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!

Both my DS have names that were in the top 20 the year they were born. I chose them because they are timeless, they have history, they have never been out of fashion, and all of that is for a reason - they are nice names. In fact I think DS1's name is THE boys name and all other names are just trying to be that good.

It doesn't bother me at all that the names are popular. For a start, because they are timeless classics, they come with lots of nicknames. DS1 had the same first and middle name as a boy in his class at primary school but was known by a different version of the first name so it never seemed they had the same name. We don't feel surrounded by children with the same name. There has never been more than one other in a class.

DS has a popular name, will probably always be in the top ten. It was my grandfather’s name, DH and I both felt strongly about family names, so both first and middle are names of grandparents and both are biblical which is also important to us.

I have an unusual name. Almost unique in the U.K. in the year I was born (I’ve checked there were fewer than 5 in that year!) It’s still unusual in the U.K. I hate it. I hate correcting spellings and mispronunciations. I grew up wanting to be called Louisa. I’ve grown into my name, but wouldn’t inflict this on another human being.

Also, names which are unusual really do have a shelf life. In fact I’d say initial letters even have fads: a few years ago almost a quarter of the boys in my class started with K, other years I’ve had lots of Js. Girls appear to have moved on from flowers to Victorian/ WW1 names. When you teach, you tend to encounter a lot of names, it makes it really hard to name your own children!

My sons name wasnt popular but a very famous person used the same name for their son so it's gaining popularity. I still haven't actually met anyone with the same name though!

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.

Same here. I hated and still hate needing to add my surname in order to be identified! Wish my parents had tried a little harder

Both our dc have names that were used about 20 times in their birth years and still remain fairly infrequently used.

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.

It may not bother you, but being one of those with such popular names myself, it really does bother me.

Names are meant to identify us!!!

I can completely understand how it would be irksome. Just saying it's interesting to me that I was so set against it for my children when it never particularly worried me when it was me.

I have a very popular name which can be shortened in multiple ways. There were at least 5 in my year at school. Luckily the one in my class shortened her name differently to me. Then in a later job (oddly the same role as the Simons!) there were 3 of us in the same pretty small team.

We went for names we liked that are easy to spell. One child has an unusual name amd one has a very common one. I don't understand why it is an issue if a name dates to a time period, children born now are hardly likely to want to pretend they are from 1973. You can't stop someone from using the same you do, so just pick what you like the sound of. I don't know a single Alby/Albie over age 8, but several younger ones, so it is amazing how quickly popularity can explode.

@SprigatitoYouAndIKnow , but back in 1972, Kelly, Lynsey and Claire were fresh newish names but now they say "50 something".

We live in a society that favours youth.

Really? I'm a teacher and have loads of duplicate names in my classes! The fact that it's a girls' school will make that more likely though. I have 3 Imogens in one class, two classes with 2 Islas, plus various other duplicates including one class that has 2 girls who share both first and last names!

I was born in the seventies but given a very old fashioned name from the thirties that has never ben popular.
At school I longed to have one of the popular names such as Karen, Tracey or Sharon. I still hate my name now.

Dds name isn't a very popular name but the shortened name is and we always shorten it.
Ds has a name that isn't very popular, don't know anyone else with his name.

I have 3 Imogens in one class, two classes with 2 Islas, plus various other duplicates including one class that has 2 girls who share both first and last names!

Wow, that must be confusing! How do you differentiate between the two?

We gave our son an uncommon name and then gave our daughter a name which I knew was no. 16 at the time for girls. I figured it doesn't really matter if someone else has the same name. I've met 2 other kids with my son's name and at least 10 with my daughter's name. For me it seemed more important to avoid names that are commonly mispronounced or misspelt because I thought that would be really annoying (but my friend has a hard-to-pronounce name and she says she doesn't mind).

I was one of 3 with my name in my class. I didn't mind. My mother said recently she gave her 4 kids names that weren't common at the time but became common later. I looked it up and we were actually all top 20 for the years we were born (I was no. 2, my sister was no. 3). At least now we have the ability to check and make an informed decision on whether there are going to be numerous kids with the same name.

I chose a name that was no 1 for girls names the year my daughter was born.

My name was also the most popular girls name when I was born.

On friend had three lots of mum friends with our combo of names.

But my husband and I chose ot because we liked it...we always had.

Yes, there were 2 in her primary class....and 3 for a shirt time at primary.

We didn't loose any sleep over it.

DS 1 has a name which was the most popular baby name the year he was born. We also have a common surname however it was a name I'd loved since I was a child (when it was less popular) and there wasn't anything else DH and I liked more. We chose it knowing there would be lots of people with his name. I couldn't get my head round choosing something I liked less just to be different.

Ottilie is one of the most popular names and fastest rising names in the UK...it was the 83rd most popular girls name in 2022.

I have a very popular name. At school, sometimes there was more than one of us in the class with the same name, sometimes I was the only one. Likewise now at work, sometimes there have been several colleagues with the same name, sometimes none. It's had absolutely no bearing on my life whatsoever. I don't give it any thought. My parents chose my name because they like it and still do. That's all anyone should consider when naming a child. Sometimes you can try too hard to be different.

DH and I try to just choose names that we like without worrying about how popular they are. Our son’s name is actually not even in the top 100, that wasn’t intentional we just chose it because we liked it. Our favourite girls name is also not in the top 100. However our top name for if we have another boy just happens to be in the top 30. Popularity of names isn’t something I really worry about. I have a very popular name for my age and it’s never bothered me, I actually liked that it couldn’t be seen as “weird” in any way as people in school found enough to tease me for already. You also don’t really know how popular a name will be in the future.

One of my DDs went to a village primary school with less than 40 pupils in the whole school. The last year she was there, there were 7 Emilys.

And of the 7, 5 had surnames beginning with S, so you couldn't even differentiate with "Emily J" and "Emily P" 🤣

i have one child with a ‘classic’ top ten name and one with a name that was very unusual when we named her but has increased in popularity, although I think never more than top 40 or so. Both kids like their names (now young adults)

I didn’t want an ‘of it’s time’ name (the sort where you can tell how old someone is from the name: I can give you a rough age on women or girls named Wendy, Freya, Sharon or Annabel for example.) I somethings think we try to avoid whatever name annoyance has been our growing up experience (my name definitely dates me!) - so kids with unusualnames they have to spell out grow up to have kids with ‘safe’ names and vice versa!

Oh and to answer the qu: kid with top ten name has that name because we liked it best! The second choice name was very unusual. It was more about the names than its ranking.

My name (Kate) was very common for 70s babies and I've always been one of many in every class/workplace/friendship group! It doesn't bother me at all and never has.

My own kids have got similarly classic, straightforward, slightly boring names. Big personalities though 🙂

I have a very common name. I knew loads in every class, every hobby, every workplace. even my first name middle name combo is super popular and I have personally known lots.

Even at my hobby there are only five girls and two of us have my name. There are four women on my team at work and two of us have my name.

It really fucks me off to be honest. I like my name but I wish it wasn’t so popular in my age group. And I wish my parents had some bloody originality about them. I think it’s actually quite selfish to give a child an overused name.

Weirdly my name was the top female name for my year and I hardly ever ever meet another one!!

My DD has a name I had met twice before, since having her, I've met two more! Top 500 classic but not super popular.

The name Eve and its derivatives is insane where we live. Literally every other girl in dds primary class was Eve/evie/eva generic and also very confusing. Remember a new
mum proudly announcing her baby Eve internally was “nooooooo” there are already hundreds of them!