Is it really that big of a deal?

[Kelsey28]

Is it really that bigger deal if a child has the same name as other children in the class? I see so many people on here give that as a reason not to pick a name and just wondered what the general consensus is? My mum called me my name and very few people had heard of it in the early nineties yet when I started school there was another girl with the same name sat next to me. It never bothered me.

I don't think it matters however my son is in preschool and I have to stay with him at the moment and there is another rather naughty child with a very similar name (my sons name with a k in front) who is constantly getting told off and unfortunately as they sound very similar my son thinks he's being told off all the time and I have to reassure him so that's a bit annoying but I've never met anyone with my name before and no one can ever spell it right even some of my family lol!!

Ok so I worded that wrong , I don't want them to have the same names as other people . I have a fairly unusual name for a girl and I like it . I wouldn't want to be a Clare , sarah , etc. Each to their own .

Giving a child an unusual name in the hope that it will make them unique is a bit like men putting on a tie with cartoon characters on it in the hope that it will make them appear fun.

BURN.

Read my later post .. obviously I know it won't make them individual .. I just don't really understand why you would choose a popular name . As I said each to the own.. jeez 🙄

My parents thought that they'd chosen an unusual name for me; unfortunately everybody else naming their child that year also liked it. It was top 10 the year I was born, top 3 two years later, then everybody apparently decided it was too popular and stopped using it. If I told you my name, you could guess my age to within 4 years.

I really didn't want to give my children names which would date. If you choose an unusual name you risk it being the next big thing.

Katie was unique when I was growing up. Suits little girls. Doesn't really work for one legged fat birds in their late forties!

Wornoutboots I'm the same for DS he's the only boy given his name in Scotland over the past 16 years at least (didn't check back further than 2000) but there is also one girl with the same name about 2 years older - coincidentally her mum is an ex of my elder brothers so even really unusual names can end up being duplicated close to home.

When naming my two children I did purposely steer clear of the very popular 'top ten' type names. Main reason is that I think when they are adults in a decade or so being searchable & findable online will be even more essential, particularly careers-wise.

Also my name is very much of its time - another one of those popular late seventies/early eighties names. If I meet someone else with the same name I can almost guarantee that she will be aged 35-45 (and probably from a lower middle class background!). Of course there's nothing wrong with that predictability per se, but it's not something that I'd choose for my kids. Not that you can ever predict how a name will 'age' or not though!

Puremince. .I think you hit the nail on the head. I don't have an issue with popular names. I have a very popular name but it was the surge that annoys me more than the popularity _ I think people can guess my age on my name. Lots of Emma, Claire and Sarah in my age group. But at least I know several Sarahs of 6 to 80 so it's not a name that has entirely disappeared. I worry my son has a name that wasn't especially popular, then 5 years later seems the most popular name and people are saying don't use it, it's too popular which I think means when he's older it will be a very easy to date name, and it seems a bit like it's already being seen as not just too popular, but too popular with the wrong type of people. This is why I think don't put too much emphasis on unique or unusual names as you have no idea what trend is round the corner. Just pick a nice name you like.

Personally, I don't think it matters at all. I have a popular name. There have always been a few of us at pretty much every stage of school/uni/work/mum friends and I always quite liked being " one of the X-s". In fact I still do! I've always had enough other features to make me stand out...

My daughter is similarly one of 3 of her name in her year at school and I'm pretty sure she feels the same. She's certainly never complained.

They are both quite timeless names, though my daughter's in particular had a bit of a popularity surge around the time she was born.

I would have thought you were more likely to cause your child discomfort with an extremely unusual, difficult to spell, name to be honest.

I don't really understand the desire for great originality in name choices.

I think it also depends to some extent on how common your surname is. I'd probably balance "Smith" with a sightly less popular first name. But our surname is very unusual - we are the only ones in the country - so don't need to differentiate with first names.

Only my first dd has a name that is considered popular, it's a top 10 name (I think) but we've spelt it with an additional 'L' which is less popular apparently! Still I think there's only 2 or 3 in the whole school. The rest of my dc have quite unusual names, especially our newborn. We just chose names we like.

Like many people here I tried to find names that weren't too common (DP growing up) nor so unusual they had to be spelt every time (me). And easy to spell for them and DP, sound OK in various languages, and that both DP and I liked.

