I thought I was so original ...

[Carbohol78]

Freya, there were no Freya’s, DD10, other option was Isla, again no Isla’s, I thought I’d found a pretty, not odd, but not over-used name. Now there’s loads of both!

Anyone else think they were “oh so original” and now the classrooms are flooded?

I know someone who went for Callum - they had never met a Callum before and their little boy ended up in a class with 5 other Callums (various spellings) at school!

DS is Noah - when he was born we had so many surprised faces and "oh that's unusual" type comments - now it appears to be one of the most common boys names around! (Although we have only met 1 other who is just a few months old, so obviously not that common in our area.)

We chose it for its Biblical roots and had all sorts of comments on it being an overtly Christian name at the time (which didn't surprise us), but now I don't think people would react in the same way at all.

DS is a teenager by the way so we chose the name 14 years ago!

My aunt chose Hannah as a nice, unusual name. So did the parents of half the girls born in the next three years

I did the same with DS. I thought it was a traditional and lovely sounding name but still unusual. There's 3 others in just his group at nursery.

Elsie.when I was pregnant with her,the only Elsie’s I’d known had been the ones I’d cared for in care homes.now she’s in nursery with four other Elsie’s,and anytime we go to soft play,farms,play groups etc,I always hear parents calling their children Elsie.

I’m a Lily... from when there were only 50 babies named Lily in the year I was born.

I hear my name in supermarkets all the time, always directed at a three year old.

It's odd isn't it?
My eldest who is 14 has a name that has been in the boys top 10 for decades
He has never been in a class with another child with this name!
Ds2 (9) is the only child of his name at his primary school - again not an unusual name!!

Same with Noah. I loved the name after watching Heroes. Now years later I know so many other Noah's.

What I didn't know at the time was that there was a new character on emmerdale called Noah. I never watched it so while I thought my name choice was different and unusual, was actually gaining attention from a soap!

My eldest is Shannon. I’d never heard anyone called that around here before. 13 years later and there are so many i can’t keep up

Ava

Jack - 27 years ago I was curiously asked if it was a family name. We thought we were being very original.

Do some of you think perhaps its because you now have child named X, you are notIcing/become aware of more people bearing your dc's name rather than it becoming more popular iyswim? a bit like when you're introduced to a new face at work, school etc then suddenly you start seeing that person all the time, but they were there all along.

Yes. Our eldest has who is now in her late 20s has a name which everyone laughed at and said was ridiculously old fashioned - now it's been as high as number 14 and there are hundreds of little girls under 10 with it!!

My DD is Charlotte. I didn't know any when I named her and love traditional names.. This was, of course, before the royals nicked it. Now there's loads 😠😠

My friend knows a Harry Potter!

He was named the year that HP was first published, when it wasnt a particularly common name. Poor kid goes by his middle name now after years of explaining that he came first, then the books.

And she would have been Noah had she been a boy! Same reaction then

Well, Isla is much more popular than Isla, isn't it? Isla is currently ranked 4th...

Freya is a lovely name :)

Yup, I picked a name that went from outside the top 100 to top 10 name the year Dd2 was born.

Yes. Dd1 has a lovely, unusual name. Then along came a pop star with the same name. Now there's hundreds.

Ds1 was given a normal, but uncommon name. We then moved to Scotland, and he was one of 5 with his name in nursery.

Dd2 had a royal princess named after her

Whitelisbon - Lady Gaga?

I think the trick is to pick a name you like that was popular around 40 years ago — so it isn’t long enough ago to be recycled again yet.
However, it has ever been thus. I am researching family history and studying the old Parish Registers for christenings shows the same pattern. There was a tendency to use theme few names to a boring degree but over and above that other names would take off for a generation. I came across a Rosetta in 18th Century London I n my family — thought it would mean making it easier to trace — however there are literally dozens of them and at least 8 with my unusual surname baptised over the course of 20 years.
My mother said she named me believing it was unusual — she didn’t know any other little girls called that. Turned out to be in the top 20 from that year. Must be something in the air.
Similarly, some surnames seem to attract the same Christian name or names. Must sound pleasing to new parents’ ears.

DD is almost 2, and her traditional but not popular name has just popped back into the top 20... There are two tinies at our baby group now.
PyongyangKipperbang I went yo school with Harry Potter! He also uses his middle name rather than explain he came before the books. There must be a few of them about!

My old-fashioned, four letter name was as common as muck when I was growing up, now I have to spell it out by radio alphabet as no one's heard if it....

My mum called my sister Tracey because it was so unusual.

There were seven in her class when she started school