Is there a good reason why these names are not more popular?

[PitterPatter3]

I’m looking for something not too popular and am considering both of these for DD due in the autumn. I just wanted to check there’s not a good reason why they’re so unusual which I’ve missed?

Miranda - There were only 7 born in 2021. Did the Hart connection put people off? Or was it Sex & the City? Or something else?

Serena - Do people just think of Serena Williams? Or is the Gossip Girl connection problematic?

Serena is lovely, to me Miranda sounds very hard though and I don't really like it.

I’m shocked that there are so few Mirandas. I think it’s lovely - beautiful, classic name.

I'm not sure that Serena was ever that popular. I don't remember anyone in all my time at school with the name. That said, I really like it.

Miranda - again I don't remember anyone at school in any year groups or any hobby friends being called that. It's OK, I don't mind it. It's possibly a bit dated.

I prefer Madeleine to Miranda, but Miranda is also lovely and that fact that it's much less common is on its side. I'd prefer either Miranda or Serena to the myriad Elsies, Ellas, Evies and Avas who seem to be everywhere these days.

The Tempest and Picnic at Hanging Rock were also connections that sprung to my mind; also unfortunately the protagonist of John Fowles's The Collector, which is one of the most horribly misogynistic novels I think I've ever read. Miranda is also the daughter of the murdered novelist in P D James' The Lighthouse.

Like it.

All I can hear with Miranda is Steve from SATC constantly repeating her name like a question

Serena is lovely

I don’t think it’s anything other than the fact that they just aren’t trendy choices at the moment - and that’s a good thing IMO. They’re not cutesy, frilly or ‘granny chic’ in style, which most of the currently favoured choices are.

I really like Miranda (along with other underused Shakespearean names like Viola, Juliet, Helena and Marina). The fact that it’s slightly ‘harsh-sounding’ is a plus for me, as I dislike most of the vowel-heavy names that are popular at the moment. DD has a similarly strong-sounding ‘marmite’ name that is currently very much out of favour (only 26 babies with her name born in 2022). I’d infinitely rather have/be a Miranda or Serena than one of the many Ava/Ada/Eva/Evies or Lily/Lila/Lyra/Luna/Laylas that are around at the moment.

No good reason at all. They are both lovely names, just not fashionable at present.
Like a couple of other posters, I also love classic, more grown up names like Julia/ Juliet, Marina, Claudia, Cecilia/ Celia, Helena and Viola compared to all the Evie/ Ella/ Tilly/ Edie type names that are currently fashionable.

I just don’t like the way they sound. There’s lots of unpopular names that I do like but Miranda and Serena just don’t sound nice.

My association with the name Miranda is a brilliant, funny, warm and stunningly beautiful woman I was friends with for a few years. The name always seems elegant to me.

Serena is a great name too. Neither of them are frumpy at all imo.

I've always loved Miranda, I think it's a beautiful name.

Miranda is quite a mouthful and a bit harsh sounding without any obvious options to shorten it to.
Also can imagine it may get the nickname randy miranda with how teens can be.

Serena is nice, we know a couple and I can imagine it may be one of the next popular names.

Names go in cycles - they may not be popular now but you’ll probably find in 10 years they’re 1 and 2! There’s nothing horrible about either of them. I suspect it’s just because they’re very old names and at the moment it’s very popular to have Edwardian names.

Just as an aside, I find the ‘harsh-sounding’ description very interesting when it comes to girls’ names. This was very much applied to DD’s name, and most of our other shortlist choices, when we asked for opinions on here. DP and I liked lots of different names but the thing they all had in common was that they were all quite strong-sounding, not overly frilly and largely had more consonants in than the current trendy choices.

It does seem atm that many people want girls’ names to be very light and flowery and sinuous-sounding - all flowy vowels - while for boys’ names it’s the opposite, with anything a bit softer sounding being deemed ‘wet’. I do wonder how this all plays into stereotypes and gender expectations of girls and boys.

Just compare the out-of-fashion Miranda with the similarly Shakespearean but currently very trendy Ophelia. Namesake-wise Miranda is far more positive, but those few extra vowels seem to make all the difference!

'Just compare the out-of-fashion Miranda with the similarly Shakespearean but currently very trendy Ophelia. Namesake-wise Miranda is far more positive, but those few extra vowels seem to make all the difference!'

I think you are right. Personally, I think Ophelia sounds very unattractive, not to speak of the tragic character. Rosalind, Celia, Miranda or Helena sound much better to me.

@rainingsnoring Plus Ophelia has the trendy letter - everyone wants ‘O’ names at the moment!

Hardly met any Serena’s but the two I know of different ages are absolutely lovely and weirdly ate both quite serene! So would definitely consider that really like Miranda too

Strangely, I rather like boy's names that end in an 'O'.

Miranda is odd I agree but Serena is pretty popular. 328th place in the most recent stats. More popular than Amy, Mary, and Megan. I would use Miranda as I only like to choose from names outside the top 1000.

There are others that fall into the Miranda category to me - inexplicably outside the top 1000. Like Viola, Caroline, Marie, Veronica, Anne, Bethan, Jacqueline.

The stats always throw up some funny ones though. Like more baby girls were named Genesis than Jean. And more babies were named Renesmee than Claire. More named Princess than Hermione, more called Brooklyn than Louise.

Yep, @TempsPerdu the trendy “O” does make a difference for Ophelia - everyone is looking for the new Olivia. But I also agree with you about the current unpopularity of “harsher” consonants compared to the softer vowels and “l” sounds - otherwise I can’t explain why Octavia hasn’t risen as quickly as Ophelia (since it’s also 4 syllables and Shakespearean like Olivia and Ophelia).

Our adult daughter is also Miranda, her name chosen because we like Shakespearean names and like its meaning of ‘she who must be admired’. I’m surprised the name has become as rare as it has but, as others have said, trends and fashions change.

Love them both, also love Marina and Meredith which are a similar style to my ear

I don't think boys names want the opposite, not locally to us anyway.

Lots of softer sounding theo, Leo, Luca, Tommy, ruari, alfie types of names are popular.

Miranda I definitely immediately thought the comedian. I’ve also just binge watched And just like that so it did make me think of that. I worked with a few Miranda’s in the early 00s, never been a favourite for me.

Serena I just thought mythical for some reason, sort of like Siren, not sure why, I didn’t make the Williams connection

I had both a Serena and Miranda in my year at school but we were all born 1984/85. I love Miranda and have done for years. Ever since listening to The Tempest on cassette tape aged 9. I also think of the actress Miranda Richardson who played Queenie (Elizabeth 1) in the second series of Blackadder and more recently Rita Skeeter in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I have a like dislike relationship with Serena thanks to my classmate but there is nothing wrong with the name.

I’ve also worked with a few Mirandas (well two!) who would be 40-45 range now. One shortened it to Milly but that was probably because there was another Miranda in our small team! I think it’s a nice name. I went into teaching afterwards and never came across/ taught one in 16 years.

Serena was on my list, but DH wasn’t keen. I really like it and think Serena Williams is not a bad connotation to have! If we’d have gone on to have another one I might have lobbied a bit harder for Serena.

I also really liked Marina but that was an outright veto from DH!