Who is still naming their babies Oliver and Olivia?

[Algor1thm]

Controversial... but really...

I work in a job where I meet lots of little kids and there are just so, so many. Half my friends are also married to or dating Ollies so it's not even limited to one generation. Does it being the top name for so long really not put people off?

I am aware that Oliver was recently knocked off the top spot, but still.

I'm also aware that this is going to be unpopular because approximately 50% of you probably have one yourself 😂

I know@ a few ‘Ollies’ in their 30s, but no children called Oliver.

I know of tons of Olivia’s of all ages from baby to 40-something. It’s a lovely name. Liv is still one of my all time favourite nicknames.

Or Oliver. They are both horrible names imo.

Yes that thing of everyone having the same name carries on through the rest of your life too. I work with lots of different companies and so have lots of work contacts, usually people in their 30s and 40s - there are at least 10 Pauls and 10 Sarahs!

My name was unusual when I was a child and I never met another one (though it’s a fairly normal and traditional name) - but now it’s popular so I’m always hearing it yelled in supermarkets and parks.

Because people have different experiences and preferences to you…

I had a very popular name growing up and didn’t like the experience so I want to choose differently for my children. They might like that decision, they might not but all I can do is make a decision based on what I know now.

I always think this with popular names. So cruel to resign your child to a lifetime of being 'Olivia H' etc.

That said, it is Amelia down here that is the most popular. Out of the last 8 baby girls i know born, only 2 arent called Amelia or some variation. In my office of 60 people alone the baby girls born this last 18 months have been Amelie, Amelia, Amelia and Emelia. Also have 2 friends who had an Emelia and an Amelia this last year. Both the Emelias have the middle name Grace. One of the Amelias and the Amelie have the middle name Rose.

Some people don't do internet searches to find the top names or consider it at all - which I don't get but those people do exist. In their circles they might have never met an Olivia or Oliver so don't realise it's popular. Also, like others say there's regional variation.

There are advantages as well in having a popular name. People know how to spell and pronounce it and you get your name in those gifts like keyrings, mugs etc - might seem small but it was nice as a child finding your name and getting something personalised. You'll also get more characters in children's books named the same as you. I've noticed Oliver and Olivia come up a lot as well as other popular ones. I guess authors choose them because of popularity.

Personally, I am put off popular names but I'm not someone who has to have a name outside top 50/100. I don't judge others for not being as interested in names, although I am surprised when someone makes a comment about a "rare" or "unusual" name when I know it's top 10.

I also don't think it's accurate when people say this is like the "Sarah" or "Claire" of the past as there's more diversity in names so even the top names aren't as commonly used as names were in the past.

Actually I can think of one downside of my son's popular name. In primary school, I'd sometimes get beautiful drawings sent home that I knew my X wouldn't have done as, like me, he has zero artistic talent.

Meaning that the other X's parents must have had lots of crap drawings with people's arms coming out of their hips rather than shoulders. And we're not talking just in the first few years...

You can't always tell how popular a name is going to be either.
A friend named her DD Luna, she wanted something unique and unusual, 9 years later it's in the top 30 U.K. baby names.

I don’t have an Oliver or Olivia but I’m also not hung up on choosing a name based on its popularity or luck thereof. My children both have reasonably popular names. If I think they’re nice names, chances are loads of other people will think so too, I know we all like to think we’re not influenced by the culture around us and make our own decisions freely but that’s just not the case generally

The question “why would you choose such a popular name” could easily be flipped to “why wouldn’t you choose a name you liked just because it’s popular?”

Neighbour’s kid is Ollie and to be frank, it doesn’t suit him as he is v quiet and reserved. Ollie is a big personality name. For someone with charisma.

I think of Olivers as being quiet, middle-class and studious. No idea why!

Anyway, I definitely find it off-putting when a name is very popular. I crossed Maya and Amelia off my list for that reason. The main purpose of a name is to distinguish one person from another.

When I was growing up, many of my peers were called Sarah. It’s a beautiful name and I love the sound of it. But it got to the point where each time I met a new Sarah, I wondered how her parents could have been so unoriginal. They might as well have named her “Girl”.

“But it got to the point where each time I met a new Sarah, I wondered how her parents could have been so unoriginal.”

when naming my children, I have no consideration at all to whether other people would think I was being original or not. I just don’t care. Maybe they were the same

It doesn't really matter, does it? You grow up and that's your name and you dont know any different.

And when you're an adult, nobody cares either. I don't wonder how many other Helens or Sarahs there are and let that influence how i feel about my friends & colleagues.

It literally only matters to the parents at the time of choosing! It's another judgy mechanism we choose to use on other parents. If we're dicks

It matters to the person whose name it is. I don’t know any different than my popular name but I still have an opinion that I don’t like it.

I know a few people who have named their babies Oliver or Olivia. I think they're both nice names but I was put off by their popularity.

I have an Olivia. I was reluctant to use it because it was so popular but then had second thoughts because it’s a lovely name, it goes well with her siblings names, and so what if it’s popular? She’s the only one in her year level at school, I do hear it in other year levels but then what does it matter? So we used it and have no regrets as I still love the name.
I also had a poplar name growing up in the 80s and I was one of 6 of us in my year at school but I didn’t care my name wasn’t unique at least everyone can pronounce and spell it.

I have a niece called Olivia. I've never liked the name for some reason. I don't like the O at the beginning. I don't think it's a pretty name at all. Oliver is alright. But yes I don't know why anyone would name their kids the most common name either! It seems a waste of a name!

It's funny how Olive, which is essentially the same name, sounds so different and almost "out there" comparatively. (Hate that as well!)

I think some parents don't know about popularity and it doesn't occur to them to check. Also, when you Google "baby names", a lot of the websites that pop up are US-based like Nameberry so I can see some parents mistakenly looking at American data and thinking Oliver isn't that popular.

Or simply they don't mind. If Olivia's been your favourite name since you were twelve and you can't imagine using anything else, then you're probably going to overlook the popularity.

for some people popularity of a name isn’t in itself a negative thing

This is how I feel about some names, Sophie or Alex for example. Might as well have just gone with 'baby' for the amount of thought that took.

These threads always amuse me. Names are popular because more people like them.
I didn't give popularity much thought when I named my babies. I went for nice names that i liked the sound of. They happen to be fairly well used 'classic' English names.

An unpopular name is one that other people haven't given their child because they don't like it. So I'm not sure that it's necessarily a good thing. But each to their own.

I had a childless auntie who declared that children should be given numbers till they could choose their own name. Maybe she had a point 😂

I quite like Olivia and Oliver. Both were on my list. None of my children had either in their class.

I'm quite surprised at Oliver's alleged ubiquity among men in their 30s and 40s. There was one in my primary school in the 80s - a place of very typical/conventional name choices otherwise - and it was felt to be a very unusual name indeed.

I have a 30 year old Sarah. There was one other in her primary school. And I'm not aware of any at secondary, though there might have been. One of her teachers was Sarah.

This is how I feel about some names, Sophie or Alex for example. Might as well have just gone with 'baby' for the amount of thought that took.

Oh, come on, Sophie, Alex and Oliver / Olivia aren’t that bad, even if you do think they’re a bit boring and ordinary.

Incidentally, there are some parents out there who have actually registered their child’s name as ‘Baby’. As a name, that would stand out more than Sophie / Alex / Oliver / Olivia.

names.darkgreener.com/#baby

Look at name stats over time. Oliver has never been an unusual name, it's always been highly popular.