Does anyone else agree that “unique” names are becoming so common?

[Mamatolittleboy]

We called our boy a common name so this isn’t me having a bash. Just wondering if anyone else is finding this too?

I go to a lot of baby groups where woman tell me how much they wanted a unique name so called their baby Oakley, River or Forest. Names I’ve heard so much this year. All beautiful names, lovely names.

Went round a friends house the other day to meet her new baby. Gorgeous boy, they wanted an uncommon/rare name for him - Arlo.

Exactly what I think too!

I thought I was being quite original giving DD1 the middle name Rose in 2005, but it turned out to be the Louise of Gen Z 😅

Still love the name though. 🌹

Same. I was obsessed with 1940s and 50s film stars as a teenager in the 90s and loved the name Ava because of Ava Gardner. I mentally filed it away for a future daughter safe in the knowledge that it wouldn’t be popular as it was a very unusual name then. Also on this mental list was Evie because I loved the character in The House of Eliott - another rarely used name back then. Fast forward 15 years and I’m pregnant and everyone is calling their daughters Evie and Ava FFS. They must have had the same thought process as me.

Best thing to do is look for personalised merchandise at the seaside.
If you can’t get a particular name then it’s not very common - yet!

When I was pregnant with my DD (20 years ago) I was working as a vet nurse so I avoided all the popular pet names even though I liked them. Think Rosie, Molly, Holly, Millie etc. Went for a non pet name. Same with my DS. Names I love to hear on little kids now are Natasha, Hannah, Heidi, Helena or Lydia etc. More old fashioned names I guess. I don't know any kids (round here or in my family/friends circle) called Oakley, River or Phoenix or whatever. I think they are pretentious personally. River isn't too bad I suppose. I fostered a cat in March called Phoenix. A great big ginger Maine Coon 💗

Friend of ours have been so excited about the 'unique names' they have chosen for their twin boys born 4 weeks ago. They announced them with a 'naming day' when they were 2 weeks old...........
Ash and Elm!!!!

poor kids

Ash could be a shortened form of Asher, Ashley or Ashton. Elm? I’ve got nothing.

Agree it's time to recycle fun names from the 70's and 80's.

I'll start..

Lisa, Louise, Sally, Kerry, Justine, Nicola, Samantha, Tanya, Deborah

Darren, Adam, Phil, Wayne, Rob, Ian, Tim and of course Gary (as PP recommended upthread),

Not saying I'd call my children any of these names, just that they are now in fact quite unique for today's babies.

Elmleigh

Elmer

Surely Oakley, River and Arlo are middle class names though ?

We aren't 90 years old yet so it is too early for 70s and 80s names to come back in fashion.

One of Zoe Zebras twin sisters of memory serves

I can relate! I have a DD of similar age to your DS. She is called Isabel. I picked it as I was researching my family tree and came across a couple of ancestors from around 150 years earlier with the name. I didn't know a single living Isabel at the time but within a few years it seemed like every other girl being born was named one of the variations, though it seems other spellings are more popular, so she ended up with the worst of both worlds, a common name that everyone spells wrong! I still think it is a lovely name though I might possibly have chosen something different if I'd known it was going to be quite as popular as it became.

For years I’ve thought that if you want something different, choose something traditional.

@Sheraprincessofflower TV / films have a lot to answer for…

I was also inspired by Ava Gardner- I wonder why she was such a thing when we were teenagers? Can’t think why!

also loved the name Evie because of House of Eliot! I suppose that’s how it works…we all hear it from same sources

you could always go for a name like Deborah? 😆 it’ll just be getting trendy again when your daughter is an adult and everyone will think she’s so cool.

The amount of DC friend's parents I hear complaining others stole their baby's name. Their kids are all Arlo, Freddie, Jonah, Lily-Rose, Margot etc. Overused names that were unique for about a minute.

My friend was still in the labour ward, hours after naming her child a weather-related name when she found another woman had given birth to a child with the same name on the same day. The name had a youneek spelling- think Sunn.

Fortunately my baby days are long behind me now and I ended up having a son (now a teenager) so didn’t have to negotiate girls names. I managed to find the holy grail for him - a classic name that wasn’t massively popular but wasn’t too weird either. It sat comfortable outside the top 100 for a while although is being used more in the past few years.

@NotInvolved I hear you! Where did all the Isabels come from? I came across the name as a child in the Twins at St Clare’s Enid Blyton books and thought that it was the prettiest, most unusual and sophisticated name I had ever heard (haha - sucks to be Pat). I rarely met another Isabel even into my 20s, then the U.K. suddenly exploded with baby Isabels and Isabellas and now you can’t move for teens and early 20s girls with that name 🤷🏻‍♀️

I liked the fact there was no other kids with mine in school as there were several of most others. That's the reason that I named my kids some names that I have never met anyone with, or have met since naming them yet!! Also the fact I loved the names. I agree the ones people mention when asking about unusual names are actually popular names now. The middle name of our son is phoenix though simply because I love the story of the phoenix x

Oakley makes the shades that transform a tool,
You'd hate for the kids to think that you've lost your cool 😎

When I hear the name Oakley, this is what springs to mind ^

it's quite ironic that parents pick uncommon names in the hopes of keeping them rare, only for them to become all the rage! I know of not one, but two, expecting ladies and both are mulling over the name Celeste!

I did the same! Dd1 born in 2008 middle name Rose! So many of her friends had the middle name Rose 🙈

However I have never met another child with her first name (work in childcare too!). It's not unique but not a very common one, gets lots of compliments!

Dd2 however I have met a few with her name. But she was the only one in her largish primary school for the whole time she was there (I know as I had to sign her in many times due to lateness!! and once I typed her name hers was the only one that came up!!) Her middle name also sort of fits with trends (unintentionally 🙈) there was many girls with May as a middle name, hers rhymes with that.

Well.

Arlo is a 'try-hard' middle class name. In some parts of London, people assume it's actually Harlow, and think: "wtf?"

Oakley is not a name for a human being of any social class (is it American?)

River is suitable for Steiner school types, where they would be one of 12 very yooneek Rivers.

The other day I've met a boy named Milan and instantly made a parallel to "Brooklyn" (Beckham....) and smirked, but turned out his dad is from Czech Republic and the name means "of kind/good nature" and NOT the city... Eeeeek.