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.

No it's not a big deal.

BUT many parents prefer to avoid trendy names so the children don't become Ellie A or small Jack and the names don't sound dated as they fall out of fashion eventually.

There are literally thousands of lovely names to choose from!

I have a Zak and theres another Zac in his class.Its not trendy but thats the chance you take.Nothing is 100% original.It doesnt have to be in teh top 100 for there to be another same name child in your class.

I really don't think it's an issue tbh. My ex was worried about this and thus his baby name ideas were really 'out there' - he wanted something unusual so no one else had the same name (his is fairly unusual and he likes that).

DS2's name has become very popular recently and there's another in his class. It's never been a problem and he loves that someone else has the same name as him (he is only 4 though).

My DH and I couldn't decide on a name for DS while I was pregnant, nothing felt right, went off names very quickly.

Had a difficult time with DS being in NICU for a couple days from 3 hours after birth. He's ok now but that first 24 hours was really traumatic for me and we still couldn't decide on a name for him. Nothing was right and I beat myself up thinking I couldn't even name my own son, some kind of mum I am etc.

I went to visit him 24 hrs after he was born to feed him and I sat looking at him and asked him "who are you?" I tried out a few of our previous options. Big no! Then asked "are you [top 5 name]?" And bang that was it. He was [name] and I was amazed how I couldn't have realised that before (crazy postnatal hormones!)
So, my point is, a top 3 (I think?) name may be popular but it doesn't necessarily mean there is a lack of imagination, or laziness on the parent's part.

I do think it's often a lack of confidence on the parents' part, judging by all the threads on here about 'what you would have named your DC had you been brave enough'.

I think it depends how common. I used to share a house with three Annes. When someone used to call for Anne (days before mobiles) we used to say which Anne? They became known as big Anne, little Anne and Irish Anne. Then when I moved out, guess who moved in? Yes another Anne. Not sure what she became but she was Irish too.

I wanted to call ds2 'ted' but in the end we went for 'Charlie'. There's like a million Charlies, he'll never be the only one. I figured it's better to have a common name than a less common 'unique' name that someone else also shares. I already know of two teds or teddies who will be in his year at his school.

Ted has got to be at least as popular as Charlie at the moment.

Yes- except in my mind I guess Charlie is always a common name, at least one in every class etc. With ted I felt like it was an unusual choice (for us) and therefore would want him to be the only one. I think you're right, it's one of those names that seems to have been very popular in the last few years.

I have an unusual first name but my parents countered it by giving my the most popular middle name of the 80s (louise, seriously half the girls my age seem to have it!) which I never liked either (sorry to the Louises out there!). I was friends with several Sarahs which seemed to be the most common girls name at my high school.

Now at Brownies we have several Isabel/Isabella variations, Poppy, molly and Alice

This type of thread comes up constantly. So much so I've started to copy and paste

No, of course it doesn't matter a bit! Ex teacher here, for what that's worth.
You have to be good at predicting trends also if you want to avoid the unusual name. How many people on here say 'well it wasn't popular when we chose it"

In the past people on here have said, that they like their child to stand out for their unusual name (it's usually some really daft name as well).

Somebody said the judges in dance competitions remembered her children because their names were so unusual (one was called Charity I think, I can't advanced search it), but you'd rather they were remembered for their talent really wouldn't you. Most talented dancer I know of, at the moment anyway, is a Lucy, or Amy, the adjudicators certainly remember them.

I think it shows more self confidence and assurity to go for the popular classic, the child is the only one who need 'bravery' for a very left of field name.

Avoid the popular* name, not unusual name. Tsk!

I think it matters if it matters to you.

Dh has a very normal name but not top 20 Everyone knows one of his names. It is still a very common name but not top 20. He was not keen on it said he would have preferred not to be Name Initial in primary (in 2ndary they used surnames)

I have a very unusual name I have never met another with my name (I am mid 40s) I liked it when I was younger and I don't mind it now either.

