Are popular names really all that bad?

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I see often on MN name choices being warned against as they're 'so popular' and 'everywhere' (but at the same time, don't go too far against the grain because nobody will be able to spell or pronounce it!).

I've just been reading a couple of articles about the 2022 ONS baby names report that was published the other day and from +/- 300,000 boys born in 2002 in England and Wales, about 4500 of them were the most popular Noah, so 1.5%.

Of +/- 300,000 girls, about 3000 were Olivia, so 1%.

Obviously there's variance from area to area and by demographic so the percentage will probably be a bit higher in some places than others, but 1-1.5% doesn't seem all that overwhelming common to me.

I've spent a lot of time stressing myself out that some of our favourite names are in the top 10, but based on the above information I've decided to let it go and use the name we love regardless of how close to the top of the list it is.

Some names sound more popular than the ONS could show. For example, Amelia, Mia, Amelie, Emily all sound similar and therefore to me sound more common than they actually are.

Whereas names like Thomas (although not now top 10) sound less common because there aren’t other names similar.

Depends if it bothers you if your child will be one of 3/4 kids in the same class as them. It bothered me so yes I avoided popular names as didn't want my kids to be Amelia V or Olivia V all through school.

Popular names are popular for a reason! Mine has a very popular name and i don't regret it. Use the name you love, you never know there might not be any others in their class anyway - or you could choose a name you think isn't so popular and find there is another one!

Popular names aren’t as popular as they were in say, the 80’s because more people are using a bigger variety of names now.

If you use the name Noah, it’s unlikely he’ll be one of 3-4 in his class.

Well that's not a guarantee by any means is it?

There are circa 18,000 primary schools in England & Wales and 3000 Olivias born in 2022, so it stands to reason that there won't be 3-4 Olivias in each reception class in a few years time, unless you happen to be in a very Olivia dense area.

By secondary school there is more chance, but there are still more Secondary Schools than Olivias born in that year, and most with multiple classes/forms per year group.

My DD has a popular name. She's named after my grandmother but it's one of those names that has come back into fashion! She's often not the only one with her name in a class / sports club, but she doesn't care and she loves her name. DH and I love it too!

Well unfortunately there was 3 Amelia's in my son's class. You asked why people didn't like popular names and that's my reason, yes you could name your child apple and there still be one in the class as well but that's far less likely so not really worth talking about and as it happens both my sons are the only ones in their whole school with their names.

I was one of six with my name by senior school (think top 5 early 80s names) and yeah, it was irritating. My name does have a variety of nicknames and spellings but still difficult to differentiate and I did insist on a name outside the top 10 for DD.

I have an ella which wasn't popular when I named her but now it's really common. I still like the name though and it really suits her !

It really doesn’t bother me. I do find it a bit childish to be honest: people determined to show their uniqueness through their naming choices are a bit try-hard. I would probably try to avoid names that very obviously date for the child’s sake but that’s my only caveat.

I’m not sure you can always predict it though. My daughter has no girls with a top 10 name in her class of 29 but two Aurora’s and two Luna’s.

Not actually that likely to happen. There are 16,000 primary schools in England, so with only 3000 Olivia’s there are going to be many year groups without an Olivia in at all. In fact in my DC’s reception class I think there is only one top ten name. No Olivia’s, Amelia’s, Noah’s etc.

20 years ago the most popular name had about 10,000 uses each year, then even more than that the further back you go. Olivia wouldn’t even had made the top ten with 3000 uses back then.

Of course you can have name pockets, where you might get 3 in one class, but quite rare now days. And can happen in with any name. And some names blend so it feels like you hear them a lot. Eg there seem to be loads of short girls names ending in ‘a’. Mia, Maya, Isla, Ava etc

But if you like a name, I wouldn’t let being in the top 10 put you off now days.

