Popular or Unusual? Thoughts plz!

[Wedonttalkaboutjuno]

Hi all, first time poster here in need of some help. Currently pregnant with my first child, a daughter, and my wife and I are struggling with a name we both love.

My name is Juno and while I really love my name now I did suffer from some funny looks whenever I introduced myself, and some light bullying growing up (didn't help that the movie Juno came out when I was a teen). This definitely shaped my preference for a more standard, common name for my kids.

My wife however is Amy and she always despised how common her name is, recalling times that she was one of 5 in a single class and how insignificant and nothing it made her feel. As such she always said her kids would get more unusual names.

I'm curious about others thoughts. Did you love/hate your own common/unusual name? Did it inform your descions about your own kids? Any thoughts welcome and appreciated!

Dude, that's a lot of personal info you've just posted.

I am for unusual, but not made up and spelled weirdly or too ridiculous. But classic names can be gorgeous too.

There's no right or wrong here, just preference!

Get a list together and get us to critique it.

Congratulations on the imminent arrival of the baby!

Middle ground definitely. My DC's names were more popular in previous generations but don't sound dated, well perhaps a little but not ''tarnished'' like Gary or Sharon. Hope that makes sense. Anyway, I feel like middle ground was the way to go.

My own parents, I think they thought that the top ten names list was a list they had to choose from

As Juno is a woman's name I read this @Wedonttalkaboutjuno post as being a same sex couple.

Never heard of it being given to a man.

My name is less common and I love it. Same for my sister whose name is very rare. There’s maybe a sweet spot where names are known but not going to be one of many in a class

My daughter has an unusual name and my son has a name which at the time was uncommon although is popular now.

We are all outgoing and strong minded people so there was never going to be any bullying but children with quieter personalities may suffer distress from being given an unusual name.

I have a very ordinary and at the time common name, I never minded at all.In many ways I liked being part of a team of sorts.
DH had an unusual name that he really resented his mother for choosing.He felt it was for her vanity rather than thinking of him.
As a result we went for names we liked that were well known and required no explanation.One exploded into extreme popularity a few years later but the others remain in their middle ground.
I had a feeling that the child should be able to live easily with their name and carry it lightly rather than it wearing them.
Don't forget that even if a name is in the top ten or twenty it isn't like my childhood when there were a much narrower range of names used.There are no longer likely to be seven Anns in the class or whatever.

For added context Eleanora, Sally and Katherine are my current faves. While my wife is favouring Delphine, Titania and Ariadne. I get that a couple of these have some fine nicknames but the full names I think are just a bit too out there for me.

And yes we are a same sex couple. I'm not a man called Juno, I think that would be an extra layer of batshit on my mum's part 😂

My name went from unusual in childhood to very common throughout my adulthood. I would have preferred common in childhood so that I could have bought that with my name on in gift shops, and unusual in adulthood. People do sometimes think I'm considerably you get than I actually am due to my name, though.

My children have unusual names and like them. At primary school, unusual names were pretty common - we are near a university and children were often named after obscure people from their parents' disciplines. At secondary school it's less ususal, but other children have never been a problem, although sometimes adults make the odd joke/comedy nickname.

It’s an interesting one isn’t it how our experiences influence our future name choices. I actually have Juno on my girls name list so obviously think your Mum had good taste! Also names outside of the top 100 are more common nowadays than years ago. I was one of 3 girls with the same name in my primary class at school, 1 of which is still my best friend now so it obviously helped us to bond. I probably would have liked a more unusual name though when I was younger. I think I’m leaning more towards your wife’s taste in names than yours but I’m sure you can find a middle ground. Have you tried one of the baby name apps that match your choices?

My husband and I have the same issue - mine unusual, his very common - and it definitely plays out in our naming preferences. We managed to find a good solution with our DS with a name that used to be unusual but has become much more popular. The site names.darkgreener.com is useful for tracking popularity

I have a name that was unusual growing up but is now quite popular, think Granny name! My children have names that are considered less usual. What I have found is that there seems to be much more diversity in names for my childrens generation than there was in mine. As a result none if my children felt they particularly stood out or had issues with their names. They were all irritated at never finding mugs/pens with their names on though!

Finding a middle ground is the obvious answer but interesting to see others opinions 😊Funnily enough we had a couple of nice middle ground names for a boy but alas are having a girl! The diversity of names these days compared to my generation is something I hadn't really considered so that does make me feel a bit better about names that are slightly out there..

My name has had steady popularity for many decades. While there wasn't any other "Summas" in my year at school, given the historic use there have always been others in my workplace since leaving school, at least 1, up to 5 at some point. It's not a huge problem, but can be mildly irritating not knowing if you are being addressed or spoken to.

