Archie

[MotherKate2777]

I know the name is popular but this is our top contender due to sentimental meaning. Is the name really awful? How many do you know?

Love Archie, there are 3 in my son’s year plus 1 albie and 2 Alfie’s.
so yes popular but not a reason not too.

In 2024, 2575 baby boys were registered as Archie in England & Wales, @Winebefore5 .
Baby name explorer

I don't like it, @MotherKate2777 , but it's not awful. Archer and Archibald are hideous.

Just to add variation to the debate. I has an ancestor born 1795 who was named Archley. It didn’t seem to be popular as it wasn’t, as far as I could find, re-used.

I do think Archie is awful. The way it sounds, the commonness and how it’s derived from Archibald!

I don't like the Arch bit, and he'd get called Arch. In some accents it sounds like Arch-eh.

yes, I had looked at the Scottish numbers. As I’ve already said.
2575 is still a tiny percentage of all the babies born that year.

I love it.

Our street has three Albie's (all dogs though 😂).

But it's been popular for a long time, and after you leave school, you mix with other age groups. It's been a top 20 name for decades. @Winebefore5

I don't especially like Archie, but I don't think there are so many it is a problem.

If you avoid names that other people have, you stumble into yooonique territory quite fast. Nothing wrong with tried and tested in a name imo.

Olivia I would agree is overused, as is Isabella and probably Harry (which I really like) and Oliver/Oscar. But I would still use them if I had a family reason to.

I dislike the look of it, the sound of it... plus it's just so twee and I don't like cutesy names for either sex.

But if you like it, use it. Other people's opinions don't matter.

It’s ugly and twee at the same time. And way overused - it will date badly.

I feel like Albie is one of those names that's cute on a little kid but a bit twee on an adult

Archie, Albie, Alfie all sound the same and will date badly imo

Awful.

Archie is super cute!

I know a 15 year old Archie and he’s a lovely young man.

This reminds me of a colleague who had a son Archie. Her sister went in to have a boy she named Albie. They obviously like similar names!

Oh gosh, I’m the same! Never understood its popularity. BUT, if you like it OP, ignore all the negative comments and just go for it. Any name has some that love it, and some that hate it, whether it be because it’s too popular, too rare, too long, too short, too modern, boring etc. Archie is loved by many and it’s certainly not ‘out there’.

@JillyGiraffe , I think it started getting popular when there was a Sunday night programme on telly, and the lead character was called Archie.
Archie
Monarch of the Glen (TV series) - Wikipedia

The love interest was a feisty young woman called Lexie.

Bear in mind that we're talking about 20+ years ago, so it attracted a large audience.

I love the name Arthur for a boy.

It reminds me of Archie Bunker. I know it was a popular name when Sydney Harbour Bridge was built and now again, but the way it sounds is not very attractive, is it?

You’ve taken me back!

I don’t think popularity is a bad thing. Given the choice I’d probably prefer an overly popular name to a very unusual one although it would depend on the name both times. Archie isn’t to my personal taste but there’s nothing wrong with it.

I don’t think popularity is a bad thing. Given the choice I’d probably prefer an overly popular name to a very unusual one although it would depend on the name both times.
It depends on how popular and for how long it's been popular.
Some names are very popular but only for a few years (e.g. Chloe), others are very popular for decades (e.g. Olivia).

The ones that aren't quite as popular might be better. My name wasn't popular so I felt a bit unusual, which I didn't like, but it was probably better than being someone who always was Olivia Surname.

I hate having a popular name. I always need to add my surname and the name dates me as it was very popular in the mid 1970s

I wish my parents had tried a little harder to find a more unusual name