Snobbery to popular names

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Anyone get the feeling of a lot of snobbery when it comes to popular names ? I have seen it on here a lot. “Oh I don’t like Alifie, it’s far to popular and over done “ “ Ava way to popular and over used “ etc etc. Seen it a lot of times when people have wanted an opinion and specifically mention a popular name. I don’t feel anyone should feel like they can’t name a child a name they love, just because it’s a popular name and is a “trend” as such. I know it’s all opinions, but I get the impression people don’t like certain names, purely because they are popular and it’s the in thing to do in bashing popularity. If you want to name you’re child a name that will probably have another 6 of the same in his/her school then so be it. Nobody had an issue when we were in school and everyone was called jack , Sarah, Daniel, Rachel etc, why such snobbery these days ? Just something I have picked up a lot

Yeh I have seen that a few times. Don’t call your child that, they will get bullied etc etc

if you like a name and it’s very different then cool, but I have seen a few times on here a poster mention a name they like that seems to be pretty popular. They end up getting influenced by others to change it because people don’t approve as it’s to popular. It’s not something I would do because I couldn’t careless if people think the name I chose is to popular, but I just think if you really like that name, don’t be put off by the popularity

As ZoyaTheDestroyer said, presumably people only post if they are unsure, and they are asking what people think. If they have chosen ' the name', then it won't matter to them that is has been used a lot recently, or that Barry from Milton Keynes doesn't like it. Sometimes people aren't aware of the issues that might arise with a name, and do change their minds due to the answers, but isn't that a good thing ? To find out before you give a person a name that you hadn't realised people felt a certain way about ? If other people thinking {whatever} about a name doesn't bother you, then no harm done, if it does, then you can think of a different name, but you are going in to that decision, informed.

Glad you've accepted you were using 'snobbery' wrong.

if you like a name and it’s very different then cool, but I have seen a few times on here a poster mention a name they like that seems to be pretty popular. They end up getting influenced by others to change it because people don’t approve as it’s to popular. It’s not something I would do because I couldn’t careless if people think the name I chose is to popular, but I just think if you really like that name, don’t be put off by the popularity

There are so many names in the world, that if you don’t want to choose a popular name, you don’t need to.

If you don’t care, then presumably somebody telling you it’s popular won’t stop you.

We liked Amy/Amelia for ages, but when I was pregnant it suddenly shot up to the no 1 spot. As it happens, I had a boy, but if we had had a girl I would have chosen something else I liked - every second child I met was called Amelia, half of my friends’ babies were Amelia/Ava/Ada/Amy, and honestly I wanted something a little bit different. Not Younique, just not literally the same name as all my friends had picked. Or we could just all stick with “Baby Smith”, and have done with it.

@SleepingStandingUp

I didn’t say it was ok did I ? The whole point of the original post was to say I have noticed a lot of negativity more when someone posts up a popular name they want to call their child. Balthazar is an unusual name, so I highly doubt you would get the same reaction from various posters than you would posting a popular name up. You get a lot more personal comments than boring and too popular. Try hard, desperate to be special, I'm not sure it would fall under chavvy bit certainly comments about lower classes wanting special names so they feel more important. I actually think "trying too hard" is a snobbery comment. "Gosh, the working classes / new middle classes, they're so TRY HARD, trying to make their average WC child who'll never be special appear special."

Absolutely this

Overexposure to a name can take the shine off it. You get so used to hearing a name, it starts to sound boring.

Take Emily, for instance. It's a lovely, classic name that will never entirely go away but everyone knows girls called Emily and as such, nobody who knows anyone under the age of 30 ever comes to the name with 'fresh' ears.

Back in the '70s you were more likely to come across an Emma than an Emily. As Emma became very popular, people started looking for a name which was as nice as Emma but sounded a bit fresher. So Emily became popular. When people started to tire a little of Emily and wanted a similarly-lovely-but-fresher version, Amelia became popular, and so on.

At some point someone will say 'Emma, that's such a pretty name and you don't hear it much these days...' and the cycle will begin again.

People who post on baby name boards are either first-time parents out of touch with current trends, still thinking names like Emma and Rachel are super-popular and wondering if Emily might be a fresher alternative, or they are people with an active interest in names.

