Page 5 | Are popular names really all that bad?

QueSyrahSyrah · 2024-05-18T18:53:19+00:00

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.

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Cattenberg · 21/05/2024 10:17

notanothernana · 21/05/2024 08:35

As I've said before, I chose Amelia for my now 24 year old. Back then it was about 30th on the list. Since then it has grown and grown in popularity. Wherever she goes, school or college for eg there's always at least another Amelia, or Milly. Tbh I sometimes do regret it but , hey my crystal ball was out of batteries.

And, of course, in the grand scheme of things it means nothing. She's healthy and doing well, happy etc.

You were ahead of the trend, which is cool.

ZoyaTheDestroyer · 21/05/2024 10:55

buolaoir · 21/05/2024 09:56

But no name now is anywhere near as popular as David once was! David had a time when 4% of babies born were named it. Noah, the most popular name in 2021 was only given to 0.7% of babies.

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Sure, but most people don't move through education / workplaces / social contexts which accurately reflect the national picture. Whether for reasons of geography, demography, culture or whatever, most people will at some point find themselves in concentrations of other people like them, and this is where you will find clumps of names! There will be some places where those Noahs find they are surrounded by namesakes, and other people who will go their whole lives without meeting a Noah.

WayDownThere · 21/05/2024 11:00

IMO it depends if there are negative associations with names/snobbery. I have a very common name from the 70s which has that very thing. People do judge, if I was a Jessica or a Louise I'm sure I wouldn't have that. They are also common names but don't have the negative assumptions.

CurlewKate · 21/05/2024 11:22

I've never met a child who didn't love meeting another child with the same name. And if you think it takes a name to
Make a baby unique you have bigger problems.

VelvetTurtle · 21/05/2024 11:28

GreatestGatsby · 21/05/2024 00:34

There’s obviously nothing inherently bad about a popular name—as lots of people have said, there’s a reason popular names are popular and lots of folks don’t mind (or even enjoy) having a name that’s a duplicate of someone’s else in their social circle, whether that’s as a school child or an adult.

Something I think about, though, is that people don’t always end up innocuously as Lily S and and C, or Blonde Lily and Tall Lily, as a pp’s post… some people end up with an identifier based on a characteristic they might not like and since a name is something you carry around all day, it can make things a bit worse day to day.

My best friend at school was one of several “Lily”s in our year, unusually tall, and not especially slim. She fairly often called “Big Lily”, which wasn’t meant cruelly, but she hated it as she was self-conscious about her size anyway. I wouldn’t say it was “traumatic”, and she obviously survived, but it made school and young adulthood just a bit worse for her. Or I can imagine there being a “Pretty Lily” or a “Clever Lily”—it’s probably fine to be Tall Lily as opposed to Blonde Lily, but it’s got to sting a bit to not be the pretty one or the clever one by definition.

Might well not happen, probably less likely to happen now than a few years ago, and wouldn’t bother everyone, but it’s something I’m bearing in mind when picking names out.

It’s sort of the opposite to the point people here always make when virtue names or names with strong associations are suggested (what if Grace is a clumsy kid, what if Ciarán’s hair turns blond when he’s a toddler, or the ever-charming ‘Chastity will probably end up being a right slag’).

This is true I know someone growing up who was referred to as "fat Paula" when people were describing which Paula they were referring to. And pp previously mentioned that their child refers to one of their friends as "pretty lily" now imagine being the other (not so pretty) lily....

Waitingfordoggo · 21/05/2024 11:32

I have a DC with an incredibly popular name (when we chose it 19 years ago, we knew it was already popular at the time but didn’t know how much more popular it would become!) It’s never been an issue. There were a couple of others in DC’s year at school but not one in every class by any stretch.

I was born in the late 70s and was given a name which was popular at the time. There were at least 2 in every class in my year group but that wasn’t a problem either. We either had our surname initial tagged on or were known by nicknames. I liked my name then and still like it now.

