A useful thread for figuring out if a name is "too popular"

[Anonymous]

The state popularity info is really interesting because we named our daughter Genevieve and our family in the northeast knew nobody with that name, but on DCUM it’s consistently mentioned as a popular name. Turns out the name is in the top 100 in DC but pretty much nowhere else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just for fun, I plugged the top names and their percentage of births in 2020 into a spreadsheet so I could look at the numbers a bit. I thought this was interesting:

Olivia (#1) was given to 1% of all girls born in 2020.
Harper (#10) is the name that is exactly half as popular as Olivia, with .5% of all girls named Harper.
Willow (#48) is exactly half as popular as Harper, with .25%
Margaret (#126) is exactly half as popular as Willow, with .124%
Milani (#267) is half as popular as Margaret, with .062%

I like these stats because they show how few kids get any one name. But I also like how they kind of show what kinds of names are popping up at what level of popularity, and it's about what you'd expect. Olivia is classic and popular, so it's common. Harper and Willow are pretty but sound more modern, so they are "on trend" but a lot less common than Olivia. Margaret is a classic that is not in favor, so it's much lower down the list. Milani is an unusual name.

I think these are all great names but different kinds of parents are going to feel differently about how common, classic, modern, or unusual they are. The rankings really don't tell the whole story.

The tricky part is after you get out of the top 25 (or maybe 50), it becomes much more regional/SES-specific. So look at Margaret (126) - I know a handful of baby Margarets, and it's on my list if I have another girl. But #125 - roughly the exact same number of baby girls are born named Remi. Never met one, never even heard of it. So that tells me that Remi is more popular in certain cohorts, like Margaret is more popular in my cohort. Vivienne is 260; Dakota is 261. Same frequency of names being given nationally, but probably being given by moms about a dozen years apart in age. This makes it harder to tease out how likely you are to have several in your Girl Scout troop - it's simple to say that there will probably be some if you pick a top 10 name, but in the 100-300 range it's much more about which little pocket of namers you fit into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for fun, I plugged the top names and their percentage of births in 2020 into a spreadsheet so I could look at the numbers a bit. I thought this was interesting:

Olivia (#1) was given to 1% of all girls born in 2020.
Harper (#10) is the name that is exactly half as popular as Olivia, with .5% of all girls named Harper.
Willow (#48) is exactly half as popular as Harper, with .25%
Margaret (#126) is exactly half as popular as Willow, with .124%
Milani (#267) is half as popular as Margaret, with .062%

I like these stats because they show how few kids get any one name. But I also like how they kind of show what kinds of names are popping up at what level of popularity, and it's about what you'd expect. Olivia is classic and popular, so it's common. Harper and Willow are pretty but sound more modern, so they are "on trend" but a lot less common than Olivia. Margaret is a classic that is not in favor, so it's much lower down the list. Milani is an unusual name.

I think these are all great names but different kinds of parents are going to feel differently about how common, classic, modern, or unusual they are. The rankings really don't tell the whole story.

The tricky part is after you get out of the top 25 (or maybe 50), it becomes much more regional/SES-specific. So look at Margaret (126) - I know a handful of baby Margarets, and it's on my list if I have another girl. But #125 - roughly the exact same number of baby girls are born named Remi. Never met one, never even heard of it. So that tells me that Remi is more popular in certain cohorts, like Margaret is more popular in my cohort. Vivienne is 260; Dakota is 261. Same frequency of names being given nationally, but probably being given by moms about a dozen years apart in age. This makes it harder to tease out how likely you are to have several in your Girl Scout troop - it's simple to say that there will probably be some if you pick a top 10 name, but in the 100-300 range it's much more about which little pocket of namers you fit into.

I agree with all of this but it's also why I think you can overthink popularity, and also why I don't think you should be too hard on parents who accidentally pick a name that turns out to be popular among that cohort. Talking to you, teachers who get mad about having multiple kids with the same name. Especially for a first child! A lot of parents just honestly don't realize what names are popular among parents in their cohort until they become parents, and if you just look at the lists it only tells part of the story. Sometimes there is just stuff floating around in the zeitgeist that is causing people to choose a particular name and you aren't even aware of it. I think this honestly happens all the time and it's why you see so many parents surprised when they choose a name, even check to make sure it's not "too popular" and then discover that multiple kids in their child's kindergarten class have it. They weren't being negligent, they were just responding to forces beyond their awareness and you only find out later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think people freak out over name popularity way too much.