My son has a name that has been top 10 for the past couple of decades, he’s the only one in the entire infant class, and there are doubles of other much less popular names so you can’t always guess it anyway 🤷🏼‍♀️

I think it's the similar sounding ones. Eg Amelia, Emilia, Amelie. If you added together the Amelia's and Emilia's they would be wayyy more popular than Olivia.

Equally, the absolute army of Evie, Eva, Ava, Isla, Ivy names. They all mould into one.

It's always been a problem! I'm in my seventies and there 5 Susans and 3 Jennifers out of 60 in my year at secondary school. Also 2 Beverlys, 2 Penelopes, 3 Patricias, 2 Marys, and even 2 Brionys. We managed.

I would just go with the names you love. I've only ever known one Amelia in the many years it's been popular, so as you say it's not a given. Just depends how much it bothers you. I have a child with a top 30 name and she's the only one in her class.

I agree that they’re popular for a reason - because lots of people like them. I’ve got a popular 60s/70s name. It’s fine. Easy for people to remember and makes me laugh when there are three of us sitting in a row at meetings.

My son has a popular name but he was the only one with that name in a school of 450. He then moved to a tiny school of 60 and there were two others with the same name in his class!

Why does it matter that another child has the same name? I’m curious because I’d have definitely preferred to have been one of several Lauras or Kates or Rachels than my own ‘unique’ name. It’s actually got some strengths to it but as a teenager I was just desperate to blend in a bit and people making a fuss over your first name is really not conducive to that.

I'm with you, such a small amount of kids get given the top names these days that I really don't think popularity is a massive issue. Days of 3+ kids in a class with the same name are all but hone now. If it happens, it's more fluke than inevitably and can happen to any name in or around the top 100, not just the top 20.

Parents to be remember the days of each class having 4 Sarahs, 3 Michaels, 2 Davids etc but it's really not like that now. You're more likely to have a class of Harlow, Wyatt, Xander, Ocean, Lyra, Everett, Jasper, Nova, Otis and Ophelia etc as everyone strives to be different these days (and those parents are likely to be far more pissed off at a duplication that parents of Olivia, Ivy, Noah, Archie, Amelia, George, Theo, Isla etc, who were probably half expecting that it could happen).

I only tend to mention popularity as a 'negative' on here if it's in response to someone who is considering something currently very popular, despite saying they want to avoid popular names, as I'd assume they had no idea and would appreciate me pointing it out. Personally though, I'd much rather pick something I love even if it was statistically high up.

When my son was born 29 yes ago his name wasn't even in the top 100 (not the reason we chose it!) and in year 7 there were 3 in his class! (4 in his year group). It's a fairly popular name now, top 20 I suspect

Popular names means lots of people like them. This sounds like a good thing to me? We chose names we liked, not bothered where they were in the top lists. I only know my son wasn't in the top 100 cos I looked it up when he went into year 7 out of curiosity.

One of my best friends in secondary school had the same name as me. Literally the same first name AND surname. We coped 😆

My children have popular names and have only had one or no other children in the class with the same name. My son was in a class of 30 with 5 Sophie or Sophia which wasn’t the number one name that year.

When analysing ONS type lists, you should group similar names together to work out how likely a child is to share a similar name. Eg Eve/Eva/Evie/Ava/Evelyn because they sound similar so prone to being misheard by the kids.

I am pushing 80 now.When I was at school in the 1950s all girls born in December tended to be called Carol, Christine or Mary.Boys born in that month were almost all Christopher, Joseph or David.In my class there were four Carols, three Christines and a lot of Marys.
My own name was popular of the time but not in the top ten, you hardly find it in it's full version now, but it is quite popular in one of it's shortened forms.

Me, dh, dd and ds all have incredibly popular names for the years we were born. Dh and I have at least 3 friends each with the same names as us. Dd and ds also - several kids in their classes and school years with the same names. I've never had a single moment's worry about any of it. When you think of all the things that matter and that you have to worry about, this pales into absolute insignificance.