SerenityNowInsanityLater · 21/05/2024 11:37

I chose Theodor/Theo for my now 22 year old son and believe me, it was not popular back then. But by the time he started nursery, it was definitely on the up, well, apparently. According to MN it is overcooked. That hasn't been at all my son's experience of his name. He went to nursery, primary, secondary, sixth form, and uni in London and only shared his name 'Theo' with one other student who was in year 7 with him for less than a year before moving off to Kent.
Basically, he's never had another Theo in his schools or classes bar that one year.

ZoyaTheDestroyer · 21/05/2024 12:40

SerenityNowInsanityLater · 21/05/2024 11:37

I chose Theodor/Theo for my now 22 year old son and believe me, it was not popular back then. But by the time he started nursery, it was definitely on the up, well, apparently. According to MN it is overcooked. That hasn't been at all my son's experience of his name. He went to nursery, primary, secondary, sixth form, and uni in London and only shared his name 'Theo' with one other student who was in year 7 with him for less than a year before moving off to Kent.
Basically, he's never had another Theo in his schools or classes bar that one year.

But this is exactly what you would expect. Theo was a fairly unusual name when you named your DS and therefore, exactly as you would expect, while he’s been in an age-related cohort throughout education he hasn’t met any. He will probably be the only Theo in his workplace for a while too. The explosion of Theo is a 2010s phenomenon so in about ten years he will start meeting a lot of Theos and will continue to do so for a while, although they will always be quite a bit younger than him.

SonicTheHodgeheg · 21/05/2024 12:55

SerenityNowInsanityLater · 21/05/2024 11:37

I chose Theodor/Theo for my now 22 year old son and believe me, it was not popular back then. But by the time he started nursery, it was definitely on the up, well, apparently. According to MN it is overcooked. That hasn't been at all my son's experience of his name. He went to nursery, primary, secondary, sixth form, and uni in London and only shared his name 'Theo' with one other student who was in year 7 with him for less than a year before moving off to Kent.
Basically, he's never had another Theo in his schools or classes bar that one year.

I have similar aged kids and Theo is unsual for that age group.

When people say a name is overdone they mean for babies. There were different naming trends when we had babies and were moving away from 90s trends to 00s ones.

DearOccupant · 21/05/2024 13:00

I have a very common 70s name and have always been surrounded by others and hate having to be known by name-surname all the time. I also shared a house at university with 3 friends who were also named a (different) common 70s name and we were collectively known as the ‘xx’s’. They were all known by nicknames. There were also a lot of Claire’s around and we did have a ‘pretty Claire’ in the mix which can’t have been nice for the others. Once went on a group holiday where there were 3 Emma’s and 3 of me. My daughters class doesn’t have that same problem (no repeats), but many with the same sound (8 of the 15 girls in her class both start and end in A…including an Amelia and an Ava. There’s also an Eva). We went for a classic but not common name (200 and something when she was born), even then there is another one in her dance class so will probably end up at secondary together. I was trying to avoid my fate for her as it is a bit of a pain.

yetanothernayme · 21/05/2024 14:22

It's also worth considering how long names have been popular for. Eg my DD is in her mid teens and there are multiple Olivias in her year. I work with babies and toddlers, I see many Olivias still. So when they all leave school and go out into the world they are likely to come across others with the same name wherever they are. This might be less likely if a name has short lived popularity. It's not just about class mates, but co workers etc going forward.
Whether that matters to you as a parent, I suspect depends on how popular your own name is!

buolaoir · 21/05/2024 17:02

ZoyaTheDestroyer · 21/05/2024 10:55

Sure, but most people don't move through education / workplaces / social contexts which accurately reflect the national picture. Whether for reasons of geography, demography, culture or whatever, most people will at some point find themselves in concentrations of other people like them, and this is where you will find clumps of names! There will be some places where those Noahs find they are surrounded by namesakes, and other people who will go their whole lives without meeting a Noah.

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Yes. But nothing now days will be compared to the level of David or similar names. David was hugely popular over 40 years, it went from 4%, declined slightly but never below 2%. So I wouldn’t worry about Noah’s 0.7% popularity if that’s the name you like. Sure you will get pockets but it won’t ever be to that extent!