ONS 2018 predictions

[Poetryinaction]

Due out in Sept/ Oct.
My 2018 baby is now 1 and a half and I'd love to know where her name comes.
So top predictions.
I'm going with Freya for a girl.
Boys... Harry/ Enzo/ Theo.

Regarding the popularity. I am the opposite. My dd name has dropped out of the top 100 and I am gutted more people don't like her name enough to choose it!
Also, your ds won't be one of 3 in a class as he was born 2015, not 2018. People like his name, isn't that good?

On another note, I was right about Isobel and similar. If you add up the Isabella and various other Izzys, it is number 2.

Thank you for your comment.

My partner thinks I’m absolutely mad for giving this a single thought. As far as he’s concerned no one gives a sh*t about their name and he can’t fathom why I’m wasting a second thinking about this. I hate stereotyping normally but it does seem to be a fairly Male trait? All the men I know wanted to give their children very traditional top 10 names whereas it’s the wives or girlfriends that wanted something a bit more unique. Maybe I’m generalising too much but that suggests to me than maybe men prefer common standard names and maybe my son won’t care about his name?! Wait and see I suppose. Thank you for taking the time to reply x

@Morado do you think if you’d had a son rather than a daughter you’d have been less fussed about a unique name ?

I have a very common name for the time I was born and I really don't care! I don't want the most interesting thing about me to be my name. But I do love thinking about name meanings and sounds as I'm a linguist.

@Poetryinaction that’s an interesting point you make about not wanting a name to be more interesting than the person. That’s struck a chord with me thank you you’ve helped

That’s also interesting about combining the spellings for Isobelle /Isabella etc. Thing is you’d have to combine all the spellings for every name to see if it is genuinely number 2 though. How about names like Emilia and Amelia being combined and so on.

I think there is a website that does this (combining spellings). Glad to help!

It’s British Baby Names who does the combined spellings. The most recent are for 2015:

Girls

Boys

Also, remember the name is more a reflection of the parents' personality than the child's.

All the men I know wanted to give their children very traditional top 10 names

That's not my experience. Lots of my family and friends, especially those with common 70s names like Steve and Mike, are keen for their sons to have less common names.

That’s interesting @Sparklingsunflower

I follow quite a few baby name YouTube video channels and the discussion often comes back to how to persuade your husband to let you choose a more unique name (based on the assumption he will want something very traditional and top10). Obviously this isn’t always the case given your experience!

My partner is a Dan and says he couldn’t care less there were lots of others at his school. Suppose we’re all different x

@MissHenty no definitely not! I have a very rare name chosen for a boy if I ever have one. It's not even on the recent ONS list!

I have a verryy common first and last name so for me it was important to give my children a more individual name. And preferably not one that would rise in popularity anytime soon! I lost so much sleep over it 😂

It was funny to see the misspelled names on the ONS list. I was surprised at how few boys were named Phoenix whilst reading the bottom of the list until I realised there was actually 5 Pheonix's instead 😂

Thant’s interesting thank you for your reply @Morado

We mustn't forget the main purpose of a name: to identify a person.

That's much easier with a name that isn't shared by lots of others in your school or office. Unless you like adding your surname initial or other adjective to your name.

It's even more important if you have a super common surname like Smith of Jones!

MissHenty i’m going in for a guess that your son’s name is Theodore

I do understand how you feel, my daughter goes by a (more unusual) diminutive but her BC name has just broken into the top 20 and I’m gutted...told my OH and he was like ‘so? The name has special meaning to us’ (she is named first name after his nan, middle name after mine) when suggesting names for our son he suggested mainly top 10 names too
If your little one is three it really is too late to change it (unless he has a middle name he could go by that you could introduce slowly? Or a more unusual diminutive?) so I guess you just have to remind yourself of all the lovely reasons you picked the name in the first place!

Also...if I am right and his name is Theodore, most Theodores I know go by Theo or Teddy so not shortening it would be the most unusual option.

Does he have a less popular middle name you could use instead?

Also surprised how popular Hunter is!

I like Freya but it's really popular now