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’s too H&M

I wonder why it's seen as a naughty boys name?

Name your child what you like regardless of popularity. It is popular because it is a nice name.
I have an uncommon name and it's frankly a pain AND there was someone with the same name in my class.
DD has a name consistently in the top 10 and we've never met another.

I honestly don't understand this aversion to popular names. Why does it matter?

Firstly, it can be a pain to have to add your surname or other adjective to be identified

Secondly, fashionable names fall OUT of fashion and start to sound dated.

That's why some parents prefer more timeless and underused (outside top 100 or so) names!

I love this description.

Archie is awful. It’s today’s version of Gary.

@Sunnyflow
"Firstly, it can be a pain to have to add your surname or other adjective to be identified"

That can happen to any name. My dd is called Grace-and she has only ever met 1 other in her life. My DS has an outside100 name and had another one in his class.

Outside 100 are much more likely to be trendy and therefore likely to "date" (whatever that means)

Even the most popular names are only likely to be given to about 1:50 of that sex of babies. So one per primary school. Can't see that as a problem if it's a name you like.

That's why some parents prefer more timeless and underused (outside top 100 or so) names!

Which is great until the unusual name you chose suddenly becomes fashionable and quickly rises to the top 20, giving your child a trendy name. You never know what will happen, a celebrity could use it, or Disney release a film etc and just like that the rare name you chose is fashionable. Or overly associated with the film (Elsa!). So really you’re better off just going with the name you love! Or if you really don’t want a dated name go for a complete classic which has always been top 100 (James, Thomas, Edward etc).

Outside 100 are much more likely to be trendy and therefore likely to "date"

I wouldn't call any names currently outside the top 100 or top 250 as trendy. They may rise and become fashionable, but many do not!

Which is great until the unusual name you chose suddenly becomes fashionable and quickly rises to the top 20, giving your child a trendy name.

Yes, that risk is there.

But that's very different to choosing a name that is ALREADY trendy.

Bit twee for me.

To me, the benefits of a popular name are more than not- everything from likely having a sound that people like, to being able to get junk in shops with their name on, being easy for most people to know how to spell and pronounce, likely sounding fairly “fresh”, fitting in with their peers etc

My only issue with popular names is that imo you have to hope they stay popular - otherwise you risk being the Karen/Kevin of 40 years time.

It’s still a nice name even though popularity will put a lot of people off using it. If it has positive family connections for you that’s a really nice thing to pass on so I think that supersedes the popularity concern.

My dog is Archie, named by a friend who knew we wanted a good name for our Labrador.
DD (11) has two in her class, DS2 (14) has 4.
We're in Scotland.

Love it,there's two in my son's year. I can think of at least 5 Archie's aged between 6-10

Twee and awful.

surely popular means it is quite a nice name

I don't think so - nice is subjective anyway. It wasn't popular 20 years ago, but wasn't any more or less nice because of it.

Personally I don't like it. I don't like nicknames like that as given names. But as I said, it's totally subjective.

as it is too popular however surely popular means it is quite a nice name.
Not necessarily. It's fashion. Archie wasn't popular 30 years ago.
When I was at school, there were loads of Darrens, Ians and Steves, but there aren't many boys with those names now. Did they stop being nice names?

Babies called Archie in England & Wales since 1996

surely popular means it is quite a nice name

No, popular just means fashionable at a point in time.

Karen, Sharon, Kevin, Wayne were all popular names in the 1970s - are they really objectively 'nice' names???

Archie already feels dated to me.