Why do so many people choose the same names?

[burnishedgold]

Don't get me wrong, Isabelle, Grace, George etc are all nice names, but it would totally take the shine of it for me if there were likely to be 2/3 kids with the same name in their group.

To be fair, I grew up with a super odd name which I have never lived, but it does surprise me that people choose names knowing there will be people in the same class with the same name. Maybe because I've never had that experience...but still seems odd, especially when there are lots of names which aren't unusual but which aren't everywhere

Also agree that there are popularity really changes where you are geographically at my DS nursery there is doubles of Aurora, Arabella and Ezra. There are none of the names you have mentioned in OP.
Ottilie and Araminta are also names that I only ever knew one of each from very unusually named families and now I have heard of a few.
I do think ffs when I hear of another Amelia though.

Pah, what's wrong with lots of people having similar taste? Why do people buy similar clothes & drive similar cars & like similar hairstyles? Who cares if they do? Meh.

DD: after a relative (happened to be a top girl name)
DS1: it just fit (also in top 5)
DS2: went weird with this one... I meet so many now
DS3: we could both spell it & find no objections (top 20)

We liked 2 names for DS2. One was a classic, always popular royal name and the other was much less popular
We ummed and aahed and ending up giving him the classic name and the unusual one as a middle name.
Good job really as there's no one else with his name in his class but 2 with the unusual name plus one female version!

My daughters name is a common name with an uncommon spelling, my husband chose it because I chose her middle name after my grandmother. I wasn't keen on the spelling or the commonness of the name at first and even though we've never met another child with the same name (of any spelling) I regret the spelling. Wish I'd chosen the more common spelling as I hate having to spell it out when we go to appointments etc.

Actually there are two Apollonias in my DC3s class! Only just remembered - how did that happen! It doesn't shorten naturally so they are Big and Little Apollonia!

Or maybe it's Appolonia... Probably double P...

Personally I favour relatively classic names that lend themselves to diminutives / nicknames - that way you reduce the risk your DC will feel saddled with a name which doesn't suit them or comes with a load of 'baggage'.

I'd rather people judged my DC on themselves as individuals rather than based on their name. No-one will leap to judgement on the wealth, class, age, personality etc of a boy called Thomas, which suits me just fine.

So they have some anonymity on Google when they get older.

danger

That's a good point. That was the best thing about me changing my name when I married my DH. My common first name combined with his common surname makes me a lot harder to look up online!

My maiden name was unusual btw.

My mum thought Rachel was unusual when she named me in the 70s. So did every other mum, apparently.
My boys both have top 10 classic names, yet they are both unique in their year groups. They have family links, but their classes are full of Kyles and Lukes.

The kids and I have an unusual surname so NormalName UnusualSurname is a better combination for my kids. If I had a common surname, I'd have gone for an unusual first name as the probability of meeting someone with the same first and last name would be very high.

I think part of it is you have to agree a name with a partner (for a lot of people) so I like unusual names, my partner like unusual names. We don't like the same unusual names. So the list of names we can both tolerate tends to the more popular of both our naming preferences. Left to my husband our children would be Barry and Reggie, left to me they would be Fabien and Malik. Instead, they have names that were about top 30. It also doesn't help when you pick a name on an upward tren so that top 30 becomes top 10, 6 years after.

I think that there are area trends too. My 16 year old Jack has never been in a class with another Jack and his name has been #1 on the name charts for long before he was born. Chloe was the girl's name equivalent and he's never been in a class with a Chloe. (5 Sophie's in his y6 class though)

I think that there is a fear that a name will date. My name is timeless but my sister is a Clare and it's a name that was fashionable but dated 35 years later. (Sorry sis 😂)

I understand why people choose these nice names, but what I can't understand is the copying of celeb baby names-surely you'd want something more original? I mean come on, naming your child George or Charlotte after the prince and princess were born (unless the name has particular significance to you)?

George and Charlotte are so nice though. I didn't really notice a surge in popularity after the Royal children were born where I live anyway. Those names were already popular. If anything, the Royals copied the masses .

Yes they are lovely names but why would you call them those names knowing so many others will be called it now they are royal? They are classics and will age well with them but for me I'd rather something more original.

Why is it a problem if DC have the same forename as lots of other people... people are still individuals, not defined by mere names. I also like names that can be a bit weird or chavtastic (Nigel, Jayde & Anakin are fine). Wouldn't it be boring if didn't all like different things?

Naming DC after a Sleb's baby just as homage to the Sleb is kind of creepy, though.

It's not a problem, but a common name a) doesn't do as good a job in identifying a person (without adding a surname initial or other adjective) and b) may sound dated as it (inevitably) falls out of favour.

Names don't really sound dated on a person of the relevant age - a 70 year old Mary or 35 year old Claire wouldn't sound dated. In a few decades it might sound odd to hear of a baby Ava but we'll be very accustomed to hearing it as a name for women in their 30s.

Certain sounds and letters go in and out of fashion. Lots of names starting with vowel sounds at the moment, especially "I." And lots of "L" sounds as well.

Look at this graph for names starting in I, for example:
names.darkgreener.com/#i

And then this one, for V
names.darkgreener.com/#v

Now look at this for "Ch"
names.darkgreener.com/#ch

My son has a super popular first name. It was my exp's choice and I hated it for a long time. He was a total bully when it came to naming, and coupled with pnd, I was very unhappy about it. I'm OK with it now though. Yeah sure I get serious name envy sometimes, but the main thing is that ds really likes his name. Plus he has my surname, which is long, foreign and tricky to spell, so it's probably a blessing he has such a common first name!

I live in a bit of an alternative place, and we meet loads of kids with unusual names. They're often more common than the popular names. Just depends where you live.

I think you should always choose a name that you love, who gives a fuck if it's popular?

We have more variety of names used now than at any other point in history, but interesting OP all the same.

I haven't read thread yet (slaps wrist) but some of it is tradition, some of top 100 names have been around for centuries without moving far away, then you'll get the fashion names etc People might choose something they're comfortable or familiar with, and not care or know about popularity in stat terms.

I say this a lot, but you need to be good at predicting trends if you want to avoid the future popular. Even then... Think of the many posters who say 'it wasn't popular when we chose it'

I think you should always choose a name that you love, who gives a fuck if it's popular?

That's probably the best advice.

That 'unusual' name you chose might suddenly become popular (for many reasons, a TV show, a celebrity etc) or another appears in your child's class (funny when this happens with an unusual name one of the parents is always very put out).