Archie

[Luminous2789]

I know it is not particularly popular on MN as it is too popular however surely popular means it is quite a nice name.
I love this name as it has family connections. Please give me your honest thoughts other than being popular

It is incredibly popular around me, one of the most popular boys names in the area. It's not for me (not because it's popular, that wouldn't bother me). I'm put off by the ones I know as they tend to be little pains in the whatsits 😂 It just seems to be one of those typical 'naughty boy' names you hear screeched across the supermarket/park etc. It tends to be a popular pick among really young mums around me, but I think ie/y names in general seem to really appeal to younger parents as names like Teddy, Alfie and Ronnie are also popular picks among young parents around me.

Obviously if you love it that's all that matters, but you asked for honesty so that's my own personal experience of the name and why I'm not keen.

I literally loathe all ‘ie’ names, unless on a dog.

Arthur is nice (still popular and has the ‘Ar’)

Aww I’m proud mum to an Archie who’s adorable, he’s 11 now. There’s quite a few Archie’s about now. Onv I like the name ❤️

It's not for me personally. I think of it as a pet name or a naughty boy's name.

Just pick the name you want

Archibald = Archie

It’s cute. I like it but wouldn’t use it because it’s popular.

Lovely name 😊

It's twee and common at the same time.

It will date badly.....

surely popular means it is quite a nice name

So all the 'popular' names from the past were 'quite nice' Thinking of Nigel, Clive, Wayne etc....

I only know one Archie and I have to say he is the loveliest lad I've ever known. He's 16, he's kind hearted, clever, works hard and is generally an inherently good person!

I think it’s a cute name. Know a few lovely Archie’s age 6-13 age. None of them are naughty boys!

No to any names ending in ie.

Lucy, Winnie, Dorothy, Mary, Emily? Or just boys?

I think it’s the Jack of this decade - not my taste but go for the name you like best!

It can’t be that popular. There are so many names. The few Archie’s I’ve come across have been very nice.

Including your own?

In all honesty, I’d only use Archie for a middle name - and only because it has family links in your case, which is lovely.

But that is because (while I don’t care about popularity as such) I personally don’t like first names that will likely date a person - and every Archie I’ve met has either been a child/young teenager or a very elderly man (who was probably Archibald on the BC).

However there are loads of names in the Top 100 like this - cutesy, diminutive/nn style “OAP” names, so I’m clearly the odd one out and it’s unlikely to cause your Archie any hardship in life (as there will be plenty of others in his peer group with similar style names).

I think it's a nice enough name but would expect him to be one of several in his class at school, which would probably put me off using it (as a first name at least). But I do like the name 😊

It’s a cute name.

I prefer Archibald.

My Dad has a friend called Arch. He is a gentleman of the highest measure. His name is Archibald. Perhaps when he was younger he was Archie.

l’m the proud mother of a 24 year old Archie, it’s a great name. He’s often called Arch by friends and family. If it’s a special family name I’d say go for it.

One of several in a class is very unlikely, even 2 in a class is unlikely! There are around 18,000 primary schools in England & Wales, and in 2023 there were 2400 Archie’s born. You do get pockets though but many many classes won’t have a single Archie. Popular names are no where near as popular as they used to be.

Exactly this. I've been teaching for 15 years. in that time I've only had 3 or 4 classes with duplicated names. A couple of times it was something completely random anyway, which the parents wouldn't have dreamed would be duplicated, proving that this mystical horror of having a name duplicated at school (which really isn't the end of the world anyway) really can happen to any name.

People trot out this 'will be one of many at school' line to put people off top 20 names, without any consideration or understanding of the fact that the number of registrations the top names are getting each year is drastically falling year on year, as people seemingly strive to be more and more different.

I work in a 3 form entry primary, so fairly large. The most popular boys name at our school, with around 10 in the whole school (across 21 classes) is actually in the lower realms of the top 100. The most common girls name at our school, which I can think of, are top 50 (one top 10, one top 20 and one 40ish) but there's only around 5 of each across 21 classes (rarely 2 with the same name in the same year group, let alone class). You really never can predict these things and it really is no biggy having someone else at school with the same name as you.

This. It also gets shortened to Arch, which isn't a nice adjective.
It's been very popular for about 15 years and seems a bit overused.