How popular is the name Isla

[MiraclesDoHappen82]

I'm really stuck on the name Isla I really like it and no other girls names seem to give me the same feeling. But I am worried about the popularity of it. What are the cons of calling my dd a popular name?
Any parents that have children already how many Isla's in their school? And what area in the country are you?
Any help/advise will be much appreciated.

I'm in Kent and it's really really popular here! I know of 3 or 4 preschool 'Isla's'.

I don't know if it matters. This is my first baby and others and what I read put me off say I will hate when so many others have same name as my baby. I don't know if I would as have never been in that position before. I have read that so many people have been disappointed after naming then finding out it was popular. I have just found stats for my area for 2015 and Isla has gone down 6 places and now sits at number 12. That makes me feel a little better about it. I keep swaying from thinking Sod it I'm going to use the name anyway to then thinking oooh I might regret it. Gosh who'd of thought naming a baby would be so hard

I have one, and yes it is popular. But although we do come across more children with her name than we would if she was called something very unusual, the fact is that the vast, vast majority of children we meet are NOT called Isla! There is one other one in her preschool, and occasionally we come across another one at soft play or playgroup.

If it's important to you that she's the only girl at school who has a particular name, then Isla is not a very sensible choice. But day-to-day it honestly makes no difference, and an "unusual" name does not guarantee that she will be the only one (two other girls at her preschool share a name which most people would think of as pretty unusual).

Her having an exclusive name I wouldn't want and coming across a few like you said would be fine. But this whole popularity/baby name stats things makes me think they'll be hundreds out there and she'll end up with 7 in her class or something lol. My DH likes the name and says it doesn't bother him if its popular. He thinks that I am reading to much into it.

Statistics from the ONS for 2014 (their most recent figures) show that there were 4,012 babies named Isla, of a total of just under 700,000 live births. Assuming that half those births were girls, that means that for every 100 girls born, approx 1.75 were called Isla. So you would have about a 1 in 65 chance of any girl you met who was born that year being called Isla (if my maths is right!).

Obviously in some areas of the country it will be more popular than others, but that might give you a rough idea of what to expect (and I would say it sounds about right to me living in the south east).

Thank you seven that's good to know your conclusion. I have spent so much time trying to find another name but I can't find anything that gives me the same feeling as Isla does.

I don't know any. I have girls aged 7 and 9. Perhaps it has risen in popularity since my children were named. Popular names are popular for a reason. They're usually beautiful. Ellie is so popular round these parts, SE London that it's the equivalent of Jack and is almost a generic name for an 8 year old girl.

Thank you super king interesting statistics. Thank you for your research. I guess any name I could pick that's not popular could become popular in the next few years you never know.

Thank you for all response. Good to get others opinions.

I live in South London and don't know any Islas. I don't think there are any at DS's school and I haven't met any at playgroups. I have met a baby Ayla (same pronunciation) but never a baby Isla.

I know several under 2, and I barely know any babies at all.

Ada? Isabella? Iona, Fiona?

Im West Yorkshire - A friend has an Isla under 5 & two girls at work have little Islas about 6 years old - but because we knew a lovely lady called Isla!

It's popular and I've heard of a few but currently none at any of my toddler groups etc. I think it was really popular about 3-4 years ago.

Does it matter? I agree baby naming is really tough! Both my girls have names in the top 100, my eldest's is in the top 20 although it was rarer when she was born.

20 weeks pregnant now and both boy and girl names I've chosen are in the top 100. Personally I think liking a name is more important than popularity. After all a good name will be popular! Follow your heart! I was totally agonising over girls names a couple of weeks ago, it was worse for me because I didn't like ANY!

Then it came to me, a name that is kept trying to include as a middle name went perfectly with her sisters! So I now have a perfect boy and girl name and couldn't give a monkeys if there were more than one of them!

In reality there will probably be no Isla's in her class and about 1-2 others in her school. My eldest ha a really popular name yet there was only one other in her junior school!

I'm in the south west and don't know of any.

I work in a pre school and we have had 3. It is a lovely pretty name and I think you should use it if you like it, regardless of popularity - if it was already used in your family/circle of friends then yes maybe not a good idea, but if not then it would be new to everyone you knew IYSWIM! Someone suggested Iris which I personally think is sweet, we haven't had one of those at pre school before! (we are in Hampshire). It is such a personal thing though. We are getting a few children coming through that have names that were popular when I was at school in the 80's, eg Emma, Rebecca, James....

It is very popular at moment