Really popular names

[DeeDeeDaisy]

What is your opinion on super popular names? I'm talking top 10...Olivia, Amelia, Ava, Freya etc.

Some of the only names we can agree on for our baby girl are super popular but I don't know how I feel about that! Just curious to see what others think.

My partner had a popular name growing up and said it never bothered him. I was the only one of my name at primary school and didn't meet another one until secondary - I always wanted to meet another person with the same name as me, weirdly!

We picked a really uncommon name for our DS. There was never another one in his schools and never one in mine (teacher in a different school) until two years ago when one joined our nursery. The name is in the top 100 now but it’s still rare to come across it. You can’t control name and their popularity but at least if you chose an uncommon one you’re in with a chance of it not being overused.

😆 yes it will!! I’m dreading accidentally talking to the wrong parent about a child!!

and they’re popular for a reason.

The reason being that all parents follow the same fashion trends!

The fashionable names are not intrinsically nice. They'll sound old fashioned and dated within 10-15 years.

I agree with @pinklavenders . Olivia and Sophia were unusual when I was young, and would have been considered 'posh'. If they are so 'gorgeous' why weren't they used more often?

The top names when I was born were ones like Sarah, Nicola, Karen, Claire, Joanne, Michelle, Mark, Steve, Paul, Ian, Andrew, Richard, Simon etc but they aren't much used for babies now.

Love the maths and stats ReeseWitherfork
I didn't really check popularity with mine until after, so they have a range of popularity. I did go for names that have a pretty solid single way of pronouncing across a few places, that mattered more to me.

As others said, what's popular nationally doesn't always play out locally so it's hard to know how it will play out in school. My DD's class has 3 Tylers. It did have some popularity spike around when she was born, but not in the top 10/super popular areas.

They don't use Tyler [surname initial] either as was common when I went to school, 2 go by Tyler [middle name] and using middle names alongside popular names seems to be more the norm here, which I've found interesting.

@KirstenBlest

That’s the filter down effect in action. The “posh” make a name well known and it filters down, they stop using it and start using a different name etc

@SemperIdem , yes. A Sebastian and Amelia in my age group would have been upper middle class. Colin and Angela born a hundred years ago would have probably been upper class.

The interesting thing about Sophia is when it was used by the upper classes, it wasn’t pronounced as it is now. It was pronounced the Germanic way, like Sophia Gardens in Cardiff.

But the germanic pronunciation is So-fee-a.

It was pronounced the Germanic way,

That would definitely be So fee a

Sophia Gardens is Soph-eye-a, in case anyone is wondering. Maria used to be Marr-eye-a like in Black Maria

You should be able to find a name that isn’t over popular if you want eg Adela rather than Ava… but if it doesn’t bother either of you why worry about it

I still know a couple of (yes quite posh) people who say it like this. I don’t think that’s a Germanic pronunciation though, I think in German it’s Sofia pronounced So-Fee-Ah as in Italian and as is popular in the Uk today.

I feel quite unique as I was the only one through school and latterly into adulthood. Hardly have met any spelt the way mine as I have the slightly less the common spelling - Jillian. I'm not a massive fan of my name but I am me and that's all that counts. Also Jilly was what I was known as when a toddler.m which did suit me. Pick what you like regardless of what is popular or cool, boils down to which suits your child too! Good luck

My mistake, the soph-eye-ah pronunciation predates the royal Germanic influence, which probably brought across the soph-ee-ah one we hear most today.

I met a Renesme today
She was about 4
Renesme

No!!! I thought that was one of the few things Twilight fans unanimously hated 😂

@MumofSpud Sheffield? Potentially outing but my husbands friends Dd is called Renesmae 😑

@SemperIdem do you pronounce it Soh-Fee-a or S-feea

I like this name if baby is a girl but I say S-feea whereas DH says Soh-fee-a

No not Sheffield - that means there's 2 of them

@MumofSpud dear god 😭

To those saying fashionable names of today will be passe in 10-20 years, take a look at the name Olivia, and the family of names where you find Emma, Emily, Emilia, Amelia, and Amelie.

Someone I went to school with has just called her baby Renesme. Couldn't believe it when I saw it in Facebook 😅

I have a name that no one can pronounce straight away no one’s ever heard of and in primary school from 3-11 no teacher or anyone ever pronounced right and I gave up correcting them irritated the hell out of me and it’s not that hard to pronounce and it’s quite short as a result I hated it my sons name is always in the top ten he’s got one other in his primary school but not in his class he loves his name as a footballer who did well in the World Cup also has the same name. In my experience my son is much happier with his top 10 name then I have or have ever been with my name.

@mathanxiety , the names won't seem passe, but they'll drop in popularity.
How many babies are named Sarah or Rebecca now?