Letting a first-time parent know that Emily and Amelia are popular names is a kindness, if they thought they were being original.

If a mother-to-be is absolutely set on having a daughter named Amelia and has wanted to name her baby that since the dawn of time, it wouldn't put her off. If she and her partner were considering both Amelia and Adelaide, they might decide that Adelaide is slightly more original, despite also loving Amelia.

It's not snobbery to avoid a name that has been used so much that people can no longer see how lovely it is and just think "oh, another Sarah, how unimaginative".

(Interestingly, a Sarah born today is likely to be the only one in her class.)

As for try-hard... one of my favourite names is Cordelia (my 'fresh alternative' to Amelia, perhaps). I've seen this name dismissed as 'pretentious' and 'try-hard'. I find that strange, as it has exactly the same rhythm as Amelia and Olivia! And why is Octavia 'posh' when Olivia isn't...?

It's a minefield.

For me it’s more about avoiding names that will obviously date. No one wants their child to be the equivalent of Gemma/Tiffany/Lisa/Joanne of the 1980s (there are much worse examples) but for example names like Victoria, Rebecca and Emma were also top 10 then but they don’t date. It’s hard to pinpoint if a name will date but I think if it’s biblical or used by royalty you’re probably ok, if it’s something that’s shot up in popularity and is new then it will probably be deeply unfashionable in 20+ years time. If you’re ok with that, fine - I don’t think it’s snobbery, just people warning you that it’s a risk. I certainly don’t care if there are 4 other children with their name but I do care if it’s going to be an awfully unpopular and unfashionable name in 40 years.

The irony of this thread...

I think OP has a different understanding of the word snobbery, not liking something and expressing an opinion on that is not snobbery. Neither is stating a fact.

I wouldn't give my children a name that is in the top 100 for a variety of reasons, but snobbery is definitely not one of them. If I was considering a name I would want to know whether it was overly popular and I wouldn't think people were being snobby in pointing that out.

When choosing a name, I wanted one that was uncommon. My brother grew up being known as Samuel F. He signed his Mother's Day cards with his surname initial - which is quite funny, but not what I wanted for my children. Similarly, in University, a friend of mine was known as Black Daniel because there were four in our halls with the same name. This was again not something I wanted for my children.

DH and I both loved the name Oliver, but it is the most popular boys name in the UK. It wasn't snobbery that stopped us using it, it was the fact that we didn't want our son to be distinguished by a characteristic or initial (Oliver K or Little Oliver, for example).

*not their real names

My daughter is 27 and called Esme ...I absolutely fell in love with her name and we have never met another Esme ...I know it is popular now..so I did actually have good taste!!

I was going to call my 11 year old Amelia but so many other people I knew named their baby Amelia the same year so I didn't, if they hadn't been so close to home I would have used it - still love the name.

I don't think it's snobby to not want to call your child a name because it's overly popular. I have a very unusual first name and love the fact that I've never met anyone with the same name. There are so many lovely names out there, it just seems really unimaginative for everyone to call their daughter Amelia / Ava /Evie / Isla etc. How dull to have three or four people with same name in your class / workplace / social circle, whatever happened to variety? You'd end up being Jack H / Jack B / Big Jack etc. They may be nice names, but the more people have them, the more you associate those names with people you know. Emma's a nice sounding name, but I'd never name my daughter that because I know at least four of them and for me, that name is very much associated with those people. I also think that very popular, trendy names tend to date very badly. So yes, Alfie and Arlo may sound cute now, but in the 1980s Craig, Paul and Scott were in favour - these names are incredibly unpopular now. I think snobbery would be disliking a name because it sounded 'common' - but even then, if you've asked for people's opinions about a particular name, you can't have a go at them when they give you their opinion. You don't have to agree with it, but it is their opinion and they're entitled to it. Ultimately, if you really love a name and you're not bothered about it being popular then great, go for it. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, and I honestly don't understand why it bothers you so much.

I think most parents want something different for a name, but notes different their poor child will be teased for it e.g Apple
I think most snobbery arises when we hear the names that are the modern day equivalents of Traceys and Sharons and Terrys eg The hyphenated ones Daisy-Mae, Jayden, Bayden, Kaydon etc etc