Baby girls you know??

[Hattiehoops]

Hello all 🙂 I’m expecting a girl imminently and am having a wobble over her name. I really love a very common girl’s name (top 10) but I don’t actually know any babies or toddlers with it. I’m just wondering if people could name the baby and toddler girls that you know or that are in your children’s nurseries? I feel like all the babies I know are Isla/Ava/Mya type- names, but I’m yet to hear the one I want to use.

Very torn as I’ve always loved the name, but also have never wanted a common name for my child (I was one of 3 Sophies in my tutor group and it was quite confusing/annoying!!)

Thanks so much for any help x

@AuntieStella very much this. My son is called James. I always expected that he'd be in a class with another one at some point. There's another one in his class at the moment and it's the only repeated name in there lol.

I don’t know any baby or tiny lilies, I do know a teenage Lily (17) and an adult Lily (32 ish) . That’s it.

I have a 5 month old, baby girls I know:

Lyla x2
Delilah
Ava x3
Eva
Ella
Millie (Emilia)
Charlotte
Elena
Elsie
Jessica
Jocelyn
Esther

I don't see what this thread could give you that the top 100 list can't. Clearly the list is more reliable than our anecdotes. However, the ONS do provide top 10 lists by region, so you could have a look and see if it's less common in your region. Even then, within a region there will be differences between towns, social circles and so on. So really, in your shoes, I would just accept that there will be other Lilys around, and make my peace with it. Imagine if you picked a rarer name that you didn't like as much, and then found there were three in her school because you just happened to be living in a bubble of little Gertrudes!

Harper
Darcie

Thank you soo much everyone for your help, it’s made me feel better about choosing the name! I know it’s impossible to predict who they’ll end up with in their classes etc, but I just wanted a general feel for current name trends (for example I know 2 baby Siennas despite the fact it’s number 22 on the top 100!) In contrast I know absolutely no baby Olivias, but it’s number 1!

The three most recent baby girls names of friends and my own;

Edie
Summer
Erica

Then in her baby swimming classes there are;
Aurora
Emily
Bonnie

Lily is lovely, but by the time you add in all the other spellings, it’s very popular.
Lily (2150)
Lilly (565)
Lillie (237)
Lili (70)
Lillian (73)
Lilia (84)
Liliana (250)
Lilyanna (54)
Lilliana (39)
Lilyana (12)
Lilith (80)
and that not to mention all the Lily-hypenated names out there.
Lily-May (47)
Lily-Mai (13)
Lily-Mae (100)
Lilly-Mae (29)
Lily-Rose (123)
Lily-Grace (23)
Lilly-May (29)
Lilly-Rose (65)
Lilly-Ann (12)
Lilly-Rae (12)
Lilly-Grace (8)
Lilly-Mai (6)
Lillie-May (6)
Lillie-Rae (6)

Even if you just take the simple Lily, Lilly, Lillie, Lili and ignore the rest of the names above that gives you 3022 girls called Lily/ie/ly/i which puts it in third place. Add the hyphenated ones and you are zeroing in on first place.

I’d use it, it’s beautiful and it has a connection to your family, but I’d be very aware of that before chose it.

I know 3 ivy's
A Willow
3 Florence's
1 Felicity
2 Freyas
1 Francesca

Most have the middle name Rose

My daughter is almost six so not relevant

Baby girls over the last year I’ve met are

Chloe
Ivy
Miley
Lizzie
Nala
Erin
Carrie

I only know one Lily and she's 25. It's a gorgeous name and it has meaning for you, so use it!

Oh I know one Lily under 3, doesn't stand out against all the flower names to me, lily, Rose, violet, primrose etc ....flower names are definitely a trend at the moment

Use the name you love. I have a common name and I never minded in the slightest.

I’d rather have a beautiful name that lots of other people like than a name that is uncommon because it’s not beautiful.

If you meet other Lily’s (which you might not) take it as a compliment that they also loved the name as much as you.

I haven’t come across a Lily in a baby group yet. Of the top of my head, we do have an:

Amara
Willow
Lucy
Rylee
Ophelia
Athena
Eliza
Eva x2

I work in a primary school of 600 children.
I’ve been there 15 years and can only re call one Lily.

My DD is nearly 4 and her friends are
Mabel
Hattie
Lottie
Harper
Ruby
Kennedy (ergh!)

Lilly is a pretty name, if it’s important to you use it. All my children have names that mean something to me.

I know a few Lilly’s but they are all older, primary school age. I’ve not heard of any in my youngest preschool.

Such a beautiful name - go for it!

Yes I’ve noticed flower names trending too despite the fact they’re further down the charts. The back-up name I’m contemplating is Florence (great aunt) , again I’ve not come across many but it’s currently sitting at number 14! I guess it’s very hard to predict name trends and I agree with everyone saying it’s quite a regional thing too. I’m going to try not to overthink it!

Lottie
Martha
Persephone
Sienna (x4!)
Summer
Luna
Evie
Rosie
Annabelle

I don't know any Lilys younger than about 8 years old.

Names of baby girls I can think of nursery
Evie
Isla
Rosie
Willow
Wren
Mia
And then quite a few unusual ones. No Lily’s, although I do know a couple toddlers with it as a middle name or hyphenated

Haven’t met any baby Lily’s recently

Babies/toddlers we have met:

Daphne
Ayla
India
Sienna
Rosalie
Aria
Maisie
Dot
Clara
Leia
Gigi
Nellie
Sophie

Sorry Lily is probably the most common of all within all the under 18 age groups I know!! I probably know about 8 of them, all hailing from school links (classmates/siblings of)

Lily is an absolutely lovely name and I really don't think you should let it put you off.

I have a 3yo and a tiny, we don't know any Lily's at all!

In every group we go to there are two or more of the Evie/Ellie/Emily category and some frilly ones ottilie, Alicia, isabella

Nature names generally are big e.g. Jasmine, Rose, Hazel, Heather. Just not actually Lily!

We also know a few Florence's so if lily is your first preference I wouldn't go for Florence just to have a less common name. Flo . . . hard to abbreviate nicely too.