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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 choose a popular (top ten) name? Do you regret it?

116 replies

fluzz543 · 05/03/2015 22:49

Just that really. DC 1 due soon and our favourite name for a boy and a girl are both in the current top ten. If you chose a popular name, has this bothered you once the child gets a bit older and you meet many more at school/nursery? I know a lot of people avoid popular names so I'ld love to hear experiences from people who have gone with them. Thanks.

OP posts:

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ouryve · 05/03/2015 22:51

Already have a top 10 surname, so avoided them like the plague.

There's an advantage to a common name, mind, in the Internet age. You're only properly googlable if you want to be.

MerryMarigold · 05/03/2015 22:54

Ds1 had the number 1 name in the year he was born (Oliver - see that's not going to out me!). There's none in his school, but we live in a very diverse area so lots and lots of different names. I love his name. Spent a long time choosing with dh and feel it is a bit of a classic.

My ds2 and dd both have more unusual names. ds2's is quite 'trendy', dd's is a place name from dh's home country so I have never met anyone else with that name, though it sounds like other names IYSWIM. I think I still prefer ds1's name.

DramaAlpaca · 05/03/2015 22:58

Yes, picked a top ten name for one of my DC born 20 years ago, and no I've never regretted it and I don't think my DC has either.

18yearstooold · 05/03/2015 23:01

Dd2's name was top 5

Only one in her year so it doesn't feel like she has a popular name

strawberrypenguin · 05/03/2015 23:01

Yes we did because we loved it. No don't regret it (DS is 3) and despite his name being a top 10 mainstay there isn't actually another one at his nursery but there are duplicates of 'less popular' names! I guess what I'm saying is go for a name you love rather than one you think no one else will pick.

broomy123 · 05/03/2015 23:04

I think if you love a name go for it. But as someone with a very popular girls' name (It's normally in the top ten but always top 20) I must confess it annoys me. As a child there were always at least two others in my class with the name, same at uni and work! I was often to referred to by my surname and still am! As a result I've chosen an uncommon (not whacky)?name for my DC1. But I think if you love a name go for it, it's just something I felt strongly about!

ThisFenceIsComfy · 05/03/2015 23:06

I chose a top ten boys name that has probably been in or near the top ten for the past 500 years.... No I don't regret it. It's a lovely name. It suits him.

IneedAdinosaurNickname · 05/03/2015 23:07

Ds2 has the number 2 name for the year he was born. I dont know anyone else the same age with the same name. I know a couple of teens (Ds2 is 8) and one boy about 6 years younger!

I don't regret it at all because it is his name. As soon as he was born I knew it was iyswim.

HootyMcTooty · 05/03/2015 23:08

DD has a top 20 name and there is another in her room at nursery. It doesn't bother me at all. Practically all it means so far is that she learned her surname quite early on and often refers to herself by her full name (but she refers to lots of people by their full name).

My name was rare growing up (only 2 of us in a v v large secondary school), I hated it.

Sandybananapants · 05/03/2015 23:28

DS1 and DS2 both have top ten names.

For us, we didn't care a bit regarding the place they came in the top 100 or whatever, ours was because they meant something personal for us. Bugger all to do with how popular they were/ are.

Since I was a child, I always knew if I had a Son , he would be named after my Maternal Grandfather.

DS2 is named after my DH Grandfather, Something we had discussed already prior to becoming pregnant.

I am v proud that my two boys are named after their maternal and paternal great grandfathers .

I actually find it quite irritating that people avoid top ten names that they like because they're too popular. What? But there's only one of your child?

Good luck OP- don't let anything or anyone put you off with what you choose.

Qwebec · 06/03/2015 00:32

Some names area really everywere to the point that they almost become generic, an I know a few who hate to be referred to as the other (place name here). I'd suggest that if you really like the name go for it, but maybe give the child a less common middle name like that s/he has an alternative to being referred to as Eva B/the other Eva/Baker/etc

MillyMollyMama · 06/03/2015 00:36

I definitely avoided top ten names. In fact I probably avoided top 1000 names!

Over the years, many date the person to a particular time. Less of a problem with boys names but girls definitely have popular eras. When I was a child, the school was full of girls called Susan, Margaret, Julie, Pamela, Jacqueline .... Are they popular now? No, they evoke a certain past era. Popular boys names were John, Raymond, Peter, Timothy, Keith, Kevin, Alan ..... Not used so much now. My children were at school with umpteen James's, Daniel's , Charlotte's and Jessica's. Our children have 3 names each and they rarely find another person with the same name(s). We like it that way.

GraceGrape · 06/03/2015 00:44

Both my DDs have popular names. I have a relatively uncommon name and because I was a shy child hated standing out.

ShadowSpiral · 06/03/2015 00:54

DS1 has a top 10 name. We knew it was popular, but we picked it because we liked it more than any of the other names we were considering. He's one of 3 with his name at nursery, but I still love his name and I don't regret choosing it for a minute. He's also learnt what our surname is quickly!

DS2's name is pretty popular according to the official stats (although not quite in the top 10), but so far we've not come across another small boy with his name.

