Does it matter if it’s popular?

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DownWentTheFlag · 26/09/2018 08:15

Wouldn’t bother me at all. When I was at school I was one of 7 girls sharing the same name. It didn’t do me any harm. If anything it was a bit of fun.

Chocolatecoffeeaddict · 26/09/2018 08:21

It would a little. My daughter has so many Islas and Isabellas in her class so I would never have picked that because I'm bored of hearing it. But I think if it's a really traditional classic name then it would still appeal to me.

ClaudiaWankleman · 26/09/2018 08:23

There were 5 of me in my class at school - it was never an issue and I never wished I had a different name. It probably helped that there are 2 very normal nicknames from my name so we could differentiate by that.

scottboy · 26/09/2018 08:26

It personally bothers me but I can see why it wouldn't bother some people. Personally, I'd want my DC to be the only one in their class with their name - it's just a personal preference that I am more drawn to names and like them more if they're a bit more rare/unusual and find them a bit boring and dull if I've heard them repeatedly before!

Nellyelora · 26/09/2018 08:29

I have a very popular name. I didn't like being known as Nelly E at school with friends Nelly L and Nelly O so that probably influenced my decision somewhat to give my dd an uncommon name. However, the names I like also just tend to be at the lower end of popularity. That said, I think it is important that you choose a name you actually love and if it's Olivia/Oliver then you should use it.

I also think a lot of people don't actually realise how common some names are. I've seen it in here many times with people choosing names like Isla and Sophia thinking they're unusual and not realising that they are in the top 10.

BTW, David was 44th most popular name in 2017 so still popular in my view.

Sunflower321 · 26/09/2018 08:44

A common name has two potential problems:

it may need a modifier ( eg surname initial or other adjective) to be identified as there may be more than one Oliver or Olivia
it will start to sound dated as it falls out of fashion eg Steve, Sharon etc

There are thousands of proper great names to choose from outside the top 100 or top 500

Sunflower321 · 26/09/2018 08:48

When I was at school everyone was called Leanne or Michelle and Steven or David. I don’t see those names coming back that soon into the ‘most popular list’.

That's because they were overused and consequently fell out of fashion, now sounding dated.

That's exactly the problem with super popular names. They're everywhere and everyone follows the trend until they fall out of fashion!

Poulnabron · 26/09/2018 08:57

I was one of six girls with the same name in my primary school class of 35, and it was a bit miserable. Not so much the logistics of being known as Poulnabron M. — though there was also another Poulnabron M.! — just it made me feel very generic, rather than an individual. Looking back, I might as well have been called ‘Girl # 23753’.

Put it this way, my son has a name so unusual (in the UK) that there were fewer than three in his year of birth. It may just have been him. He loves it. (His class has three Alices, two Imogens, two Harrisons and a Harry. The class below has three Georges and three Louis/Lewis.)

CottonTailRabbit · 26/09/2018 09:09

My daughter's best friend always writes her name as "Sophie R". Even on family cards. Her mum says "honestly Sophie, we know which Sophie you are" but in Sophies's mind she is Sophie R because of school and friends.

PiperPublickOccurrences · 26/09/2018 09:13

It really depends on the area too. Surveys tells us that Oliver/Olivia are the most popular names and have been for years, but I know only a couple of Olivias and no Olivers. I have three kids at school - none has an Oliver or an Olivia in their class. I'm sure though to balance that out that there are other classes in the UK with 10 of each. DS's class has a lot of double names though - two each of Ava, Luca, Jamie, Charlie and Chloe.

For me it was a balance. I didn't want uber-popular like Sophie or Jack, but certainly didn't want to go down the yoo-neek route, come up with a butchered spelling or name my child something like Forthroadbridge.

Poulnabron · 26/09/2018 09:21

My daughter's best friend always writes her name as "Sophie R". Even on family cards. Her mum says "honestly Sophie, we know which Sophie you are" but in Sophies's mind she is Sophie R because of school and friends.

Yes, that speaks to me! I remembering being about 25 or 26 and living abroad, and turning when someone called my name on the street, and realising that this might have been one of the first times in my life that I responded spontaneously to someone calling my name -- when I was a child I always assumed that someone wanted one of the other Poulnabrons, as I had no sense that the name was me.

Sunflower321 · 26/09/2018 09:22

I didn't want uber-popular like Sophie or Jack, but certainly didn't want to go down the yoo-neek route, come up with a butchered spelling or name my child something like Forthroadbridge.

There are thousands of names between these two
extremes!

My son has a name used about 20 times last year, yet it's a normal easy to spell name!

coatsandats · 26/09/2018 09:33

I'd personally be bothered by the popularity if it seemed a bit faddy. Like, in the future of someone would be able to pretty much guess the age because of their name. And that in five years time it would seem dated.

