What names are common?

[Yardley42]

As in frequent!

I know someone who named her daughter Ava and then changed it when there were 4 in her nursery. Changed it to Ada which is much nicer anyway imho! I can understand that as there are a couple thousand Avas every year. But I also know two little Elodies and two baby Marnies - only a couple hundred of them each year.

So how many babies do there have to be with a certain name for it to become common enough that you'd have others in your class? What names do you hear all the time at the moment? Are there any names that you've heard given to several babies within a couple years? The most recent baby of my acquaintance is a Cicely - no others so far!

Have a look at this he ONS list of most popular names published annually by the Government.

If you choose a name outside the top 100 or 250 then you'll have a higher chance of not sharing your name with several others.

From what I remember, even the top boys name is given to around 1 per cent of boys, and the same for the most popular girls name. So on average, if there are 30 in a class, 15 boys and 15 girls, you'd need over 6 classes to include just one boy with the top boys name, and one girl with the top girls name. Of course, "on average" doesn't guarantee there won't be 10 people all with the same name, but the chances are there won't be.

My DD name was just in the top 50 when we named her and didn't know a person called it, so I was surprised when she started school and there are two others with the name in her year.

Amelia. Every other girl is called Amelia.

Middle names are always Rose or Mai.

Isla
Isabella/Isabel etc.
Poppy
Ava

James
Sam
Oliver
George

At Dd's school there were three Alice's and three Imogen's. Out of 18 girls. Neither name was or is common. They are rising 19 now.

Depends where you are in the country. There's much greater variety in London for example because of the huge mixture of nationalities. I hardly know any girls with top 10 names and have literally never met an Oliver or a Jack. Oscars, Sebastians and Theos are ten a penny though.

Lots of Ella's, Evie's and Eva's in my 8 yr old's year.

Amelia
Olivia
Ava
Lily
Scarlett
Evie
Ella
Isla

Oliver
Oscar
Harry
Finn
Charlie
George
Noah

I've never met a Sebastian. Bloody hundreds of Jaydens and Caydens though.

I know Sebastians. But no Jaydens.

All variants of eve. Amazed to see a poster on another thread describing Evelyn as an "unusual" name!

There were 4 Sams and 3 Bens in my ds's class at primary (28 pupils and only 11 boys!)

From what I remember, even the top boys name is given to around 1 per cent of boys, and the same for the most popular girls name

It's actually around 1% of babies born that year. So it's more like 2% of boys/girls respectively.

Still, 1 in 50 even for the number one most popular name in the country, is not really that much. I think people get too hung up on the popularity stuff.

As a PP said, it really depends where you are in the country, some names will be more popular in some places than others.

As someone with a popular name myself we went to some effort to avoid that for our kids. Personally do see it as an issue and would put me off a name (and did - nearly called dd1 Olivia luckily realised at last minute so glad I did at first baby class there were 3...)

But I had a great aunt Evelyn. She's be about 100 now. Her name was not that popular or common then. She was known as Evie

Dd name is in the above list, I didn't consider popularity at the time I just liked it but now I see it panned on here a fair bit. No others in her year of 60 though.
I wish now id given her a more 'classic' name like Elizabeth or Charlotte - to me they are timeless.
Ben, Sam, Tom & James seem timeless imo too.

Yes my granny was Lilian - lily. That generations names are the super popular names now.

Ella and Imogen.

Charlie and Max. All everywhere.

Sam
Joshua
Harry
Charlie

Olivia
Evie
Poppy
Ellie

Remember that the ONS list (published in August) tells you how often names were bestowed the previous year. So it's always a bit out of date.

Both my DDs have unusual old fashioned names. I love the old names!
Round here it's
Harley
Harrison
Jayden

Elsa
Isla
Freya

Also a few new names I've recently come across for girls are
Texas
Miami
Arizona

Yes the ons lists are a year old, but if a name is already in the top 50 or so, chances are they'll be quite a few around.
Conversely, by picking a name outside the top 100 you'll have a good chance of not sharing the name.

There are 4 Harrys in our scouts group, 2 of which have very similar surnames, that can get confusing!