all the kids in my child's daycare/preschool/kindergarten are named...

[Anonymous]

To the PP: What's your name?

And to al the PPs: I think it's so odd that we're talking about names, yet so many people won't say the exact name they are talking about. It's always, "I have a name sort of like blah blah blah -- or, we selected the perfect/unique/mother-of-all names" but they don't say what it is. If you've used the name already, why not share it?

[Anonymous]

There are six Jaedan's in our Little Gym class. SIX. How does that happen? They are all spelled differently but none-the-less all Jaedan's.

[Anonymous]

Jaeden...and Cadens.

Macy or Macey seem to be on the rise as well.

So here's what I'm learning: name any future children names from my own generation (Lisa, Jennifer) so that they will be the only ones in their class!

[Anonymous]

fair point to pp about not naming names... benjamin

[Anonymous]

A couple weeks ago we were on the metro and noticed another family with a kid around the same age as our little one -- the parents were dressed ultra trendy (funky clothes -- funky shoes -- funky glasses) and they were peppering their little kid with a running commentary and questions about their upcoming museum trip (will we see things as interesting as what we saw in New York? Or Seattle?) -- the kid was named Linus. Maybe it's a family name -- but my guess is that the parents were trying to be cool and give their kid a unique moniker. There isn't anything inherently wrong with that -- until the kid learns from his classmates that it isn't a cool name and he suffers years of teasing and ultimately ends up in therapy resenting his parents.

OK, I find this offensive because a friend of mine just named her second child Linus. She and her husband are German and the other name they used for son #1 was VERY German (I'm not going to name names because it might give away the person I am talking about - otherwise I would say it freely). I doubt their kid is going to wind up in therapy for being given a name that is tied to his heritage!

[Anonymous]

And what's wrong with Linus? I think its a beautiful name. I actually jokingly started calling my first son that because his lovey is a blanket and he takes it EVERYWHERE. All he needs is a friend with a beagle and he'd be set.

Both of my sons have unique names in a manner of speaking. My husbands family is Sicilian so I picked traditional italian names. My second son I almost named Nicholas. It seems like one of those *on the bubble* names: really popular, but how many Nicholases or Nicks do you know?

[Anonymous]

Jack is a diminutive of John. I hate it when people don't know that or actually name their son Jack or Jackson Unless its family name). I love it when people use Jack properly.

I know a LOT of dogs named Jackson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jack is a diminutive of John. I hate it when people don't know that or actually name their son Jack or Jackson Unless its family name). I love it when people use Jack properly.

Yeah, too bad there isn't some kind of "name police" who could review and reject birth cert applications of parents who weren't using names properly. Morons.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, I think going out of the way to name your child something unique is an exercise in futility. You can't predict what the years will bring--2 years down the road or 10 or 20. But if you pick a name that you love, you will always like it and it won't matter if others have the same name. Just my opinion.

Our 2 year old DD is Maya. We've met a few, but it's not like every girl we meet has the same name. I'm a Katherine and while my name wasn't unique growing up, I had no problem with it at all..and I could always use different nicknames--if there were too many Katies, I was Kate. Assimiliation is an unfortunate side effect of growing up and to name your kid something so unique and unheard of will probably result in teasing, etc. It's unfortunate, but true.

Again, just my $.02-to each their own.

[Anonymous]

Two trends:

1) White flight names (Irish and British names) like Aidan, Liam and Alistar ala Freakonomics
2) Naming kids with what are really last names like Harrison, Jackson, Carson, Morgan, Ryley and Taylor

Both of these drive me nuts.

[Anonymous]

This is hard for me to answer because the kids at my DC's preschool actually have quite a variety of names. The duplicates I can think of are Noah, Max, Sam and Julia.
But there is a lot of variety in names with some being more common and others being less common, but without duplicates within the school: Campbell, Emerson, Casey (all girls), Madison, Abigail, Elijah, Ethan, Meyer, Noam, Zachary, Kai, and many more. None of those are repeated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends on your demographic I would think? But I agree, watch out for lyrical and non-gross-sounding names from 1900-1930: William, Henry, Lily, Vivienne, Ella, Caroline, Annabelle, Thomas, etc.

Seriously. Who knew? I have a Lily, and thought it was pretty uncommon until anyone who heard the name had a friend (or multiple friends) who named their daughter Lily too.

I'd look at the Social Security Administration's top names site, as well as Babycenter.com's list.

That said, neither of my kids have two kids with the same name in either of their classes (meaning no two kids in the class have the same name...not just the same as mine). So even if it's popular, that doesn't mean they will end of one of the many Johns, Michaels, or Amys we grew up with!

I love the name Lily!

[Anonymous]

Sophia/Sophie is definitely everywhere!!

I know of several baby boys named Tyler.

Like many of the other posters, we were also looking for something a bit more unique and picked Elena for our daughter. Haven't met any others yet!

It is such a personal choice and I found it to be a difficult process, especially because I shared the name in advance and didn't have the ringing endorsement of my opinionated mother. The next one will probably be announced after the birth.

[Anonymous]

Jack, Liam, Henry
Michaela, Lily, Bella (Isabella, Annebelle, Arabella)

[Anonymous]

My daughter's name is Gwendolyn. I like Gwen - short and sweet, but my husband wanted the longer version. Her name never makes any top 10 list . . .

My son is William. I love Will, but am not fond of Bill (even though I do like Bill Clinton), and I HATE Billy!