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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i have a question to the parents who named their kids wildly popular names claiming they had no idea they were so popular: did you not consult any naming websites? all the baby sites have lists so you can see, plain as day, which are the most popular names of our day!! it seems like you would have to try very hard NOT to know how common your baby's name is going to be. Now, if you just picked a name you liked or a family name and you don't care, that's fine. just say it!!! stop hiding behind "i didn't know!"

that being said, i safely named my son after his grandfather who was born in 1911. i only know one other baby with that name and they live 50 miles from us. whew! (i grew up with a very uncommon name, hated not being able to buy nameplates or those trendy leather bracelets. now i love it!!)

I named my child a "wildly popular" name noted several times in this string. While I had visted a naming website, the name was not nearly as popular 7 years ago when we were trying to conceive and selecting names. The name is also a family name--DH's great-grandfather and several before him...but it's come around again. Go figure. On the girl front, we somewhat shied away from Emma and Emily due to their top rankings, but it was not an issue as we had a boy (and I still love those two names).

[Anonymous]

We have an Alex, which hasn't been mentioned here but seems to be a name I hear a lot on the playgrounds (for both boys and girls, although none of either in my son's school.) My sense is that it's not uncommon but it's not a trendy name either, which seems totally fine by me. For why people choose names "even though" they're likely to see other kids with the same name, I think some of us need to work around complicated or hard-to-pronounce surnames, which can limit your options. In my case I don't think I'd want something that sounded ostentatiously hip, cool and trendy - both because that hardly reflects our boring lifestyle and because I'd wonder if my kid would resent me for the name in a couple of decades. SO many of the popular names today are beautiful ones - I don't mind meeting lots of Ellas and Jacks and Sophias - and frankly I think the kids often get a kick out of meeting others with their name.

[Anonymous]

I agree 15:39, tis better to go beautiful and/or classic than to demonstrate what a hipster you are by giving DC a name that means nothing to you, but it WAS a name of a middling 19th century artist in Monmarte whose work you don't even know.

But of course that's just me, and it's a lovely thing that we all get to name our kids what we want

[Anonymous]

How popular are the "Western" names these days (i.e., Zeke, Shane, Tex, Zane, etc.)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How popular are the "Western" names these days (i.e., Zeke, Shane, Tex, Zane, etc.)?

There's a baby in a playgroup I go to named Zeke.

My nephew has the middle name "Wyatt". This seems to be coming back but I absolutely hate it.....my sister knows that I hate it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You know, if enough Gentiles name their daughters Aviva, eventually the assumption that the child is Jewish will wane, I think. Could take years though.

I bet everyone reading this in the DC area knows at least one girl named Isabella. Is she actually Italian? Likewise Francesca, Lola, etc. I also assume all the Liams and Conors I meet are not Irish immigrants or 1st generation kids.

One name that might not ever be "Anglicized" is Jesus. I just don't see that happening.

I'm the one that posted about it being a Jewish name. I agre with your post, but my main point of the post was that Aviva is actually not that unique, but then it occurred to me the whole Jewish assumption thing halfway through. Many people don't want to blaze the trail of making a name more mainstream so I thought it was worthwhile to let someone know, particuarly if you're thinking you're choosing this unique name. There are some Hebrew names that aren't so obviously Hebrew that may work better for someone looking for something unique.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree 15:39, tis better to go beautiful and/or classic than to demonstrate what a hipster you are by giving DC a name that means nothing to you, but it WAS a name of a middling 19th century artist in Monmarte whose work you don't even know.

But of course that's just me, and it's a lovely thing that we all get to name our kids what we want

okay- so what artist are you referring to? (what name)..have to know..,

[Anonymous]

For those looking for throwback names, we've got some "good" ones in our family . . . Mildred (grandmother), Irma (great aunt) and Julius (great uncle). Hmmm . . . I bet you won't be seeing those names coming and going in your child's preschool class!

On the upside, I have aunts in their 50s/60s named Gayle and Elise, both of which I think are pretty and not terribly common these days.

[Anonymous]

To the PP who asked about picking names you didn't realize were popular, that happened to me. I have one of the many Lilys out there. But I pretty much focused on the top 25 on the SSA site. It still hasn't reached that level (I just checked), and wasn't even in the top 30 when she was born. I think it may be a locality thing because I now know several.

Also, my weekly Babycenter email today happened to be a list of the top baby names around the world. There was a TON of overlap in the top 10 girl names around the world, but quite a bit of variation in boy names. Interesting...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those looking for throwback names, we've got some "good" ones in our family . . . Mildred (grandmother), Irma (great aunt) and Julius (great uncle). Hmmm . . . I bet you won't be seeing those names coming and going in your child's preschool class!

On the upside, I have aunts in their 50s/60s named Gayle and Elise, both of which I think are pretty and not terribly common these days.

My son's name is Julius, it was also a great uncle's name.

[Anonymous]

ummm...second Liam's mom here. wow. no, we don't call our son "yum." the "2nd half of William" is just supposed to be a cute joke.

we did do our research on the name as a derivative of William (Ulliam), which was originally a German name (Wilhelm).

and, we don't think non-family names are "dirt" either. we just wanted to honor my husband and his deceased father (also William).

i'm fairly new to this group and starting to rethink contributing, due to the amount of snark.
here's hoping things stay positive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ummm...second Liam's mom here. wow. no, we don't call our son "yum." the "2nd half of William" is just supposed to be a cute joke.

we did do our research on the name as a derivative of William (Ulliam), which was originally a German name (Wilhelm).

and, we don't think non-family names are "dirt" either. we just wanted to honor my husband and his deceased father (also William).

i'm fairly new to this group and starting to rethink contributing, due to the amount of snark.
here's hoping things stay positive.

The boy's name Liam \liam\ is pronounced LEE-am. It is of Irish and Gaelic origin. Variant of William (Old German) "will helmet, protection". Actor Liam Neeson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am due in three weeks and we are naming our daughter "Sabine." My mother's response? "All your friends' children have normal names."



I can't find Sabine on any list. We just liked it.

I like it too. I went to high school with a girl named Sabine. I think one of her parents was French or German . . .

[Anonymous]

Also knew a Sabine growing up. Her parents were German. A very pretty girl. Hope your three weeks fly by and enjoy your daughter.

[Anonymous]

again, just because you pick a name that ISN'T a family name (which is a lovely sentiment, by the way, and I am SURE the reason for the resurgence of certain names), it does not mean a name doesn't mean something to you. I always liked that my parents tried to use a name that refelcted my heritage and that the name had a great meaning that I felt "fit" me. I tried to do the same when looking for a name - I didn't wind up going with something that reflected our heritage (since my husband and I really only share "English" in our family trees...) but found a name that I hoped would "fit" my daughter. Now that her personality is developed, I feel I picked the perfect name for her.