Common name for a sibling that has an uncommon name?

[Chipstickcats]

Hello, hoping for some opinions on this as I can’t decide!

my DD1 has a fairly unusual name - April, which was ranked 360 last year in the UK. We love the name and have only ever come across one other.

we are expecting a baby in May, and currently love the name Ivy, however this name was ranked fifth last year.

Is it weird to have names so different in popularity? My main worry is that Ivy would always be able to find her name on personalised things and April wouldn’t, is that silly?

We don’t actually know if we’re having a girl or a boy yet, and the 2 boys names we’re choosing between are also outside the top 100.

if you do think it’s an issue, does anyone have any other suggestions?

names we loved but can’t use:
Matilda
Florence
Poppy
Edie
Mabel
Martha

thank you!

I have an Ivy and one of her siblings has a very uncommon name, don't overthink it!

I don't think it's an issue. I have literally the most common name and one sister has another common name, our middle sister has something very, very rare. They work together and so do all the options you've suggested.

I don't think the difference in popularity matters. But April means rain spring sunshine flowers and Ivy association to me is Gothic tombs graveyards ruins.

I have a fairly unusual name (more so for when I was born, in the 1970s; I didn't meet another one until I was in my late teens). My sister has an incredibly common 70s name (think Sarah/Clare/Elizabeth).
I was glad I had an unusual name (and was never Sarah C), apart from, as you say, buying named souvenirs etc. My sister is quite happy with her own name too.
A few people have commented over the course of our lifetimes that it's strange that we have names at opposite ends of the common-unusual continuum. I don't remember anyone ever minding or thinking it was anything other than conversation. It really hasn't ever been a big deal for either of us.

Honedtly I think mk they're the same level of known but not common. 50th and 360th when we're breaking it down to your small part of the country, it's the difference of 1 or 2 kids across a school

I really like April and Ivy together. I don’t know any Aprils or Ivys.

I have a not unusual but not common name. My sister has a very common name. No one has ever mentioned it.

Just pick what you like - one day they may love miles apart and it won’t matter what the other is called

Month and season names are so funny. I once knew an April who was born in January (parents just liked the name) and a Holly who was born mid summer, not Christmas as expected.

I thought you were going to say something like our eldest is Octavia and we want to call our second Lily.

In which case it would seem a bit odd.

But April and Ivy go perfectly and I wouldn’t have guessed one was much more popular than the other.

This thread is from 2025 and the baby was due last month....maybe the op will come back and update us!

I know this is an older thread but I've found it really useful to read. My first DC's name is close to the top 10 and second is likely to have something much less common, good to know I've been overthinking that 😅