Why did you (if you did) choose a popular name?

[takeitfromyourmumsy]

Just curious really. I'm always surprised when names (eg Olivia/Oliver) stay at the top of the baby name list for years - would have thought that once a name was top 5, certainly number 1, that would put some people off? Obviously not the case, so just wondered, if you gave your child a very popular name, why did you?

I'm so surprised that Lachlan is number 2 in NZ.

I have a Lauchlan (family name, my mam's maiden name was McLauchlan and I have no girls to name after her and I love the name). There are none in his primary school
atall and I think it was number 400 and something the year he was born and not that popular now. We're in Scotland so both Lauchlan and Lachlan are used but more so on the East Coast and I'm West.

Here Lachlan us pronounced Lack- lin and Lauchlan Loch- lin. How is Lachlan pronounced in NZ? Just interested.

My name was top ten the year I was born. Mum chose it because it’s a family name and she had been living overseas and was not aware of its popularity. I did not particularly enjoy being referred to as ‘Crikey number 3’ or ‘Crikey with the long hair’ growing up so I purposefully have my DD a name not in the top 100!

I have a very unusual name that always meant there were uninvited comments. I'd have loved to be Susan. Therefore my DC have classic, traditional names which have no alternative spellings.

I purposely chose a name that wasn't in the top 100 24 years ago. That backfired. It's now in the top 15.

There's usually a reason names are popular- people like them.

We chose a name in the top 10 when DS was born nearly 5 years ago, it isn't now.

We liked it, everyone knows how to spell it and pronounce it (unlike our surname!), it's a classic name which will suit him his whole life.

Similar to a pp, I chose a name that I knew noone with, I had never taught one, noone I knew knew of one... and about 10 years later it was in the top 5. I feel unreasonably cross about people using it as I get lots of "oh I know 4 of those!" type comments, when it genuinely was an underused name at the time and I specifically did not want a common name. I now really dislike her name, because it's bloody everywhere.

Picked very popular names for both of mine. We rarely go out to places like soft play without coming across other children of the same names! For us, we just liked the names and we didn't (don't) mind that they're popular. The only thing that would put me off using a name is if a very close friend or family member had used it first. Not sure why really, just wouldn't want them to think we'd copied them I suppose lol!

Do people really avoid names they like just because they are popular?

I think it's all down to people's personal experience with their own name. If you hated being one of three Sarahs in your class you'll probably be more conscious of not choosing a popular name. Likewise, if you had an unusual name and were picked on for it you'll likely appreciate more common names.

My child with the most popular name was top 30 ish, so not that popular, but relatively so. We just picked the name we wanted, regardless of popularity.

I was keen to avoid 5 in the same class (less likely these days and not something you can control anyway), and don’t want a name I knew someone with already so it had no existing associations. Otherwise, I didn’t care.

Do people really avoid names they like just because they are popular?

Yes. My name was very popular when I was younger and at school and now at work there are lots of us. My name doesn't feel like mine. My DC all have names that aren't popular and I deliberately avoided a name I liked because it was a top 10 name.

I have an unusual name and no one ever gets it right. I wanted a name that people understood for my son. As it turns out, it was the most popular in our county for the year, shooting up from number 20 the year before 🤦‍♀️.

When we chose our names they weren’t in top ten, one of them was around 53. Then they shot up in popularity. Our eldest I definitely would have thought twice if I’d known how popular it would become.

Both my DC's first names (and middles actually) are top 20-50 for the year they were born. I knew this when choosing the names. For me it was more important to 1) find a name that DH and I could agree on and 2) for the name to be timeless/classic/not faddy.

Also, in spite of Olivia (for example) being at the number one spot for years now, I know FAR less Olivias than if you put together all the Evas, Evies, Eves, Evelyns, Evangelines, Avas I have met. So to me, Olivia feels a lot more unusual than and of the "Eve names".

Two of mine have very popular names.

We chose names we loved, didn't care if they were popular or not. Worst case scenario was they'd have another child with that name in their classroom so they'd be xxxxxx surname instead of just xxxxxx. So what?!!

In actual fact neither of them have had duplicates in their class and one of the others with a fairly uncommon name did! But again, so what?

You name your own child a name you like, I genuinely don't see why it's remotely relevant what other people name their children.

hated the idea of a lesser known name being a duplicate at school rather than a more popular name

This is my thoughts too.

One of my DC has a very unique name. The other has a top 5 name in the UK.
I just really love the name and it had to work in 3 different languages because of our families.
We also dont live in the UK anymore now. When DC was born we knew we would move after 2 years or so and the name isnt that popular in our current country. Its top 100 still, but not top 5.
I think if we had planned to stay in the UK long term we might have chosen a different name, but im not sure.
We didnt have a single child with the same name in any of the baby classes we went to. But there was always a child with our second choice name (not even top 100).

Parents pick from a wider variety of names so you're not guaranteed to be in a class with someone who has the same name.

Between Reception and Y13 my Ds Jack only had at most 1 other Jack and often no other Jacks in his class. (Jack was the number one boys name) On the other hand in primary school there were 5 Sophies and 3 Ellies out of 15 girls. (Chloe was the number one girls name that year. )

I would hear the name Jack in the supermarkets and parks but it's not like when I was growing up and there seemed to be about 10 names that everyone used. I remember 10% of my Sixth form being a Kate or Catherine and that wasn't the number one name that year.

I have an Oliver. Only ever had 1 other in his year group and one goes by a nickname and one doesn't. Never really been an issue and it's a timeless name that we love.

There are two Robbie's in my P1 class which isn't even in the top 100 so you never know.

I decided on my DD’s name when I was pregnant with her. Until then I had only met one other person in my whole life who had that name.

Of course, once she was born and I had named her, I instantly met about four other babies with the same name.

How does that happen? I was so sure I was being original!!

I chose the name Bradley which was not common at the time. Them along comes Brad Pitt and then every other boy is called Brad. Happened to my sister too. She called her dd Mathilda. Then Road Dahl book made into cinema hit and lots of girls called Mathilda.

I have a name that growing up you could never find with things personalised so wanted my children to have those options without being olivia A for example.

Ds has a name that is popular enough but not to popular. Dd 's name is far too popular, as a small child we could not go out for the day without hear 2 or 3 other families calling her name (I think once there were 10 other girls her age at same place about same age). I didn't want to call her that name for that reason but DH just wouldn't entertain another name and at that point we planned a third so I thought I could use it to get my preferred choice. I really wish I hadn't.

For me the big driver is if it is a popular classic name like Charlotte or Alice, or is it a popular trending name like Ava or Ivy? If royalty would use it I don’t really care if lots of other children will have the name as it won’t date, but I’d hate my children to be the “Sharon” or “Gary” of the future... as it is my top names are all well out of the top 50 so it’s not an issue but it wouldn’t stop me using a name. Plus it’s almost impossible to predict — all 3 of my siblings and I have names that were really rare when we were born but 15-20 years later were in the top 5...

I really wanted Benjamin and would have called him Benny for short but was sadly vetoed. I just loved the name regardless of popularity

The only doubles I've known in the last two years of going to baby groups/nursery etc have been well outside the top 50. Their parents looked so disappointed!

At least if you have an Oliver, you're not going to be shocked if another one turns up at nursery.