Should I change my baby’s name?

[Koalie]

Helllp?
My son is due to start nursery in a couple of months - he is 8 months old at the moment. My husband and I had his name picked out for years before he was born because we both loved it. However, since we named him we’ve realised that it’s one of the top names in the country and we’re hearing it pop up EVERYWHERE around where we live. There are already 3 little boys with the same name at his nursery!!
I am seriously considering whether we should start calling him by a shortened version of his middle name which we also really like (but not as much) and ask the nursery to do the same before he starts being known by his real name to everyone. I am thinking of him - I would have hated to have the same name as others in my class at school and have to stick the first letter of my surname on the end so that everyone could differentiate.
Please could you all give me your thoughts? Am I being silly? What would you do?
X

The only time it might matter to him, is when he is a teen,he and another leo will pretty soon come up with nicknames that differentiate between them if needs be.

Teens call each other all sorts, often created from their surnames anyway
Leo Robinson and Leo Smith will be Robo and Smithy , amongst their mates

My brother was one of about six Michaels at school and had a nickname based on his surname. He HATED it as he just wanted to be known by his actual name.

Leo Robinson and Leo Smith will be Robo and Smithy

That alone would make me choose a less popular name!

I saw the title and was ready to post advising just his name if you're unhappy with it (because i did change my son's name at 6 months!), but for that reason- because it's common, I wouldn't. If you've loved it for years, that trumps everything else! The name my son is now is the one I had loved for years, and I really regretted not using it, which is partly why we changed it to this! His name isn't common in our area, but it is common on Mumsnet!

Leo is lovely. There are none at my DS's nursery, you've just been unlucky with the popularity of it at yours. Let him stay Leo. You'll change it to Vinnie and they'll be 3 Vinnies when he goes to school and no Leos!!

They are lovely names so it would be a shame to change them. You named him Leo for a reason and the reason still stands. My name is very common and so was my maiden name and there were THREE of us with the same first and surnames at school, in the same class! We all managed!
Mind you, I would have changed my Christian name in a heartbeat if I could have done, as I hated it. My parents called me Ann because they didn’t want a name that could be shortened. That backfired because most people called me Annie! Luckily I married a man with a very nice and quite unusual surname so it turned out ok in the end!