Siblings where 1 has unusual, other has popular name

[grumpypreggers]

DD1 has quite an unusual name (602nd most popular in the year she was born). Currently expecting DD2 and I'm going off the unusual name we liked for her. The only other ones we can agree on are top 10/ top 20 names. So what I'm wondering is whether it would be strange to have 1 child with an unusual name and 1 with a popular name? Would the child with the unusual name feel a bit miffed or vice versa? My brother and I both have really bog standard children of the 80s names but think if he had something a bit more exciting maybe I'd be annoyed...

when I was 20 my student house got burgled. I rang the police to report it. They didn’t ask my age, but sent round an Age Concern support officer anyway as they assumed I was in my 80s or so.

Sorry, this must have been tough but that response is hilarious! I am desperate to know your name now (Edna?!)

Are they stylistically similar apart from the popularity issue?

I would say you can't see what future trends are going to be. DD1's name wasn't at all popular when she was born but now it's top 10. However she was the only one all through school. DD2's name is still uncommon but we knew 2 others as she was growing up.

If you've found a name you both love, I'd just go for it and give her a more unusual middle name that she can fall back on if she wants

I think it's impossible to predict what might upset people as they get older plus now with Facebook etc it's pretty easy for youngsters to just go by their middle name if they wish as its super easy to alert everyone to what you've like to be "known as"

It's also worth pointing out that whilst some names are unusual (and I know you say your daughters was 602), if they sound similar to other names the sort of unusualness doesn't stand out. For example I know someone called Ellinna - a very unusual name numbers wise but it really doesn't sound unusual to me when she's in a class with Evie Ada Isla . If that makes sense.

If one is called Moonbeam and the other Emily it might be appear a little odd but otherwise I don't think it's that much of a problem.

You are massively overthinking it. Choose the name you like and stop worrying about it.

Until recently I would have said it was completely irrelevant and nit to even think about it. However, this subject cane up in conversation with a friend a few months ago. She is the youngest of 4 siblings and the elder 3 all have very short, and for the time and place, common names but she has an unusual name, from another culture and on top of that, her version is a non standard spelling. Along the lines of Ben, Sue, Joe and Affrodytie. She says she learned to live with it and by the time she could have changed it it didn't seem worth it as it was "her" by then, but it caused her a lot of angst in childhood and she still wonders "why me"? Obviously this is a rather extreme case though!

Both my DSs have names that are known but not popular or super rare (top 150 ish)... or at least were when they were born. DS1's name is now really popular, but neither of them seem to mind except when DS2 can't get personalised tat with his name on and DS1 can!

I have a name from our culture whereas my siblings do not and there's are very common names in the country we lived as children whilst mine was not. This has been an issue for me so I wouldn't agree you are over thinking it.

If one is Sarah (classic) or Olivia (trendy past 10 years) etc and the other is very special I think it could be an issue.

when I was 20 my student house got burgled. I rang the police to report it. They didn’t ask my age, but sent round an Age Concern support officer anyway as they assumed I was in my 80s or so

I had something similar happen at the Drs with my DS (can't remember which it was, they both have "old man" names). The Dr called his name then looked really surprised when I stood up with a baby - he said he hadn't checked the DOB and from the name expected an elderly gentleman

I think it depends on the names. One of my top picks for a girl is Eira which is Welsh. It's not a common name overall, 368 in England and Wales in 2018.

However, it fits the trend for short vowel heavy names. Eira and Arlo, or Eira and Mia, wouldn't sound odd to me, even though Mia and Arlo are much more popular than Eira.

Similarly a name like Patrick or Edmund, which is unusual as in well outside the top 100 - but also well known - I wouldn't find odd with a more common name like Henry as they all have a similar feel.

Hepzibah and Isla would be more noticeable, or Iseult and Sophie.

My oldest daughter has an unusual name never met another and my youngest I've only ever met one other although it's similar to a common name and people assume I'm saying that.
I think it would be nicer for them both have unusual names that's just me 😊.

I know everyone’s thoughts on this are individual but I felt as MesAvocets friend did.

People mispronounce and misspell constantly, and I was bullied for it as a child. My brother has a very ordinary name so I don’t know quite what happened!

One sibling could be jealous of the other’s name regardless of which way round the names are. I think most people go through a stage of disliking their name.
At primary school I remember doing an exercise where at the start and end of the year we had to write some facts about ourselves - our favourite things to do etc and one of them was the name we wish we were called. I put Nicole as my name choice which seems odd to me now as my actual name is far nicer! I guess I just saw cool older kids called Nicola and Nicole and was jealous.

Personally I would give both your daughters a beautiful unusual name.

I wouldn’t over think it, I’ve never met another person with my name around 100 people called it the year I was born, my sisters name I know several of I hadn’t even ever thought of it before this thread so I really doubt anyone will notice it’s never been mentioned to me or my sister

I am one of 4. Two of my siblings and I have very common names. One has a very unusual name. We always felt sorry for her.

I'm the one with the unusual name out of us 4. I do see my name frequently on MN but only when talking about nice Welsh names! The next 2 siblings got normal names, the youngest got a normal but very old fashioned name.

I've had people tell me how much they like my name all my life, but it's been a PITA having to spell it out all the time!

I'm going to ask my mum now why we are named so differently, I'd be interested to know why!

It depends on the personality of your children. Me and my sister have this, I was so jealous as a shy, quiet child that her name was (something along the lines of) Louise in the 90s and she was jealous I always got attention because of mine.