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?

Another one who knows/knew a Harry Potter!

DS1 I thought I was being original. He’s a Finley - very specifically with an E not and A - which was ‘different.’ It’s not different. He’s 10 and there are millions of 10 year old Finley’s and they all have the E these days.

Did better with the other 3

I have a Ciara. As soon as I say it people say 'ooooh how do you spell it? I know a friend/baby/cat/hedgehog called Ciara, spelled Ki...' I have to stop them there. Or I get 'oooh ci-ara, lovely name' yes birth registrar man, I gave birth six days before and didn't have the heart to correct him!
To be fair I should have known better! But really, is Ciara so unusual!???

Growing up I met precisely two people with my name. It's not British and I was forever spelling it.

Now I'm always hearing it bellowed at little girls in the street. :(
You can even get personalised stuff with it on at theme parks etc. (Spelt differently.)

At least people can pronounce it now.

228 girls were given the name Florence in 1996. I assume you had one of them so 227 others. I love the internet for searching things like this!

My eldest was one of 3 that year, and youngest was one of 20 given that name in that year.

That was to RuthW. Lost in baby names now. I’m not even pregnant

People read the lists, see a name that isn't in the top 100. Pick it. Cue the next year and hundreds of other parents have done the same therefore....

My DD is called Emilia I thought I was being really original and it was classic.
There are 3 Emilia/Amelia’s in her class and 7 in her rainbow unit!!!

I have also heard it being yelled across a park in a fishwifey way

Dizzy, I love that name! And for what it's worth, I consider it a completely different name to Amelia, which I do not love...

How are you people finding out how many children are given certain names in certain years? Is it some kind of database?

DD’s name was only just inside the top 1000 the year she was born, & DS just inside the top 500 (born last year) so hopefully we’re unique and trailblazing for a while yet

One minor probably not even passable as a celebrity has a DD with the same name (recent) & my DS’s name has cropped up a few times on Instagram but we know none IRL as yet

If i was ever to have another boy id name him paul. You dont get baby paul’s anymore.

writeagoodone national statistics website

My Freya is 17. There were literally none. The explosion came three months after she was born when some bloody C list newsreader called her dd Freya. Since then, zillions.

16 years ago ethan was rare
Now they're everywhere!

In fact, when I called her Freya, everyone looked at me blankly and said ‘what?’ Then there were years of scathing mn threads about how common the name was. Gah.

My mums friend had a little girl called Freya born in late 1980s...it was considered an extremely alternative & unusual name then (esp in an ex-mining village)

I know a Freya who is mid-late thirties, British. Says she never met another until the name started becoming popular for babies around 10 years ago

Freya was in the top 75 in the year 2000. 686 little girls were given that name that year.

It’s the office of national statistics. Select your year, and select table six for a full list. It only goes back to 1996

Link for girls

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/datasets/babynamesenglandandwalesbabynamesstatisticsgirls

Link for boys

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/livebirths/datasets/babynamesenglandandwalesbabynamesstatisticsboys

Warning, it’s a rabbit hole!

Ethan was the 21st most popular boys name in 2001, with 3195 boys called Ethan born that year! Wow!

I know a Frejya, she'd be about 43, is that the oldest not Scandinavian Frejya?!

My daughter's middle name is Freya - she's 19. I'd loved the name for years. It seemed to really take off a few years after she was born. She did know two others at sixth form college, but that was a huge college with over 2000 students.

Yep it was 2000 when the newsreader called her dd Freya and suddenly every other baby girl was given the name.

This is the website to find out if a name is heading up the charts names.darkgreener.com/ One I love currently and thought was a borderline wild choice is shooting up there...