Would you rule out a baby name you love if it is popular?

[Butterflybluebell]

Would you discount a name for being too popular, even if you really loved it and have loved it for years?

This may be true but I suspect higher percentages will pop up based on demographics.
Very noticeable in the small school I worked at - multiple Cody’s, Liams and Jayden’s. Whereas DS small school had several Charlie’s, Oscars and Harry’s.
No Mohammed’s in either, which is always listed in the top 10 names.

How high in the top 100 is the name? Like is it top 10 or more like 20/30 onwards?

I have a rare name and hated it as a kid. I longed to share my name with other kids.

Dh and I both really liked the name Emily however the year dd was born there were so many Emily’s and it was so popular. We didn’t want her to be in a class with numerous Emily’s.

as it happened we picked another name , that we also loved, and no one in her classes throughout primary or high school was called Emily! (Or the new name we chose either) .

I am in my 70's with a short name that it's hard to abbreviate. IT was popular in the decades before I was born - and I was named after an old friend of my parents. In my school of 1000 pupils I think there was only one other girl with my name - and we were in the same class 🤷🏼‍♀️😂. Throughout my life I have not known many other people with my name - apart from the occasional character on TV (Think a name like "Rita").

IT has never bothered me either way - but I really hated the fact that there was not much I could do to make it more interesting. When I had my DDs I was determined they should have long names, with multiple options for nicknames so they could reinvent themselves if they felt like it. Think a name like Margaret, who could be Maggie, Meg, Peggy, Mags.... etc. Sure enough both of them did start using nicknames their peers called them, rather than the ones we used at home..... So my vote is always to give them options...

Absolutely yes
My DH and I both have incredibly common 1970s names. So tried to go less popular with our children.
Ds1 name was no 87 the year he was born and DS2 94.
But in primary school there was another boy with DS1 name in his year.

I have a rare name and hated it as a kid. I longed to share my name with other kids.

Interesting point, as I have wondered how a child may feel about a rare name as well.

Although, these days rarer names are just generally more popular. For example, it's trendy and popular to choose a rarer name, there's a trend for retro cool names at the moment. So actually, does a cluster of different names of the same vibe feel just as a popular as a single name that was uber popular back in the 70s/80s/90s. Not sure if I've conveyed myself properly here, but I hope you get my gist.

No.

Exactly no name is unique. Nobody owns a name.
OP if you love it use it.

Yeah, I feel like it's just a name at the end of the day.

It's important yes, of course it is. But I feel like, and I'm not alone in this I'm sure, A LOT of overthinking goes into names.

I'm a midwife so it certainly does. It's a very important task giving your beautiful son or daughter a name. If you love it then do it. Do you know if baby is a boy or girl yet? It's exciting and sometimes when they arrive you just know that's their name🤍

There are so few baby names that surprise me these days but I think if I heard a baby name that was very popular in my age group at school such as Laura / Lauren / Emma I would be shocked! That would seem rare. Instead quite a few names that are statistically less popular at the moment still somehow feel quite done and popular, perhaps because of social media, we are exposed to a lot more options.

Yes, I was put off Amelia, Maya and Sienna by their popularity. That said, DD's middle name is Rose, just like every third girl in her school. I liked the name, discounted it as too popular, then came back to it because it was my favourite and it fitted in so nicely with her first name and surname. Nothing else worked as well, including adding a second middle name for some variety.

I've just seen that my friends who named their 12-year-old daughter Hazel were ahead of the curve, as this name has really made a comeback recently. It must be nice to be one of those "leading a trend", although annoying if she and her parents wanted an unusual name.

Yes absolutely. We only looked outside the top 1000. People are using a broader variety of names than ever before, so it’s not that drastic of an approach actually but means my child has a slightly more distinctive identity. As someone who has a very common name, it was important to me that my child didn’t.

Yep. I ruled out lots of names that were very popular in our area including some of my favourites.

Agree, as a child you just want to fit in and not stand out.

This!

Names are meant to help identify us. It’s such a pain being having 3 Florences and 4 Harrys in the class/group (especially when they share the same surname initials).

There are SO many lovely normal names to choose from that are not in the top 100!

Really? Do you still long to be one of the 4 Clares or Sharons in the office?

I’ve always hated having a popular 70s name. Really wished my parents had tried a little harder.

No. DS' was pretty popular for his year. DD and DD2 weren't.

My parents chose my name (and those of all my siblings) precisely because they were so popular! 'So common as to be completely unremarkable' is their lifelong ambition...

No, if you love the name go for it - why wouldn’t you?

Names don’t need to be unique, they need to fit.

But their primary use is to distinguish one person from another. If they don't do that because there are four Olivias in the class, then they're not doing their job. You can minimise that likelihood by avoiding very popular names.

I do agree with this, obviously statistically more likely to be one of multiple in a class with a very popular name. However as somebody has mentioned you could end up choosing a much less common name, and actually still be one of at least two! Like I said before, my DCs name barely makes the top 100 yet I seem to come across them everywhere (primary age) and there's at least another one in their year.

I get that this bothers people to varying degrees as well. It's all preference isn't it. I just wondered whether going for a less popular name, just because it is less popular, is it really the right thing to do?

My DD has a top 5 name.

it just means lots of people have good taste