CloserToFiftyThanTwenty · 06/03/2015 01:47

Not top twenty at the time, but name fads change quite quickly... Anyway, it is what it is - we chose the names because we liked them with our surname, rather than to be unique

TheChickenSituation · 06/03/2015 03:10

To be honest, asking people, if they mind that their children have very popular names isn't going to reveal much.

It's not their name. They don't have to live with it. And they liked it enough to have named their child it. Wouldn't it be better to ask people with top 10 names from their own era how much they enjoy it?

I personally really like the fact that I didn't have a popular name-of-my-time. As a child, maybe not so much! But now, yes, absolutely. And ironically, my name (which was so old fashioned in the 70s) is wildly popular now. But I love that it doesn't date me to a particular time. And it's why I didn't give my DC popular names.

There is so much middle ground between very popular names, and ridiculous, made-up names. Of course, of you're choosing a name to honour a family member and it so happens to be currently popular, that's a bit of a different situation.

And everything MillyMolly said. :)

Jenny70 · 06/03/2015 03:22

My DD has a top 10 name, didn't realise it at the time (so convinced was I that I was having a boy, I let DH pick the girls name with minimal input!).

I regret it. Everything she does has a NameX and NameY to differentiate them (her pre-school had 5xchildren with her name!). It gets confusing when people retell an event then Name did this, then Name went there, then Name came in the room (oh, that was NameY). etc.

People call out her name and half a dozen children turn around...

I would choose her a different name, with the benefit of hindsight. Wonder if she will feel the same as an adult (she is 9).

StayGoldPonyBoy · 06/03/2015 03:45

DH has a really common name that can't be lengthened or shortened picked purposefully to be as bland and inoffensive as possible. He hates it. I love my very unique one.

I love DDs name, Ingrid, which is a real name but not super common where we are, but I'm considering something more 'classic' for DC2 when they're born. I now have the dilemma of not wanting to give them a 'boring' name when their sister got a cool(imo) one!

It depends if you want a more anonymous child, a Bethany A/Bethany B, or something different. It doesn't have to be ridiculous or really kooky to be a bit more exciting than the 12th Max in school. Of course if you do choose to have the 5th X in their class, they'll still be a totally individual person and a boring name doesn't equate a boring person.

nooka · 06/03/2015 03:50

My children both have names that turned out to be incredibly popular, not so much the year they were born, but ever since (I think that they are both top five now). I wouldn't have called them anything different in retrospect, but it is a cause of irritation.

However we emigrated a few years ago, and now ds's name is very unusual so it's not been an issue for him. dd shared her name with a classmate, and liked it to start off with, until she became the 'other girl with that name' and was assigned a nickname she didn't like (especially as she was at the school first and then the other girl transferred in). Now she uses the full version of her name instead as it's much less common.

When dh and I were at university there were at least ten other lads with his name and he really didn't like getting nicknamed.

madwomanbackintheattic · 06/03/2015 04:06

Like nooka, top ten name for ds but only one other in UK then emigrated, and only one other in school still.

No one had heard of dd1's name at all when we chose it. Within a year every other girl baby had it. Immensely irritating, but tbh have still only ever met 2 others and she is 15!

Dd2 less used version of traditional name - we know of one other, but has never been one in school.

I have no issues with either dd1 or ds1's top ten names. In many years in the UK we still only knew a couple. It probably helped that we hung out in fairly rarified circles and every other kid was called Jocasta, Hebe or Hugo, so top ten names were an utter novelty.

GinIsCalling · 06/03/2015 04:13

My name was top ten. I hated having a popular name.
I've always used a nickname as a result - so be prepared for your child to 'choose' their own name.

Mutley77 · 06/03/2015 05:12

Yes we chose top ten names for our girls as we liked them. I really don't care! At school I had quite an unusual name and hated being the only one, I would have loved to be called Emma (with all the thousands of others in the seventies!). Both girls have middle names and can change to those if they want to. DD1 uses a variant of her first name that is very unusual anyway (never heard anyone else use it ever!!). And despite having a popular name she has only ever had a max of one other in her school year / class. DD2 is pre-school age and will probably come across many girls with the same name, not easy to shorten it either so we may feel in time that it is more of a mistake! DS has a slightly more unusual name but we do come across others from time to time - no big deal at all!

HaveTeaWillSurvive · 06/03/2015 05:48

The problem with getting too caught up in having an 'unusual' name is it only takes a blockbuster film/book etc and the name can shift dramatically narrow eye stare at Kate and Wills

My own name must surely have been top 10 when I was born as there are loads of us, I always had friends with this name ANC it never bothered me a bit.

HaveTeaWillSurvive · 06/03/2015 05:49

*and

NinjaLeprechaun · 06/03/2015 07:22

My daughter has what was a top ten name when she was born. I chose it because I like it, and because it's a variation of my grandmother's name, and I had no idea it was popular (pre-internet) but it doesn't really matter that it's popular. She never had another one in any of her classes.
At least she got to buy things with her name on them.
My name was in the much lower half of the top 100 in and around the year I was born, and I hated being the only one with the name. Or the only one my age - it was popular about 30 years before I was born, so I knew a few my mum's age.

Out of curiosity I just went and looked up my step-dad's name (Michael), it's been in the top ten in the US for more than 70 years. And in the top five from 1950 to 2010. I knew it was a common name, but that's a bit ridiculous.

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