Super common/popular baby names - why?

[Alwaysyoudoyou]

If you gave your baby a very popular name, did you think further than 'I like that'? If yes, what was your reasoning/motivation behind the choice? I'm just curious what makes people choose names from the top 10/20/30 etc? How do you feel when you meet another child with the same name? Or if there are multiple children with the same name in the class or friendship group? I like learning about how people are different and how they make decisions.

Personally I tried really hard to choose names which were recognisable but not overly popular. My motivation was that they would be the only one in their class/of their friendship group, but without it being something outlandish. Basically wanted to avoid the top 100. I'm not sure why it felt important at the time, as I seem to very much enjoy meeting people who share a name with me, but wanted something that felt more unique for my children. Both children also share names with grandparents which added a nice touch for us.

It hasn't worked out mind.... my sons name wasn't even in the top 500 when I chose it and we now know eleven of them 😅and my daughters is appearing on more and more forums so I assume it's catching up!

Anyway as I said, just curious really. No judgement. You do you!

Dd1 had a fairly uncommon name which suddenly became very popular.
Dd2 and 2 ds had traditional family names that you would think were very common. They weren’t at all. Think Benjamin or Emily. They were the only ones in their year.

DD has a name that was very uncommon 30 years ago and we never met any child with her name…now it is very common amongst the under 5s !
Son had a very common name but he never went to school with anyone with same name throughout primary and grammar.
Third child has a very traditional name but it is still not in top 100 and we have never met anyone with his name.

Both of mine have names that were very unusual when they were born more than 30 years ago. Now there’s one of each in every household . It’s fashion.

My dds name wasn’t in the top 50 and I’d never met another one, however she was 1 of 3 in her year group.
My ds name is more unusual and more American so he was the only one in his primary and secondary. I think a certain dog cartoon that started when he was a toddler helped the name remain uncommon.

I have 2 children whose names I have never heard on another child, 1 whose names is fairly uncommon in the UK, and 1 whose name is super common.
I just liked them and the meaning of the name ☺️

If I'd have just gone for the original names I liked before I started waaaaay overthinking it they would have completely different names, and also I wouldn't know another one...ha! Shouldn't have over thought it!

My first thought here was 'Spot!' 😂

My name was so common there were a minimum of four of us in a class of 30 all through primary, and it was a depressingly generic experience. So I gave DS an unusual name. We've only ever met one another, and he was a generation older and from a different culture.

I appreciate some people don't anticipate that a name will suddenly become popular after they use it, but I am personally baffled by parents who choose a name they know is already already extremely popular. In DS's primary school class of 27, there were three Alices, three Imogens, three Harrys (and two Harrisons).

We chose a name for dd1 we liked, we didn't have many friends with kids, didn't know anyone with the name personally though it's a classic name ... it was the 5th most popular that year, was 83rd the year before!

My main concern with names was to avoid a super trendy name. One that is quickly gaining in popularity and will likely date. Names like Arlo, Roman, Ezra, Finley, Theo, Jude, Alfie, Isla, Ella, Mia, Luna, Maeve. I’d say these sort of names are very now and will likely be dated to this time. Some of these weren’t in the top 100 when I named my children but were on the rise. Sometimes it’s hard to know what will suddenly peak though. My children have classic names I have loved forever, that’s why I chose them. They are all in top 100/ 200 so fairly popular, but never been in top 20…hopefully they won’t suddenly get trendy!

thats interesting! I don't know a single Alice or Harrison! I know one Harry and one Imogen from different ends of the country.

Around here it's all Noah, Arlo, Archie, Jack, Albie, Clara, Ivy, Olive...or 4 letter names ending in a (think Rosa, Ella, Tara, Cara, Cora, Lola).

So I guess that's also a factor. Just because it's top 50 nationally doesn't mean it would be in your region, and vice versa.

Thinking was that I'd loved it since I was 18, when it was on the outskirts of the top 100, so why shouldn't I still use it just because it's now top 5? Thinking was also that I want my kids to have nice normal names, and that having a traditional, popular name has never been an issue for me.

I was also safe in the knowledge that popular names today are nowhere near as popular as they once were. As a teacher, I also know that (despite what some people on here will have you believe) it's not that common to have duplicated names in classes these days. When it happens, it can randomly happen to any name, so you may as well just go for what you love. I have one duplicated name in my class next year, different spelling but pronounced the same. Both spellings are well out of the top 100! I also only have one child in the whole class next year with a top 20 name.

