Traditional but not common

[LuckyMum3]

Hi I’m looking for traditional names, or names that are heard of and not uncommon.. but hopefully the only one in the class or year group. An example of what we like..

Violet nn Lettie/Lottie
Matilda nn Tilly
Alice nn Lissie
Madeline we dislike Maddie
Annie
Felicity

Isaac
Jasper
Joseph
Benjamin

I love traditional names that have a cute nickname.. aware some of the above are popular but don’t seem to be in my area.

Thanks everyone I have 3 children in primary and only know of 1 of the girls names and 1 of the boys names through out there classes and clubs they attend.

I like traditional names, but I wouldn't care if they are common or not if I liked the name.
Lydia is lovely and doesn't seem to have jumped on the popular train just yet. Or Georgina/Cecilia etc.

The most popular names are given to less than one percent of babies. There's only 30 in a class. 30-90 in an average Primary year. Approximately 200ish at Secondary. Mathematically, you'd expect no repeated names in a class, or a Primary year, and maybe one other at secondary.

One of my DDs has a top 10 name. In two nurseries and five Primary schools, never had another in her year with her name. Or her swimming class, scouts, sports clubs...
My other DD once had 5 boys with the same name in her preschool/reception mixed group of 40, or which 15 were boys. It wasn't even a top 100 name. None had been born in the area...

We have a Lydia :)
We avoided our favourite name as it was supposedly extremely popular and I’ve never met one!

People are saying the names OP gave are very popular but Violet for example is ranked around 50th so I wouldn’t class that as very popular.

Another vote for Elspeth, I know only one aged in thirties. Rosalie? I know of only one aged in her twenties, the others I know are 40 plus.

Elizabeth (Betsy/Eliza)
Adaline (Ada)
Charlotte (Lottie)
Alexandra (Andi)
Sapphire (Saffy)
Fionna (Fifi)
Ruby
Getrude (Gertie/Trudy)

I don’t think any of your choices are that unusual.

How about

Naomi
Josephine
Jennifer
Stella
Emma
Zoe (although I’ve been coming across a few little ones recently)
Camilla

Edwin
Alistair
Matthew
Anthony
Patrick
Dominic
Malachi

Helena
Anne
Adeline
Margaret

I think Sally deserves a come back

I know an Alicia (ah-liss-ee-ah) who goes by Liss and Lissie. I think it's a really pretty name and a less popular alternative to Alice.

Everyone has their own cut off for 'not overly popular' - for me it's anything outside of the top 100. It's worth checking the top 1000 to see where the names you like fall if popularity is important to you. For example Annie is 115 in E&W and Felicity is 100. Madeline is 443 (Madeleine is 297).

A few suggestions:
Caroline
Sarah
Victoria
Serena
Naomi
Verity
Cassandra
Juliet
Louisa
Evangeline
Gabrielle/a
Francesca
Rachel
Katharine
Natalie
Mary

Francis
Peter
Patrick
Laurence
Alistair
Christopher
Dominic
Robert
Edmund
Philip
Nathan
Lewis
Eric
Nicholas
Joel
Robin

We are calling DD Alma after her great gran

Miranda
Rosalind
Rosamund
Alexandra

John

Violet nn Lettie/Lottie - It's pretty. I like nn Lettie
Matilda nn Tilly - Love this. My favourite on your list.
Alice nn Lissie - One of my daughter's middle names. I don't know many.
Madeline we dislike Maddie - Madeline is pretty. I think it's fine to use the full name.
Annie - I've always liked
Felicity - I've grown to really like this and it's not too common.

Others I really like -
Rosanna - nn Rosie (or you could have nn Annie)
Caroline - nn Carrie or Callie

Isaac - My favourite. I have one myself.
Jasper - Love this. I've never met one.
Joseph - Traditional but I don't know too many.
Benjamin - I like Ben.

In terms of 'popularity' I do think names must be more / less popular in certain areas - be that geographical or economic or some other divide? So a name might be listed as top 10 or top 100 but, no-one in your 'circle' or your family, or, when they get there, their school might have that name.
I often read on baby threads about a particular name being really popular and think I've never met one

All of the names you mention are very popular - Madeleine less so than the rest, but it’s certainly not unusual.

Caroline, Jane, Jean, Frances, Honor, Mary, Margaret, Genevieve, Lois, Susannah, Agnes, Augusta, Louisa, Flora, Katherine / Patrick, Robert, John, Richard, Duncan, Douglas, Christian, Marcus, Saul, Jerome, are all quite traditional but not used much right now

Names in my immediate family (we all like traditional names):

Girls:

Anna
Elizabeth
Isabella
Elena (we're foreign so that's the spelling, but I would choose Helen)
Lucy
Anastasia
Sophia
Catherine

Boys

Victor
Alexander
Michael
Boris

My personal favourite names for a boy:

Andrew, Robert or Edward

For a girl:

Elizabeth (as it has so many variations - it's my daughter's first name). Her middle name is Amy (not my personal favourite but also quite lovely). I also really like Helen or Lucy.

Aw, sorry didn't see you already have a Lydia 😊 it's a lovely name! Congratulations!

All your names are popular here!

When I think of traditional, but not too common, I think of:

Louisa
Annalise
Yvette
Bethany
Kirstie
Kristin
Jacinda
Miranda
Nadia
Celeste
Estelle
Haidee
Kate
Rhiannon
Tabitha
Ursula
Josette
Maxine

Kurt
Lincoln
Gareth
Ewan
Fraser
Christopher
Kane
Logan
Ryan
Stephen
Dion

Conrad

My daughter Louisa is the only one in her whole school of 400 pupils.
Her nickname is Lulu. We always get lovely comments on her name. (Which I know people also do that just to be polite )
But it’s a name that suits all ages, travels well, is traditional but not common, has a cute nickname!

We also have a Hannah. She is the only one in her year group. Think there are 2 more in the school.
We like Emmeline if we have another- nickname Emmy.
My friend has a DD called Verity. Nickname is Vee. I think that’s a lovely name that you won’t find many with.
Other suggestions-
Flora (Flo)
Juliet (Ettie)
Susannah (Suzy)
Jemima (Mima / mimi / Jem)
Claudia
Lydia

Boys -
Theodore (teddy)
Lucas
Sebastian
Christopher (Kit)

(I find boys names harder to choose 😂)

If you don’t like Maddie, then maybe Magdalena (Magda or Lena) might be an alternative to Madeleine.