Is Oliver too common?

[arolf]

I'm scottish, and my other half is eastern european, hence has a tricky to spell/pronounce surname, so we've decided to go for names which work in both languages - and have pretty much settled on Oliver for a boy, or Alice for a girl.

However, several friends have told us 'Oh whatever name you choose, avoid Oliver, it's just soooo common these days', even though we've not told anyone our choice of name. Is it really so common?

Also, does a common first name matter when the surname is so unusual? (it's a pretty rare name even in his country - as in, anyone with that surname is probably related to him).

There are 3 Oliver's in my dd's class - which can get confusing.... Personally, I wouldn't chose on that basis. Shame, as it's a lovely name.

My BF's DS is Oliver he is 7. I know of no others at all. We are in Manchester.

I really like the name Oliver, despite in being popular. I know of 3 or 4 amongst various friends and families.

However there is no Oliver int he class I work in, nor in the year group of 90.

DD would have been called oliver had she been a boy.

I love Oliver and it's not popular where i live.
Does that really matter anyway if you like it.

Gosh, I had no idea Oliver was popular. I only know one Oliver and he is a grown man at my office.

I would say it's definitely up there with the more popular names although I only know 2 (kent) and 1 is 6 months and the other is 36 - it's lovely so I wouldn't let that put you off.
LCN

Very common but if you like it go for it.

I have an Oliver - there is one other in his nursery age group but we don't know any others. Apparently, they're known at the moment as Big Oliver and Little Oliver (mine).

Lovely name though - and the only one we both liked when naming him and we have no regrets even though it is popular.

We're also pondering about Alice for baby due in Oct so we clearly share your excellent taste!

Check out the top 100 baby names - just type it in to google and you will see the most popular names over the last few years.

Ollie / oliver is lovely but it is getting very popular where I live too.

www.statistics.gov.uk/specials/babiesnames_boys.asp

We're in South West London and there are LOADS of little Ollies and Olivers...., so personally I'd avoid it if it that would bother you.

It is really not that common as far as I know.
Ds (age nearly 10) is one of three Olivers in a school of 560 pupils.
I have just been invigilating at our local secondary school and have been looking at all the names - out of 290 Y11 students there are 2 Olivers.
My friend has an Oliver (also age nearly 10), he is the only one in his school of 240 pupils.
And there is a little Oliver at our local nursery school, the only one out of the 80 pupils there.

So it is a name that has always been there, and always will be there, but not in the mulitples in which we see Thomas, Jack, William around here (Surrey)

Message withdrawn

bounty, have you namechanged 'cos' you're too cool a poster to admit to looking at bounty, or are you a professional poster cruising other fora to advertise lol?

damn, it's really a common name, isn't it?! Oh well, tough, I had a freakishly different name (still do) as a kid, and always wished my name was more normal. So baby can grow up wishing he was called Rupert or Rehor (a nice czech name) or something, then when he names his offspring, can give them weirdo names in revenge. that's how it works, isn't it?

give him rehor as a middle name - he can use whichever one he likes later on

Yes arolf, that's exactly how it works. Mum has an unusal name and gave me a popular one. (1 of 5 in class). Luckily DH intervened and we have a George. DD's name is a little unusual but we've given her Lucy as a middle name and she can always use that.

he's getting a Czech middle name - not a weird one, but not a traditional british name. my fiance is letting me choose middle names since they don't have them over there, so I've let my imagination run wild a bit, then just chosen a name that runs in his family :-) but the temptation to go for Bohuslav or Kvetoslav was very great...

yes

I like Oliver and would go with it.
Don't worry about it being popular, so are most boys names tbh unless you start verging onto the slightly ridiculous/effeminate side.

im in lots of different circles of children (tots, nursery, dance class etc etc) and I only know one. HTH!