The flip side of that concept I think is that some people would actively choose something that is very "now", and wouldn't care that the name is so tied to a time, because it's more important to them to be current. If you see what I mean.

I wouldn't mind popular names that have been in the top 20 for years and years so more classic than a fad. But I think some people would think those names are boring....

RedPencil · 26/09/2018 09:35

I think if you don't have kids, or are around kids very often, so don't know what children in schools are called, it's easier to not realise what is popular and what is not. Then they get a shock when there's 5 of their child's name in the same class.

Elephantinacravat · 26/09/2018 09:41

I think if you don't have kids, or are around kids very often, so don't know what children in schools are called, it's easier to not realise what is popular and what is not. Then they get a shock when there's 5 of their child's name in the same class.

This is true. Im a teacher and I remember a good few years ago my friend talking about baby names and saying she liked Lily because it was 'a bit different'. At the time I had 3 Lilys (of different spelling) and a Lily-Rose in my class.

However, the thing with popular names is that they are usually popular because they are really lovely. All the top ten names for boys and girls are lovely, but I didn't go for them because I didn't want my kids to be the equivalent of Claire or Dave when they grew up. There's nothing wrong with it really, it's just a name, but I wanted something a bit less ubiquitous without being too out there.

Obviously my children have perfect names which everyone loves

Sunflower321 · 26/09/2018 09:49

the thing with popular names is that they are usually popular because they are really lovely

They are 'lovely' while in fashion until they fall out of fashion and sound dated!

Sharon, Steve, Michelle were all 'lovely'

Poulnabron · 26/09/2018 09:52

Yes, I'm always a bit taken aback by how generic names in my village are. Admittedly, we moved here from London, and my NCT group, or people I met at midwife weigh in or whatever, had an astonishing array of baby names -- my NCT group alone had Thiago, Ace, Mohammed, Elsie, Ferdinand, Abeni, Tadhg and Ursula.

But in our village where people all know one another, go to the same baby and toddler groups, and whose kids go on the village school almost literally all the babies I've come across in the last few years have been called Louis, George, or Jack, and the girls some variant on Amelia/Emelia, Olivia, or some variant on Isabel/Isabelle/Isabella.

HopeGarden · 26/09/2018 12:13

My kids all have popular names so it didn’t put us off. We liked the names too much to give them up for another name on the grounds of popularity.

My DC with the top 10 name is one of only 2 children with that name in his whole infant school. The other one is in a different year group.

LydiaLunch7 · 26/09/2018 12:30

I have a very popular name and it never bothered me being one of many in my year. Not in the slightest.

I still chose names in the 150-300 range for my kids though, just because I prefer less common names personally. I wouldn't have gone for top 20 simply because I love names, there are so many good names around, why use one that so many other people have already used? I like to show some love for the less popular names out there!

With thousands to choose from, it seems a bit lacking in imagination to pick one in the top 20 to me.

I have no strong opinion on what other people name their kids though.

LydiaLunch7 · 26/09/2018 12:31

Also, in terms of % of kids in their year who will have the same name, there is a BIG difference between the 5th most popular and the 15th, for example.

HopeGarden · 26/09/2018 14:04

Also, in terms of % of kids in their year who will have the same name, there is a BIG difference between the 5th most popular and the 15th, for example.

The most popular boys name in England and Wales in 2017, Oliver, was given to somewhere between 0.9% and 0.95% of all babies born in 2017.

That’s less than 1 in 100 babies born in 2017 having the most popular name of the year.

At a national level, there’s probably a big difference in the numbers of kids having the 5th most popular name and the 15th most popular - but on a school to school level? Not so much.

TokyoSushi · 26/09/2018 14:07

My children both have 'uber popular' names. I suppose you could look at it that they're 'uber popular' because loads of people like them, and people never spell them wrong!

LydiaLunch7 · 26/09/2018 14:15

I suppose you could look at it that they're 'uber popular' because loads of people like them

Tbh, that is basically the definition of popular.

YerAWizardHarry · 26/09/2018 14:21

Ive got an Oliver who is in primary two now. His old school he was the only Oliver in his year (120 child intake) at his new school there is another with the same name but one of them goes by a nickname and one doesn't so problem solved. There was only 12 Oliver's registered in my city the year DS was born despite it being 1st (or perhaps 2nd) on the list that year

Sunflower321 · 26/09/2018 14:24

they're 'uber popular' because loads of people like them

As pp said, that's exactly the definition of fashionable or popular names!

It's whether this popularity and the eventual falling out of fashion bothers you or not!