For me there is a difference between uncommon and unusual. Claudia is a very normal name that most people are familiar with, but isn't in high use.

I like unusual names that aren't too out there. I'd much prefer to be someone who didn't meet others of the same name regularly lol

Juno is one of my favourites btw!

I also love Eleanora, Delphine and Ariadne. You both have great taste! I'd avoid Titania because she'll probably get called Tit as school :( it is beautiful though.

I have an uncommon but not unusual name, never met another one until I was an adult and it's often mentioned on underused name threads.

My dc both have unusual names, but not ridiculous or youneekly spelled, both love being the only ones and a bit different. I obviously side with your wife, although I do think your choice of Eleanora is lovely and is definitely more to the underused side but will likely get Ellie which is very popular

I really like Eleanora as a compromise out of all of those. I think it's unusual but classically beautiful which fits what you both want. Ultimately you both have to agree so you may need to rule them all out until you agree on one. Try an app that allows you to swipe through until you find some you agree on.

I went with a slightly old fashioned name for my son which isn't that common but well known enough to not be too out there. Lots of people comment on how lovely it is and I'm really happy with it.

I think your name is gorgeous! But I can see why the film coming out might have been a PITA. I love your DW's choices of names. Maybe Titania is a bit much, but the others are lovely and fairly normal these days. Why don't you keep looking until you find a compromise?
What about Tabitha, Sacha, Saskia, Gabrielle, Callista?

Eleanora is quite strong and quite out there. For me ariadne etc are a bit too out there. I used to love Greek myths as a child but I find the thing of naming people those names a bit much a lot of the time beyond the ones in common usage or the simpler ones (like Juno).

I think it's important to remember that we can feel quite differently at different points in our lives. We might be shy as kids or desperate not to stick out as teens but then want something more distinctive as an adult. I can't imagine being called ariadne! Not as a teen. Whatever you choose maybe make sure it has really usable shortenings so that give choices for whatever stage of life. The good thing about some of the long classic names is they do have loads of shortenings and often different sorts of shortenings that could suit different sorts of people so you can have Katie or Kittie when young and maybe Kat or Kate or Kath or Kit or Cathy when older etc. Maggie Peggy Mags Peg Meg Greta Margo Margy Rita Etta for Margaret for example. Beth Eliza Lisa Bethan Betty Betsy Lizzie Liz El Ellie etc for Elizabeth. I suppose eleanora has Elle Ellie Lea and Nora? What do you do with Titania? The possible shortenings are a bit unfortunate for school and it does sound a bit ott. I don't see that delphine though is any more out there than eleanora though and it is also shorter. Would it be shortened?

My name was not too unusual but unpretentious and I've always liked it as feels me and there's not been many others. But it's having a bit of a burst of popularity now that I'm not sure how I feel about! My parents gave me a host of other rather stuffy (I thought) very middle-class sounding names all of which I hated as a child. I think I found them very formal sounding and felt like nothing to do with me. Most are very popular on mumsnet but I changed my name to my everyday name when I was an adult and got rid of them. You can't tell what kind of person your kid will be so a bit of flexibility so a name can suit all kinds of person always seems a nice idea to me. So with a super frilly name I'd try and find one with shortenings that could also be more straightforward if the person wanted. I've always thought with names like arabella that the shortening is just as frilly. Belle or Bella. But with Isabella there's Izzy or Iza as well. That sort of thing.

Delphine is in Peppa Pig. Baby Sally is hard for me. Katherine is classic. LOVE Juno.

I have an unusual name that has become a lot more popular now I'm an adult. Our neighbour has a DD called it. I liked not being one of five girls in my class with the same name, but disliked never being able to find stuff in gift shops with my name on. First time I ever found a keyring was in the Coca-Cola store in Vegas aged 25!
Both my DC have unusual/uncommon names, but still in top 100. Uncommon enough they're unlikely to have several in the same class, but normal enough they'll meet others with their name.
We found there was much more diversity of name for DD, whereas for boys there are so many traditional names (Harry, Henry, George, Theo, Jack etc) - even in DDs tiny village school (sub-50 pupils) there are multiple Harry's, Jack's etc.
I like your wife's choice of names & agree that in this day none of them are too out there anymore; no-one will bay an eyelid I expect.

I have an unusual name, have never met another IRL and I love it. I loved not being one of multiple at school.
My children all have unusual names, although easy to spell and pronounce.
id definitely go for something unusual, I love Ariadne!

I don’t think you’re poles apart, really. There’s a ready compromise with either giving her both (Katherine Ariadne etc), or going for a less frilly classical name such as Hera or Helen.

Juno wouldn’t raise an eyebrow any longer anyway (but my daughter’s year did have seven x Amy/Ami/Amie, so I can see your wife’s frustration!).