So dh and I wanted names that were what we deemed Unusual but not weird. So no unique spellings and no made up names.. DD1 has a name that is now in top 30... she has been to 4 schools in her time there has always been at least 2 others in her form or in the small village school in the school. She doesn't care but actually yes I do it was not what I wanted for my child and I had a long discussion with the teachers in primary to teach her to spell her name without the initial for stuff like grandparents and mothers/fathers day the teacher genuinely could not see a issue with her writing (not her name) OliviaP Well on my mothers day card I wanted Olivia not OliviaP.. Teacher was like.. but she knows it stands for her surname. .. Yes but she clearly doesn't get that is not the way to spell her name. (Before any says anything I DO know they need to difference but would it be hard for them to turn the card over and put OP or even OliviaP in pencil?) DD1 however suits her name and she likes being part of the mass so for her it has been ideal.

DD2 and DS has the perfect combination of unusual but not weird. No one bats an eyelid when they are told their names they have all heard of them. Few know another of their name. (dd2 is in 3000 and ds in about 700 from memory) DD3 has a very common in Ireland Irish name. it has been gaining popularity in the UK but still not common she is about 250 on the list..

The younger 3 all LOVE they have names no one else has. I have never met another of dd2 and dd3's name and only 1 other of DS name (and he was 36 when we moved to the area and told me our DS was the first other he had ever come across) For me that is perfect They do not have a name that makes people go " err what??" they have a name some people love others hate.. I like that DH likes that and more importantly my children like it.

DD1 likes having a name other people has too So for her it is all good too

So does it matter? Yes if it matters to you.. or " No not if it doesn't matter to you"

(I still wish DD1's name had not become that popular though)

Well... parents choose names without meeting their kids and 18 years till the deed poll is a very long time.

Also I notice that, particularly with baby girls, when naming, some mothers don't seem to see beyond the beautiful baby to the grown adult.

How many people on here say 'well it wasn't popular when we chose it"

I'm always a bit at these people, who claim that "Jack was practically unheard of five years ago". What it usually means is that the parent did not personally know any kids called Jack at the time, maybe because they didn't know many kids before they had one themselves!

Yes true. Many of them won't be aware of the stats and actual popularity or researched beforehand either.

Although I know somebody who chose Elsie over 10 years ago (daughter is 15 I think) it was little used then compared to today where it's almost top 30.

I think you can compromise between Oliver and hawkeye.

January is a gorgeous name.

Also dd1 - v unusual name almost never has to spell it but dd2 ordinary French name has to spell it daily. It rhymes with melody

My eldest boy and eldest girl have names that were in the top twenty. My son is the only one with his name in a primary school of 400. My daughter one of five with the same name maybe.

I have a unusual name, that went permanently out of fashion 150 years ago. Never met anyone with my name. I hated it as a child. As an adult, people make assumptions about me before we meet, or still take the piss. DH has an unusual name in this country. Dad is called Jack. Not due to a lack of imagination, or through laziness, but through serious consideration. Unusual names are not always desirable.

Ds, not dad

As has been mentioned by previous posters, I was someone that didn't realise how popular my chosen baby names were. It never occurred to me to check. I thought my choices were imaginative - how wrong I was.

I've just looked on darkgreener at stats for my four children's names. There were 3406 other babies with the same name born the same year as my eldest daughter compared to just 38 for my youngest daughter.

1738 boys with the same name as oldest boy and 73 for youngest.

Although I love my eldest two's names and they suit them, it does make me feel a bit miffed that they have 'trendy' names and most likely will encounter many others with the same names as them when they go out into the big wide world.

I was one of four girls with the same name (and one shared the same surname initial with me) in my class of 30 throughout primary school, which was miserable. I felt like a subset rather than an individual, and it took me till well into my twenties and living in another country to respond if my name was called in public, I was so used to the shout of 'GreatMop! No, not you, the other one!'

My son has a name so uncommon in this country (very common elsewhere, Biblical, just not much used here) that it didn't appear on the records for his birth year. In his reception class of 22 children, there are, incredibly, no less than four Harrisons.