Are there any names that you don't understand why they aren't more popular?

[TheNameNerd]

Which names do you think deserve more love?

I know it's very much a marmite name but I love Ambrose.

What names do you think should be used more often?

Simon
Peter
Jonathan

Claire
Julie
Sally

I had all of these in my junior school class but you rarely see them now.

Also, Ivor.

Marina. It’s such a beautiful name: classic, not overused, easy to say, easy to spell, travels well internationally.

Caroline
Claire
Faye

Twyla, I know one and I think it's beautiful.

Merlin

Laura
Hannah
Verity
Sarah
Evelyn for a boy
Henry
Robert
Andrew
All gorgeous traditional names that our generations seem to have chucked out of the window in favour of noises and common nouns.

Claudia. It’s just so nice! And always gets such a strong reception here, so many people say they almost picked it, but this popularity isn’t reflected in the overall usage. I can only think it’s the sort of name that makes a lot of shortlist but not the final choice in a lot of circumstances.

Bruno

Hamish

Bruce

Angus

Howard

Arnold

Perry

Felicity

Phoebe

Margo

Peony

Juno

All great names

I'm going to answer this according to the title (as in which ones we don't understand not being more popular and not as in which ones we'd like to see more often (some overlap, though)):

Lilia - it combines all the popular sounds: Lily, Olivia, Lydia but never became popular.
Allie (as a full name) - Abbey, Abbie, Abby all made the top 100 on their own but Allie never even got close even though Ellie was very common.
Tansy - it fits into the flower name trend.
Hermione - especially now as the people who grew up with Harry Potter are having kids. The name is pretty and close to other favourites like Penelope.
Viola - Violet is popular, names ending in -a are popular but somehow not this.

I also don't understand why Eleanor and Isabella never became popular in Scotland (or at least not overly so) while being very common in England/Wales.

I like Twyla too.

They haven't really been chucked out of the window, names go in and out of style and all of these will be back in about 80-100 years or so.

Most people who will have children soon or are having them now went to school with countless people named Laura, Hannah, Andrew etc. so it's understandable that they don't want to name their child something like Laura which probably 5 people in their class were called.

I love Marina too. I only know one, and she is a lovely person which makes me like the name even more.

Yes, but it amazes me that so many parents pick names that are very popular, and that are so similar to lots of other names

Emil. Tons and tons of Emilys, not not an Emil in sight.

Well there’s no shortage of Henrys.. And while Verity isn’t common I think it’s probably used more now than in the last few decades.

But other than that they’ll come round again, they were just popular 70s names so just resting for a bit.

Laura and Lauren

Lauren
Deborah

Christian
Tristan
Ian

Claudia. It’s just so nice!

Unfortunately the meaning is not nice at all! It's derived directly from the Latin Claudus/Clauda meaning lame/crippled. That's probably why it's not more popular.

Gillian
Fiona
Janet
Jill
Odette
Samantha (too soon?)
Susannah
Wendy

Douglas
Duncan
Efraim
Emmett
Eric
Hugh
Lionel
Malachi

Looking at the most recent ONS name stats I’m quite surprised that many of the very classic Shakespearean girls’ names aren’t more popular - yes to Marina, but also Miranda, Juliet, Viola, Rosalind etc.

The only one that seems to be bucking the trend is Ophelia, which is my least favourite.

Agree with Emil as well.

All my dc in their late 20s are mentioned here!! I must have picked names no one wants to use any more

Agree re Marina

Also
Ramona
Eloisa
Lois

Horatio
Conrad
Walter

Forgot Athena

I also like Faye.

Amanda
Brida
Cecily
Constance
Dorine
Donna
Edith
Elizabeth
Frances
Georgina
Gwendoline
Harriet
Irene
Judith
Karen
Katherine
Lorraine
Martha
Meredith
Miranda
Nora
Odette
Penelope
Queenie
Rebecca
Suzanne
Tamara
Una
Vivian
Wilhemina
X?
Yvonne
Yvette
Zoe

Anthony
Christian
David
Edgar
Francis
Frederick
Gregory
Harold
Ian
Jeremy
Lewis
Martin
Nathan
Paul
Richard
Simon
Timothy
Victor
Wilfred
Xavier
Z?