely!

Yes, Elsie looks like it will continue to shoot up the charts. It is clearly becoming popular quickly.

But it is up to this year's and next year's parents as to whether they continue to choose it - IF many do despite the increasing popularity, then it will continue into the top 10 and eventually run the risk of becoming overused and dated. BUT parents have that choice - they can choose to avoid it if the likely popularity bothers them.

"Names become popular by being popular, don't they? The more babies that are called a name, the more people hear that name and think "that's nice, I think I might call my baby that name"."

I don't think all parents think that way. Many may choose name that isn't that widely used - not because they want to be 'special' but because they want to find a name that isn't trendy or that the child won't need his/her initial after his/her name.

Thankfully we all have different tastes. Wouldn't it be sad if we ALL had really similar tastes and ALL chose the same few names ?!

I grew up with a "granny" name in the 80s. I HATED that I didn't know anyone called the same except other peoples' grandmas! My DSis was called a v popular late 70s name (3 in a mixed class of 25). We both survived the experience unscathed. It's just a name, and trends happen. One person's "unimaginative" is another person's "popular classic" - not everyone WANTS their kids name to stand out.

"not everyone WANTS their kids name to stand out"

I don't think anyone wants their kids name to stand out - I certainly don't. But I do think many of us want to give our kid a name that identifies them easily (isn't that the whole point of naming someone?) and that doesn't become so overused that it starts to sound dated.

It seems those defending popular names are impying that the only alternatives are weird, made up names... - there are so many lovely normal alternatives!

When we named our DC almost 20 and 18 years ago, their names were quite unusual, DS1's in particular. I still don't hear that many men/boys with his name, but they have both been mentioned on here.

So, you can try your damnedest now to give your DC a name outside the top 30, or 50 or whatever and in 20 years time they might have the most popular name of that moment!

You're right. It cannot be avoided - any name may become the next nr 1.

But you can massively reduce the risk by avoiding names that are already in the top 50. Or even the top 100. The government publishes a list with all (or at least those used twice or more) names that were given in any year - there really are a lot of nice names available.

I reckon the thing with popular names is that sometimes they lose their novelty. I'm fairly certain the first time I heard Amelia I thought "how unusual and pretty", or I used to think Sophie was a very classic name. But once you start hearing a name a lot, it becomes familiar. Which is possibly why some people have a strong reaction to popular names.

My dc all have names that are consistently in the Top 10 each year. I had no idea of this when I chose the names. I didn't go online anywhere to ask what other people thought about them. I didn't consult anyone other than their Dad.

Could I give a shit whether anyone else likes their names? Whether they are popular names? Boring names? Common names?

Nope. And I really don't understand why anyone gives more than a minute of their time to worrying about what other people will think about their child's name.

Unless you name your DD Tinkerbell or your DS Aardvark it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

As you were.

This is a baby naming board where people specifically come to discuss and share their opinions on various baby name related questions.

you and me both Whisk - we went through the baby names book and added ones we heard about the place and chose like that. Didn't even occur to us to look at the top 10/20/50/100/10000000000000. Didn't realise there was any kind of 'risk' attached to naming our child.

My dad always called me Tinkerbell as a pet name. Most unlike him, when I think about it.

bananarama precisely! This is a baby name board. Don't people come on here because they care about names?!

My Ava was born July 2008 and Amelia January 2011. Neither names were anywhere near the top 20 when I chose them, and I've not come across any others in my area so far... Although its more of a "Demie-Mae" sort of place Hate away, I care not

My name is also a popular/Royal name, and I only know 3 others with the same name as me.

My DN is Spencer. He's 4. Not heard of another one of those either.