Dd's name and ds's middle were chosen about 10 years before they were born. By the time ds was nearly born, the only criterion for his first name was that DP and I agreed on it - everything else was a bonus!

As it happens the name fits those criteria but has become more common since, so he's the only one his age we know, but there's a lot of children 2-3 years below at school with it, plus some middle-aged men. Dd met a girl with her name once. They were about 3, stared at each other, and refused to speak...

I'm not really a fab of super popular names either. And also find it boring. My DS has a name not very popular over here but it wasn't chosen because of popularity its due to me loving the name. If we were in the States however there would be loads same name... However I don't think I still would of gone with a trend name

Fan*

I also find it insulting that apparently if you choose a popular name you have no imagination. My DS has a popular name, my DD doesn't. We chose their names because we like them and in our opinion they will suit them from children to adults.
Nice judgement though from some people on here!!

Oh and my name is very unusual and whilst I like the shortened version of it, I hate the name itself!!

Lots of people at school had my name. Drove me nuts. My children have unique names. Oldest is 8 and loves that there's no one else in his school with his name. Is not an emabarassing name and I'm complemented on both names regularly. My 9month old has variations of her name, but I'm yet to meet another one. I love both names and would be a bit upset if there was a plethora of them in their classes. Mostly because it was such a pain for me, I'm not sure how either of them would feel.

My sister was the only of her Italian name, and she hated it. Horses for courses I guess!

I think it matter for those who think it matters and it doesn't for those who think it doesn't

We personally didn't even consider popularity, there were more important stuff to consider, like 'does it work in both our languages', 'can my grandmother pronounce/spell it', 'does it suit the baby'. It turns out it was a top 10 name in the year DD was born, and there is another one in her year group - but they are not in the same class. The most popular girls' name in her year group is Diya (two of which have the same surname initial), which I doubt even makes the top 100.

At one point, there were 6 at Rainbows though, most spelt slightly differently. DD doesn't mind, but if she does one day, she can always use her middle name which is much more unusual - she dislikes it at the moment but I'm sure one day she will appreciate the connection with the granny she never got to meet.

DD's name is a family name which was just outside the top 20 when she was born a year and a half ago. I'm fairly sure every single baby I've met, or heard of since, has the same name. At the time we actively avoided two names I had loved since I was a child, Olivia and Evelyn, as being too ubiquitous but it seems that it's a name that was in its ascendency. Probably because so many people think "not one from the top 20" and pick one just outside it thinking it's still a bit unique, which promptly propels that name into the top 20!
I do feel like it's taken the shine off, as I only know one older child with that name and now loads of babies! But it really suits her, it's a family name, and I wouldn't change it. I also love that because it's an older name there are often old book characters with her name!

I'd probably balance "Smith" with a sightly less popular first name.

We have a really common surname. Going too uncommon sounds ridiculous, alas. Some first names need a strong surname for balance.

Theophilus Smith - jars.
Theo Smith - balanced.
Tom Smith - anonymous.

I have to say when I named all my boys (Freddie, Noah and Arthur) I did take into consideration of when they attend high school where the years are much bigger so that there's maybe not several of them. But they're not totally wacky names either. We live in a village and my eldest has 3 Grace's in his year and there's only 18 of them!
But equally if you love a name, just go for it as they're your babies and a name means so much more than school :)

My granddad was one of SEVEN Brians in his class!
My mum's name was quite unusual when she was born but it's quite popular now. She wanted to give me and DB unusual names, but ones that people had heard of. (As an aside, my name and Mum's name are fairly popular on MN but DB's tends to divide opinion.)

When I was at school there were three Catherines in my year and three Richards. Two had the Exact Same Name. I have a unique-ish name. I've met two more people with my name in my life. School was when I decided my kids would have rarer names.
I like the popular names but if we have a second child I wouldn't go for an Olivia or an Amelia or a Betsy, for example, because there'll be a school full.
I catch babies though so maybe I have more exposure to new babies names than most? There's ALOT of Amelia/Olivias about.

My name was incredibly popular at school so we tried to avoid that for our children. DS1's(22) name was in the top 70 and still isn't overly popular and DS2's(20) name was about no 25. It's now been in the top 5 for the past 10 years, my cousin has named her son the same name too.

Sometimes we say had we have known it was going to be as popular as it is now then we wouldn't have called it him, but on the other hand it's a great name, it suits him and he likes it.