As it is, 9 years on we still know nobody else with her top 5 name (personally). We hear it out and about occasionally but that's certainly not an issue. She's still the only one in her whole school and I've still never taught anyone with her name. She thinks it's great when she meets someone else with her name! There are no duplicated names in her whole class. The year below her has one duplicated name which was around the top 50 the year they were born.

I'm a huge advocate for people choosing a name they love, even if it happens to be statistically popular, as it really isn't the issue some on here make it out to be. You can never predict what will be duplicated at their school, or what they next latest trend will be, so personally I don't think it's worth stressing about.

I didn't look at the popularity list. Husband chose first one, I chose second.

Because even the most popular name aren't actually that common IRL. If I remember correctly, the most popular name is only given to 1:50 babies.

Thanks for sharing!

I guess that some people think on these things more than others. I know I personally thought about it a lot so I'd probably be some of the 'on here' of which you speak. But it's only really occurred to me today that it's never bothered me before I was naming a baby. Like, it doesn't bother me that I have multiple friends called Emma, or Jen, or oddly know five separate couples with the same name (as in Emma married Ben...x 5 in my phonebook!) or that I once worked in a team where 6 out of 8 of the men were called Simon. Wasn't a moment to go 'oh poor you!' it just was what it was. Wish I'd had this mini epiphany 6 years ago when spending hours considering what to call the DC!

I wanted to choose a classical name, one that stands the test of time eventhough it's fairly common. I have a name that was popular in the sixties - neither classic or traditional. Just very 'sixties'! I wanted my child to have a name that was timeless and traditional, I do think the fashion for surnames as first names, Harrison/Jackson/Baxter etc won't age well - a bit like my name!

DS1 born in 2018, picked a name in the 60's, yet he will be in a class with 3 others in a few years. Tiny school, composite classes. There's no logic to it.

DS2 we named a really uncommon name, like only 2 born in Scotland since 1974. DH assured me it was common where he came from, but its really not!

I think sometimes when you have your first and you don’t know lots of other babies you don’t know what’s popular.
Ive known 3 people pick names they thought were unusual and in fact all were then the most popular names that year.

Both my daughters names were in the top 9 or 10 most popular girls names in the UK - for three or four years in a row. (between around 1989 to 1991-ish,) which was 3 to 5 years before I had them. The years they were born, their names had dropped right down to between No 75 to 80 in the most popular girls names in the UK list.

When they went to secondary school there were 900 pupils there. And there was only one other girl there with the same name as my younger DD. And my older DD was the only one there with her name. In primary school, (450 pupils,) my younger DD was the only one with her name then, and so was my older DD.

When they started work. there was a few women with their name, but they were at least 4 or 5 years older than them.

I'm the same as you OP. I checked darker greener religiously when pregnant to ensure the name I gave my baby wasn't in at least the top 500 and also wasn't rising too quickly. Her name is around 3500 most popular and there were only 13 born in the year in the most recent dataset available. She was born the year after in 2023 though so no data on that yet.

I had a couple of friends who picked unusual names and really put a lot of meaning /identity into the name, only for it to soar within a year or two. I also had friends that Isis just before ISIS became common. So I thought it didnt matter just pick what you like.

Only 6 people in the U.K. had my son’s name in the year he was born. One of them is in his class at school.

My daughter is named after a close family member (in her 70s). It’s one of the fast rising names a pp mentioned above - was just outside top 100 when she was born but now around 50. But we’ve never come across another in real life.

Both of my kids were named to honour family members with names we loved. I find it quite precious when people obsess over finding unique names for their kids. I have a classic 80s name and it never bothered me that there were other children with the same name.

I have a very common name (7 in my year at school - 1 in 15 of us!) & gave my daughter a top 30 name.

We liked the name and I have always appreciated with my own name that I’m not painfully spelling it out to people, people know how to pronounce it, etc. I had an unusual old English maiden name and that was hard enough without having to spell “O-T-T-I-L-I-E, yes that’s L-I-E on the end” every time.

It doesn’t bother me that I have the same name as others, it was a bonus when I was a kid as I could always get my name on mugs/magnets/pencils! The number of people who lament they could never get their name on souvenirs as a kid or seem to resent their unique name seems to outweigh the “wish I wasn’t called Sarah” types.

My sister is a Grace aged 40. There were NO Grace's then. Fast forward 10 years and I think Grace was the number one name!

DS2 name is a very popular classic that has stood the test of about 2000 years and is shared by about 4 of his close friends x