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

Reuse, I agree with this. When my son was born in 2007, I was desperate to call him Theo but Theo Walcott was at that time being massively hyped as the Next Big Thing, and I thought Theo was just the kind of name that would become very popular if that happened. I ended up not going for Theo for that very reason.
I have no idea of Mr Walcott ever became the Big Thing but I do know I hear of a lot more Theos now than I did then.

I've always appreciated having a slightly uncommon name - it makes for a good conversation starter and (imo) has been useful professionally as my name is recognisable. With the DC I didn't really think about popularity but wanted a name relevant to my heritage so that automatically led them to have slightly less common names. My DC are older now but I remember when one was doing an after school activity the leader got so frustrated with the number of Edwards he forced some to go by their middle names and others to take nicknames Ted and Ned. In fairness if I was confronted with a team that contained 7 Eds I'm not sure what I would have done but I'm glad my DC were never in that position!

In our cub scouts group we have 4 Harrys and two have a similar surname. Can be a bit annoying at times.

Someone always bobs up on these threads and opines that popular names are popular for a reason, because they're lovely, but fails to recognise that in, say, 1975 the popular names were Debbie, Jill, Samantha, Brian, Derek and Gary. Today's Jacks, Avas, Oscars and Olivias will no doubt look similarly dated in the future.

Exactly Mortal, names come in and out of fashion, and while names such as Ava and Oscar will not 'date' exactly, it will be very easy to guess the decade the people were born in.

If you like a name, just go with it. You could pick a name that doesn't seem popular at the time, and then there could end up being loads anyway.

It did always annoy me at school when there was about 3/4 of the same name in our year and you always had to add last names haha.

Sometimes you don't realise. When we named DD Eliza 3 years ago, I had never met another. I know of about 8 that have been born since then! And it has gone up in popularity. Just one of those things sometimes, I think.

I don't think the top names now are nicer sounding or more 'classic' than those from 30 years ago!

Olivia Oliver both make me think of Olive Oil!

Lily sounds like silly
Muhammed not picked for phoenetics!
Sophia I don't think the 'ph' sound is nice
Noah sounds like a girls name
Emily 'em' sounds like a pause in speech
Harry it's a nick name
Amelia I just hear 'meal'
Jack the lad
Ava gardener
Charlie nick name/angels
Isla 'eye' sounds harsh to me
Jacob cob salad
Isabella twilight!
George Georgie Porgie pudding and pie
Isabelle is a bell? Sounds like you are asking a question!
Ethan a bit harsh
Sophie so...?

These names are popular because people hear them so they sound familiar so people subconsciously think they are better.

Compare to the top names in 1987:

1987

1. Daniel / Rebecca

1. Christopher / Sarah

1. Michael / Emma

1. James / Laura

1. Matthew / Rachel

1. Andrew / Samantha

1. Adam / Charlotte

1. Thomas / Kirsty

1. David / Nicola

10. Richard / Amy

Just as I was about to type the above poster mentioned my name. I see it as very 80's and in my very small (less than 200 pupil) catholic primary school there were 4 of us with the same name in a class of 25.

I didn't want the same with my DC, although his name was in top 100 and possibly top 20 when he was born now it's often touted on the names you dislike/everywhere threads. There's generally one in every year group but as yet he's not been in a class with one.
His middle name came from my brothers middle name (26 now) which my Dad named after the singer Arlo Guthrie. Which is bloody everywhere now!

Good point, beebee. I prefer the 1987 list! Though I like some of the current top names

Good point beebee.

Lots of the current popular names aren't nice at all imo, especially the 'cutesy' names like Alfie, Archie, poppy, Evie etc. Think they're already starting to sound a little dated.

while names such as Ava and Oscar will not 'date'

What makes you say that?

15 years ago I didn't know a single Ava or Oscar, now I know at least 5 within our friendship groups, so they definitely feel trendy and have lost some of their 'sparkle' and I think they will sound dated as they fall out of favour.

People probably thought Sharon and Steven were beautiful names that wouldn't date...

Because they are 'proper' names just enjoying a massive surge of popularity, not faddy names from TV etc. I don't think names like Deborah, Susan etc date as such, they just become of their time, if you see what I mean?

What are 'unproper' names then ?

I do think 'cutesy' names such as Evie, Alfie, Archie, Milly etc will date though. Don't people realise they are naming a person, not just a cute baby?

Do you not know what I mean gruff?
Names people of all generations would recognise and names that have always been around, although their popularity waxes and wanes. Although it may not be popular now, everyone has heard of Susan or Victoria, for example.

Enjoying a massive surge of popularity = faddy

The unusual name thing comes up again and again. I don't understand it at all! I genuinely don't know why it's a bad thing to have the same name as someone else! There are 3 kids in my son's class with his name. Why is that bad? It just means lots of people like his name! My daughter's name is slightly more unusual but not by design, we like it for the name not the fact it's unusual. If we found a dozen others with her name I wouldn't care a jot.
Don't kids spend their whole lives trying to fit in? Why is everyone trying to make their kids weird?!
It's a strange phenomenon that I genuinely struggle to understand...

I have a really common name, think Tracy, Sharon, Karen type thing and I hate it I'm speshul dammit!

Don't kids spend their whole lives trying to fit in? Why is everyone trying to make their kids weird?!

I think you've put your finger on the crux of it here this is a deeply conformist society, and a lot of people are fixated in 'fitting in', with its corollary 'not for the likes of us' and 'Tall Poppy syndrome' these people are the ones who are incredibly aggrieved when someone they assumed was also keen to fit in suddenly called their baby Ughtred or Rainbow, and start shrieking about bullying and attention-seeking parents foisting unhappiness on their child.

On the other hand, I do think that a lot of these Aggrieved If It Isn't Jack and Sophie people must live in some kind of one-dimensional lower-middle-class suburb with no ethnic minorities or people originally from other countries, who use names that are perfectly ordinary from their culture of origin, so that a reception class a local school will have Precious, Jaskaran, Ebwe, Bartosz and Manja as well as little Charlottes and Olivers.

I don't think, as others have said, there's such a thing as 'objective' attractiveness of a name. We like names because we hear them a lot , or we associate them with particular people or places. If this weren't the case you'd never be able to explain how certain names are popular not only at different times but also at the same time in different social groups. Even if we don't want to label, we know that we are likely to find that Kayden and Cosmo have different social backgrounds.

Noah is a great example of a name that's come from nowhere in terms of popularity. People are often saying what a lovely name it is, but to me it sounds negative, moany and a little like the sound someone makes when sighing or groaning. But other people have come to a different conclusion - they've met a cute baby called Noah, they've seen a handsome actor called Noah and they've just started to like the collectio of letters and sounds.

I'm not generally synaesthetic, but I sort of am about names - the sounds really represent things to me, like in Noah above. So Harry to me not only means something unpleasant (to hassle, to harry) but it sounds scratchy and irritable.

"There are 3 kids in my son's class with his name. Why is that bad? "

It's not necessarily bad, but they can't rely on their name as an identifier. And isn't that the main point of naming someone (or something)?

I love classic names. My ds's both have classic names both are biblical names not due to me or dp being religious.
I live abroad and so definitely won't have the names in class at all. But I wouldn't worry even if there were multiple children with the name.

As a professional who worked in court arenas I liked having a classic queen name to work under and nick naming it to friends and family.