What names do you think have lost their charm due to overuse?

[Sophcas7]

For me it’s Emily, I absolutely adored the name as a child. I was born in the early 80s before Emily was popular so it sounded rare back then and had a cute old timey vibe, i named one of my dolls Emily and even as a teen I was sure I wanted to name my future daughter Emily.

Now I’m so glad I didn’t… it’s still a gorgeous name me but it’s obscene popularity in the 90s/00s ruined the timeless feel of the name for me personally. It feels very of an era to me now which is crazy because it felt sooo unique to me as a child. I ended up giving my kids classic names similar to Emily but not as ubiquitous.

Has anyone else got names that they loved but then they got too popular and it ruined the name for them?

isabelle / Isabella / Erin / Finley / Callum / Albie / Archie / Olivia… abd definitely Rebecca / Becky

if a woman is over 30, it seems there’s like a 1:3 chance she’s a Becky

Charlie

Evelyn, alfie

Emily Emilia Emme Esme Talia Amelia Amelie

Emma is still nicer than all of the above, not sure why but 🤷‍♀️

Jack, Harry, Theo, Alfie, Oliver… might as well be called Boy A, Boy B, Boy C

Lily, Millie, Evie, Ellie, Olivia, Sophie, … Yawn…

Why don’t parents try just a little harder? At least try to avoid names that are ALREADY really popular?

There are real children behind these names

Yes, way too many of them!

I think some parents actually like using a popular name that loads of other kids will also have, as some posts on this thread have illustrated. For me, that's what I want to avoid - just like I don't want to look like most people or have the exact same music taste as most people, because if everyone's doing it I find it boring. But we're all different and some people find that attitude baffling or actively pretentious.

I remember about 15 years ago every other boy in our primary school was an Alex, and a family we knew had a baby and called him... Alex. Inwardly I was going FGS WHY, sooooo boring (didn't say anything of course), but they'd probably feel the same about my kids' unusual names.

Of course either way you're inflicting your own preferences on your child, that's the nature of baby names. But I suppose there's at least a chance you'll bring up kids with a similar outlook to yourself so they're more likely to be happy than not.

Well I think this is unkind. All names are individual. Kids at school call you different variations of your name, which often stick.

Yes, often others need to resort to variations of your name to identify you - at work we have a Small Sarah, Big Sarah, HR Sarah, etc

Much better to give your child a memorable name that’s less likely to be duplicated.

Chloe - in the 80s and early 90s a really unusual, elegant Classical name. After its big name explosion it was everywhere and I don’t think I ever thought of it the same way again!

You’ve just listed the boys in my sons class 😂

Oscar. When I was 15 I decided that if I had a son, he’d be called Oscar. At that point, it was niche as to be a bit embarrassing. By the time I was seriously thinking about babies twenty years later, it was top 10.

My son is not called Oscar! I still love the name, but I didn’t want him to be one of thousands.

This!

Why do parents knowingly choose a name that is already very fashionable/popular? It will inevitably fall out fashion and start to sound overused and dated.

This did actually make me laugh 😂

Give a thought to the child, who’ll be the actual person with the name! I was the only child in my school with my name. It’s not wacky, it’s a proper recognised name but relatively uncommon. I hated being the only one in school/ brownies/ youth club etc with it. Honestly I longed to be a Sarah/ Emily/ Eleanor or something else lovely but where I didn’t stand out as the only one.

Now I’m in my fifties I’ve met a few others with my name over my lifetime and I can say that I recognise it’s actually a lovely name with a beautiful meaning. But all the way through school I loathed it being my name.

so while as a parent you may want your child to stand out with a name that’s not heard a lot, it might be the last thing they want

It seems to vary a lot by area.

I have one DD whose name has been mentioned on this thread, yet I’ve had loads of comments about it being a beautiful and unusual name!

My other DD’s name has not been mentioned on the thread but based on ONS numbers is definitely the more popular of the two 🤷‍♀️

Meh! A name is just a name and everyone has personal reasons for their choice.
My son’s name is always in the top 10 and I don’t care there were family history reasons behind the choice.

so go ahead and choose the name you like without worrying about if a random MN person is judging you

Give a thought to the child, who’ll be the actual person with the name!

I was said child - I’ve always hated sharing my overused 1970s name with others. At school, at work, at social events I always have to add my surname to identity myself properly. I wish my parents had tried a little harder….I was always envious of those with beautiful names that are more memorable than my own.

Matilda and Oliver