The name I like is top 3?

[Walkietalkie7]

The name we have chosen is the 3rd most popular name in our country for girls.

244 babies with this name were born in our country last year.

People with popular names, is it really so bad and should we choose something else? What about popularity now vs when I was growing up in the 90s? I read that the year I was born Emma was given to 3% of babies and Olivia which is no1 now was given to 1.4% last year.

You obviously chose another very popular name for dd1 if you met 3 others with the same name within 3 months!

I would bear in mind that there are local trends. For example Matilda is popular but has never been over 1 in 200 babies. Nonetheless every class in my kids’ (middle class, southern England, mainly white) school has at least one of them.

On the other hand I think Mohammed and variants is well over 1% of boys, and there is only one in the whole school.

so do you think you live in a Freya-ish area??

My DD has a v popular name. We knew it was popular when we chose it but we just loved it! It's fine - she likes it.

You will get conflicting advice on this, but just to add some balance to this, I discounted my favourite name in the whole world for my baby because it was consistently very high in the top 100 list. I was worried it was too popular. So we went with another name. At 3 months old we ended up changing it, to my favourite 'popular' name because it didn't fit or feel right. Ironically I heard lots of other children called the name we originally named our baby while out and about, and that name was very far down the top 100! So I don't think you can ever really predict it. My point is, just go with the name you love. FWIW I don't know a single Freya and also have a 3 year old and nobody in their group of friends/nursery has that name. Plus Freya is lovely ☺️ go with your gut.

Yes but isn't that because a lot of Muslim families will put Mohammed on the birth certificate but use the child's middle name for everyday use? You wouldn't necessarily know if a child was registered as Mohammed if they go by Jack or Ibrahim or something.

Agree it can be random. My eldest’s name was in the 300s ranking when she was born. There are no others with her name in her school. But, I know that there’s a girl called the same in the same school year, in a school very close to ours. So it’s conceivable they could have been in the same class.

I think there’s a micro trend in my area for using classic names that have dropped out of the top rankings. So for example I’ve come across a little Louisa, and a Michael. So there’s definitely some likelihood of relatively unusual names being repeated in the same school etc.

It also depends on your geographic area.
DS1 was (just in the top 20 names) one of 3 in his primary class of 30.
Move 5 miles away, and he is one of 2 in his year of 240.

If you love it, use it.

It’s less of an issue than in the past to have multiples in the same class/year especially with girl names. There’s a lot more variety. Go for it if you love it.

It's luck of the draw. I went to school with three Traceys in my class. Worked with 3 Michelles. DS 1 ( named by OH) was one of 4 Alexanders in his quite small scout troop. There's 1 Alexander in DS2s whole school.

I agree about the randomness. My son’s name is ranked 50 something and there are two in his small nursery class, whereas there are no top five boys names.

Wrong. My name was popular and I played in an orchestra in school where four people in my section alone shared my name. My best friend shared my name - let’s say it was Betty - and so many teachers would say “the Bettys, what do you think?” Like we shared a hive mind

i hated my name and my parents lack of originality and the sheer annoyance of always being known by my surname or “Betty S”, being muddled up administratively at school or on lists .. all the time, as everywhere I went my name was popular, it followed me round for decades.

Neither of my children have any kids with the top 10 girls names in their class. Multiples of others not in the top 10!

I have the most popular name for my year. My best friend at primary had the same name, one of my closest friends now has the same name, other members of my family, colleagues. Honestly, it never once bothered me. Not at all. It doesn't make me feel less special, because I'm an individual with a personality. Nobody ever said "that John Lennon, he'd be really interesting if he didn't have such a common name". (Random example - I could have picked loads of other people.)

Freya is a gorgeous name - go for it!

New parents tend to look at names that are currently popular for children, or that are similar to names that are popular.

@ElfieOnTheShelfie , my first name is unusual, or it was in my age group.
One the rare occasion I work somewhere with another one at another site, we get each other's e-mails because they don't check the surname.
Also people don't seem to remember my surname, and just use a common one. Not being funny, but I mind people calling me Eman Smith or Eman Jones, especially if they're a friend.

I mean, they’re common because they’re nice, simple as that really. It wouldn’t bother me if there were a few local called the same personally but only you can decide.

Exactly this!!!
Plus I think 'unusual' names are becoming trendy now so it just becomes an on trend thing more than anything.

As someone with a very popular please don’t do it.

I think that years ago we chose names from a much more limited group of names, so the 'top' names were used a LOT more whereas now choices are spread over many more names so top is still top, but far fewer babies are named that name.

if you're asking, I like Clara best!

They may be fashionable now but sound very dated once they’ve fallen out of fashion. Sharon, Susan, Tracey were all ‘nice’ once!

All three of my children have top 3 names. My eldest we didn’t know anyone with children and it was pre internet so we didn’t know but she was one of three in her year. Middle child named after a relative was one of two and youngest who we did know it was a popular name is one of three.

Its never bothered any of them . When I was at school I wanted to be a Kelly, the three Kelly’s were beautiful and popular.

@WinterWooliesBaa , it's not always true. There seem to be more use of different versions of a name (Theo/Theodore, Sophia/Sofia etc) now so the stats look lower.

@Lemonlimonade , I think Sharon and Susan are both nice. There's a thread on Samantha, and one or two posters saying they know ones in their 50s and it's not dated. I'd say it's still nice but it's the name of a 55 yr old (it was of its time).

It's bad. I have a popular name and it's the bane of my life. Forever being known as Plaza "A" so I don't get muddled up with Plaza "B" or "C" at school and work.

I'd just like to be my name <<she says dramatically>>

So in about every six primary school classes there will be one DC with the same name.

Where as when I went to school there were three Nicola’s and three Richard’s in my class.

It’s not the same experience for people who had a top 5 name who are in their 30s or older. There were so much more people called by top 5 names back then.

I have a name that was very common in my age group and it's never bothered me.
I think there's a lot to be said for a name that's not too out there, as they will be judged for themselves and their personality not their name, more of a blank canvas I guess. They won't get asked how to spell or pronounce their name, and the name won't become too associated with one person e.g. tragic news story or disgraced celebrity.