Why do people pick popular names?

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I get that there are trends, and that when most of us were babies (myself included) our parents probably thought they were picking unique names for us, only to find at least one other classmate with the same name when we got to school. But now that we've got the internet publishing all the data/polls/lists, why do expectant parents STILL pick the most popular names? I'm not hating- just genuinely curious?

Because they like the sound of them. I knew of one other of DD1’s name at the time. It’s a classic name but then became more popular . Hear it less now but I still love it.

In my DC school of around 300, there are zero named Charlie or Sophie (to use the example above). There is one Olivia, one Amelia (actually I think she’s just left so zero Amelias). There’s one Lily. There’s one Jack. I’m just using examples from the top five name lists from ONS.

there are multiple more unusual names (five Ezras, three Arlos, two Rockys, three Bonnies, three Olives, two Phoenixs, five Adas to name a couple off the top of my head).

It is hard to predict what will be popular in the year after you name your child and in your local area. I have no idea if the parents of the latter kids tried to go unusual or just picked names they liked but I think it demonstrates the problem that you just don’t know what everyone else is going to choose that year.

People don’t pick popular names. Some names have to have the most amount of people called them (just like green cars have the most accidents…because one colour car has to have the most). But when you look at the % of babies called Oliver/George/Amelia, they’re not that popular. They’ve got nothing on the Stevens and Emmas of the past.

Hmmm do you ask people why they choose to bleach their hair, grow it long and curl it at the ends like the majority of young women do? Or why they have false eyelashes and have their nails done. Do you ask why they don’t do something far more unique. Or why the majority of men wear crappy sportswear and shave the back of their head? Why not be more individual.
Why don’t more people colour their hair red or purple? Or make their own unique clothes. Why are the majority boring and the same?

DD is 4. When we were naming her we just shortlisted names we liked. Popularity didn't really feature in our consideration. I did look later out of curiosity and our top 5 names ranger in popularity from in the top 20 to not in the top 100.

As it happens we picked a name where I only knew of one person with the name (a colleagues 15 year old daughter). DD's name was in the top 80 that year, albeit the most common abbreviation was higher. Her name has now dropped out of the top 100 although the abbreviation is even more popular than it was then. Since she was born I know of 4 new babies with her name (e.g. friends new niece, Grandparents friends new granddaughter etc.).

It's hard to predict name trends and a lot of people just don't care and want something they like!

My daughter has an unusual, though not weird, name. It was quite important to us that she have a unique name but I’m not sure why! This thread is making me think about it and I’m going to see what DH thinks tomorrow! I have what was a rare name but is actually quite popular for babies now (I know of 2 recently within my friendship circle). I rather liked being the only person with my name throughout my school life, but again I don’t know why! I remember as a 5yo meeting a waitress with my name in a Wimpy restaurant and it was the most exciting thing ever!

I imagine it’s because they like the name or it’s all they could agree on. I avoided the top 20 names but I have the ability to understand that other people like different things to me.

We hit the sweet spot with my first daughter; she has a classic but underused name. My second daughter has another classic name but it’s in the top 30. It’s a lot more popular than I would have ideally liked (which does irk me on some days) but it was the only one my husband and I agreed on so we had to go with it. It wasn’t for lack of trying on my part as I came up with lots of lovely, uncommon suggestions that were vetoed.

Also to have a unique name it has to be something that isn’t a name. Believe it or not some people do pick random words, throw them together and ta dah- use that as a name for their child. See Elon Musk and Grimes as prime examples of this.

Well it doesn't take much to understand very popular names that disappear can become symbolic of the age they became over used. Sharon, Tracy, Wayne and Gary. David - David Brent/Dave TV , Karen etc etc .
All the Tylers I know are 20 -25 . I should imagine they'll be the Nigels and Barrys in 20 years time. Just very dated

@Notsuredontknow my eldest 3 children have very unusual names, not unique because they are just normal names but you never really hear of them. They loved being the only kids in school with those names. They've even thanked me for not giving them popular names.

My DS had a top 5 name when he was born (think it's slipped a little now) ... it honours a relative, is a classic name used by Royalty - and he actually never met anyone at school or locally (except a neighbours dog ) with the same name until he went to Uni and shares the name with his best mate. It was genuinely never an 'issue'. My DH has an extremely common name for his generation, same as my brother's, interestingly you rarely hear it these days ... but it's not really a problem. I think people overthink the importance of names.

Because they hated having a more individual name themselves growing up. How I wanted to be a Julie/Tracy/Debbie. My FS has a very popular name .

@KittyWithStripes I know loads of people with unusual names they don't seem affected by their names. My cousin had a baby two weeks ago she named him Johnny. Midwives commented how it was nice to hear something different for a change 😂

Hmm, I had never considered the googlability of a name. Now slightly concerned as ds has a very unique name. It's not wacky, just not used much any more combined with an unusual surname.
I made sure we didn't give our kids very popular names though, I really liked that I was the only kid in my whole school with my name. When someone said my name I knew they meant me. There were about 20 Clares and Helens so they always needed to clarify. It just seemed annoying.

I have an unusual name that I always have to explain how to pronounce. All through school I was always chosen first and had to explain my name and even today it happened on a course. I absolutely knew I didn't want my children to have that so they have classic names. Easy to spell and pronounce.

We gave DS1 the most popular boys name that year. Why? Because both DH and I liked it. I'd liked it since I was a child and we did discuss whether it would be a problem that it was poular (we have a common surname too) but we went for it because there wasn't one we liked more and we both needed to agree. No regrets - it's still a name I love.

DD has a name that, according to MN is very popular in her age group, but there wasn't another one at her primary school or secondary school or in her hobby group that brought together kids from all over the region. You can't really predict how many people you're going to meet with the same name.

That only works if your child grows up in a very homogenous culture and never leaves. My parents thought they were giving me the safest of common names, and, for my home country, they did — but I’ve spent much of my adult life living in countries where my Jack/Emma-type name is both unheard of and unphonetic.

This is so true!!

my DD is the only (to use an example, not her name) Olivia, but there are multiple Layla’s and Myla’s.

funny.

My daughter has a quite unique name but if I had a son I think I would go for something a bit more traditional. The faddy boys names at the moment really make me cringe. It's a fine line between unique and pretentious

A lot of the time people think they’re being unique, but so does everyone else, then the name skyrockets up the chart. Arlo for example, I noticed was picked by people aiming to be unique, but it is now 20 and rising. I think that’s the risk with picking a ‘unique’ name, it could become trendy then date terribly. Those picking classic names at least aren’t naming their child the ‘Barry’ of the future.

This is exactly what we found! Our daughter’s name is quite unusual but our son’s name is very popular. DH and I only seemed to agree on common boys names for some reason (I did veto a few of his more unusual choices!)

@WandaWonder my name is very 80s and a well known name. My surname the same it's a well know surname. I still have to spell it out from time to time so that theory is rubbish.

Because I specifically, actively do not want my children to stand out. I much preferred to blend in as a child and also I think it's nice to have the anonymity that comes with a common name. I would hate to be easily identified by just the mere casual mention of my first name. Same with privacy online. I would rather be one of 1,000s with same name so it's not even worth trying to search me.

In our family we choose classic/ popular names that are international and can be easily pronounced and written in any language (like Anna, Michael, Elizabeth, Izabella, Helen, Alexander, Lucy, Victor, Victoria).

Neither I, nor my brother, nor my daughter have ever had anyone in their class with the same name 🤷‍♀️ I think nowadays people choose weird "original" names to be unique and it's actually rarer to have anyone with a normal classic name.