Using a popular name anyway?
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Anonymous
| It doesn't matter! I mean, most popular names are popular because they're very nice names. Emma, Olivia. James, William. All good. |
Anonymous
+1 I’m still trying to change mine, but can’t find one that feels “real.” |
Anonymous
I'm betting that 15 years from now, there will be fewer Olivias than Larlas who hate their names |
Anonymous
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In my experience (2 kids--one in elementary and 1 in preschool), we hardly ever meet kids w/ top 10 names. I just looked at the top 10 baby names for boys and girls lists for 2021 and...in 7 years of having kids and being around lots of kids I have met the following young kids/babies: 1 Olivia, 1 Liam, 1 Oliver, and 1 Charlotte. None of the other names. But we've met multiple kids w the following much less popular names: Gwen, Nigel, Nolan, Lorelei.
It's entirely possible your top 5 name kid won't even meet another kid w/ her name for many years. |
Anonymous
But kids who have super unique names express the same sentiment. You can't predict how your child will feel about their name. |
Anonymous
There are a number of women on these boards who feel very harmed by their popular names and who are about to tell you AAAAALLLLL about how being Jennifer #4 ruined their childhood. However, to help OP and to counteract this inevitable response, I will say what I always say in these threads: Even the most popular names these days are a fraction of the popularity of the names that were very popular in the 70s/80s/90s. A tiny, tiny fraction. There are no names now like Jennifer or Emily Amanda were back then. Here, look at the top 5 names from 1980 and from 2020 1980: Jennifer (3.3% of all female babies born that year, 58,379 babies with that name) Amanda (2.0%, 35,817) Jessica (1.9%, 33,924) Melissa (1.8%, 31,639) Sarah (1.4%, 25,758) 2020: Olivia (1.0%, 17,535) Emma (.9%, 15,581) Ava (.7%, 13,084) Charlotte (.7%, 13,003) Sophia (.7%, 12,976) Or, to frame it differently, if Olivia were exactly as popular in 1980 as it was in 2020 (when it was the most popular girls name) it would have ranked... 14th. And Sophia, Charlotte, and Ava would not even crack the top 20. About as popular as names like Christina, Rachel, Amber, and Jaimie. Not total unknown names, but also not names I associate with ubiquity. OP, you're fine. Go with the name you like and can agree on and that sounds good with your last name. |
Anonymous
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Don't overthink it. If both of you like the name, go for it. There is nothing wrong with having a popular name. It will grow on you.
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Anonymous
Nobody suggested Larla, Chrysanthemum, or Athanasia. |
Anonymous
Yes. NOTHING will ever top the Jennifer craze of 1970-1990. It wasn't just the top name, it was like 2% of ALL baby girls were named that. Now the top name is used by maybe 0.05% of babies born. It's many fewer babies being named each "popular" name. |
Anonymous
+1. We had sooo many Emilys and Amandas and Jessicas in my elementary school grade. But now I have kids in school and hardly any of the kids have the same names. There are only 2 cases of kids having the same name in my son's grade: there are 2 Genevieves and 2 Lewises. Otherwise each kid in his grade has a different name and a lot of them have pretty unusual names. So many people try to go for different/unusual names that the really popular names are really not that saturated. |
Anonymous
+1. Yep. I have what one would consider a "super unique name" (I've NEVER met anyone w/ my name and I'm 37 years old and have traveled widely and lived all over the country). I HATED it as a kid. I really wished my parents had named me something more common and less distinctive. It didn't feel like it had much meaning to me or to my parents either. They just picked it to be different, not because it was super meaningful to them. |
Anonymous
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My son has a common name, and it's a crapshoot. Unless something changes, he's the only one in his elementary school. Sports, on the other hand, have been another story. If there isn't another one on his team, there's inevitably one on the opposing team virtually every game.
That said, he's named after my dad, which was nonnegotiable for me, so I don't care. And so far, at least, it doesn't seem to bother him. |
Anonymous
Yes this. Just use the name you like. I worried way too much about this, but now that I have actual children in my life I could not care ANY LESS about how popular their name is. If they sometimes run into a kid with their name, they LIKE it. They've never had one in their class, it's not a huge deal. And I am an Elizabeth, which has been popular for all eternity. It's ok, really  .
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Anonymous
Haha. Yes, there's this one poster I'm thinking of who ALWAYS responds to these threads about how she hated being the 5th girl with the same name on her cheerleading squad or something like that. Like every single name thread she mentions this. So I'm sure she'll be around this thread eventually. But her point isn't really relevant in 2022 as no names are THAT popular anymore. |
Anonymous
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This depends on your community.
In my small preschool there was at least one Nathaniel in every single class. Our class had 3!!! Three out of 6 boys had the same name. It was nuts. |