Names that were unusual when your DCs are born and are now everywhere

[KellyanneConway]

22 years ago I had a beautiful DD, Ella. I knew no one else with that name and I got asked more than once how to spell it! There were no other Ella's in the same school year as my DD all through primary and high school. When my Ella was doing volunteer work in primary schools a couple of years ago, she said it seemed like every other little girl was called Ella.
I still love it though and so does my DD. We like to think we started the trend

Thank god I'm not Monica or Rachel!

Errr....in the UK Oliver was the second top boy's name in 2008 .

Loosey that is hilarious!

When I was at school in the 90s in the South east I had a Scottish friend called Isla. Everyone loved her name as it was so unusual. Now it is everywhere. Also had a friend with a little sister called Freya which was seen as unusual. Again now it is everywhere.

Ruby
Lily
Isabelle
Alfie
Noah
Oscar

My dd is Amelia. When I had her in 2003 I had no idea if it was popular as I never thought to check any database, and I never knew anyone with the name. (It would have been her name regardless - I named my children when I was about 7!)

I agree with Ella/Ellie, also Olivia, Clara, Rose, Martha (seems there’s a Dr Who companion theme going on there)

Martha, Elsie, Sophia (not ever rare but so popular now and I only knew one growing up!) Alfie, Freddy, all the ellie/ella/ella may/ weren't around when I was growing up.

All the Hayden kayden jaydens were new on me when I had kids too!

Not sure that Oliver is a recent popular name , my ds is 16 , Oliver is the most common boys name in his year ,my elder ds is 23 , also has lots of friends called Oliver . Toby seems to have become more popular though and certainly there were very few Audrey's or Ava's or Irises in my day.A colleague of my Dh has just had a Nora, which is sweet but would have been unheard of when I had ds 24 years ago .

You can look up the real time popularity of the names on the ONS website and they store details from the past 22 years. You tend to see trends, names don’t jump in one year, the tend to climb over say, five years, if they are going quickly. The high popularity/top 60 names generally have over 1,000 families choosing that name that year but even the top 250 names generally have at least 200 families choosing that name for their child that year, so kind of medium popularity. Of course there are regional variations.

There is of course the fact that once a name becomes important to you you remember hearing it every time, whereas beforehand you didn’t really notice it.

There are some really great names outside the top 500. Names you’ve all heard and would never expect to be so ‘unpopular’.

My son is called Wyatt, we were told how lovely his name is. A year later Aston and Mila had their baby girl and called her Wyatt- we are now questioned whether it's a girls name

Esme seems to have surged up the rankings too. A friend has an Esme aged 8 and I know lots around 5 years and younger.

My mother’s best friend, now sadly no longer with us was called Sarah, a generation ahead of all the Sarahs in my classes at school in the 70s and 80s.

A school friend of mine was really embarrassed about her name - Amelia - as the only one people had ever heard of was either the naughty doll Amelia-Jane (Blyton) or the books about the idiotic maid Amelia Bedelia. Now there's five in dd's year (age 6-7).

Simon and Paul weren't in the top 200 a few years ago, despite half my male friends being called them (the ones who arent Dave or Steve).

What are you classing as a 'few years ago' Val?

Nearly chose Theo for DS - much as its a lovely name i'm so glad I didn't as is super popular now. The name we gave him is still quite underused which is great!

DD's name has shot up the charts in the last few years and frequently mentioned on here so not quite so lucky there!!

My adult dd is called Grace. We thought we were so clever to choose something so classic but so unusual!

I have a 17 year old with a name outside the top 100 when he was born. People actually laughed out loud when his name was announced at how "weird" or "posh" they thought it was. Its now much more popular, or as mn would have it, "common" and "chavvy."

My name is Michaela, but I'm known as Kayla.

I knew of other Michaelas growing up, but none known as Kayla.

Now I teach several girls whose legal name is Kayla.

@Mayday00 my 2 best friends are called Michaela and Mikayla, known as Kayla and Kay. Both late 30s. Don’t know any younger.

I’m a teacher and choosing names for my twin dd’s was a nightmare!
DH: what about x?
Me: nope she’s a nightmare...nope taught three of those...
I had my heart set on one name since I was little, second dd isn’t that common and hasn’t been in top 100 on ons, so quite pleased with our choice!

25 years ago when we named dd 'Clara' it was unusual. Not now. But we still love it, as does dd!

I have a 21 year old Florence. I blame David Cameron.

My own name, Ava. I'm 30 and was named after Ava Gardner. Never met another Ava until about 10 years ago.

@bubblesinmytea we had an Ava in our class, she’d be 35/36 now. We used to call her Ava Banana 🍌

I am sure the name Finn had an explosion about 12 years ago. When dgs was born I hadn’t met another Finn even though I was a teacher for 30+ years but now every other boy is Finlay/Finley and they are all known as Fin. So our Finn is both one of many and slightly more unusual.