I’m a Jennifer born in the 1980s. I very rarely meet other Jennifer’s. There were none in any of my classes as a kid. Off the top of my head I can only think of one I talk to regularly. So it’s not like I’m running into Jennifer’s all the time and we’re all getting confused over who is who.

I always wonder if it says more about the parents, that they want to be seen as cool and different and non-conforming by naming their kid something that isn’t popular. If you like a name, use it. Who cares.

You were on the late end. I'm 42 (79) and there's another Jennifer/Jen mom in every single school class, dance class, sports team, etc that my kids are on. I mean at least 1, but not weird if there's 2 or 3. Growing up, there was always another Jennifer and very often a Jessica.

[Anonymous]

Can you do Robert?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you do Robert?

#36 in DC (not OP).

[Anonymous]

I've never met a young Robert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While interesting, none of this helpw much because those stats are across the US, and some names are highly concentrated in an area. When my DS was born, at his first well baby visit the pediatricin exclaimed "oh! Another Alexander, he's our 3rd one this week!". Sigh. It wasn't very high on the list when he was born, but clearly in our demographic it was popular. He has consistently been one of two or more. He doesn't really care (nor do I), but you would never have guessed it based on the SSN rankings for his year of birth.

Also, doctors and nurses really need to stop saying stuff like "oh look our third baby with this name this week." New parents are stressed and sleep-deprived and that is the kind of comment that would have made me feel like crap at the time, and that I would remember forever. Rude!

Well, my son is 23 so I clearly do remember it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While interesting, none of this helpw much because those stats are across the US, and some names are highly concentrated in an area. When my DS was born, at his first well baby visit the pediatricin exclaimed "oh! Another Alexander, he's our 3rd one this week!". Sigh. It wasn't very high on the list when he was born, but clearly in our demographic it was popular. He has consistently been one of two or more. He doesn't really care (nor do I), but you would never have guessed it based on the SSN rankings for his year of birth.

You can look up the stats by state or territory, though. I didn't know this when I was pregnant but someone on here told me. That can help you avoid a name that is locally more popular. The name we used wound up being more popular locally than nationally, but has since fallen out of favor locally while staying pretty steady nationally. I think there was a little blip of increased popularity here and then people started laying off the name. Kind of a self-correction. Either way, we've only ever met one child with the same name, on a playground, and she was younger than my DD. She's never been in a class with another.

Even looking it up by state is unlikely to help a lot if you live in, say McLean or Arlington, which probably has more in common with NW DC than Roanoake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While interesting, none of this helpw much because those stats are across the US, and some names are highly concentrated in an area. When my DS was born, at his first well baby visit the pediatricin exclaimed "oh! Another Alexander, he's our 3rd one this week!". Sigh. It wasn't very high on the list when he was born, but clearly in our demographic it was popular. He has consistently been one of two or more. He doesn't really care (nor do I), but you would never have guessed it based on the SSN rankings for his year of birth.

You can look up the stats by state or territory, though. I didn't know this when I was pregnant but someone on here told me. That can help you avoid a name that is locally more popular. The name we used wound up being more popular locally than nationally, but has since fallen out of favor locally while staying pretty steady nationally. I think there was a little blip of increased popularity here and then people started laying off the name. Kind of a self-correction. Either way, we've only ever met one child with the same name, on a playground, and she was younger than my DD. She's never been in a class with another.

Even looking it up by state is unlikely to help a lot if you live in, say McLean or Arlington, which probably has more in common with NW DC than Roanoake.

Then you look at stats for both VA and DC, and probably MD too. It's just information. None of it is determinative and you have to decide for yourself how much weight to give it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While interesting, none of this helpw much because those stats are across the US, and some names are highly concentrated in an area. When my DS was born, at his first well baby visit the pediatricin exclaimed "oh! Another Alexander, he's our 3rd one this week!". Sigh. It wasn't very high on the list when he was born, but clearly in our demographic it was popular. He has consistently been one of two or more. He doesn't really care (nor do I), but you would never have guessed it based on the SSN rankings for his year of birth.

You can look up the stats by state or territory, though. I didn't know this when I was pregnant but someone on here told me. That can help you avoid a name that is locally more popular. The name we used wound up being more popular locally than nationally, but has since fallen out of favor locally while staying pretty steady nationally. I think there was a little blip of increased popularity here and then people started laying off the name. Kind of a self-correction. Either way, we've only ever met one child with the same name, on a playground, and she was younger than my DD. She's never been in a class with another.

Even looking it up by state is unlikely to help a lot if you live in, say McLean or Arlington, which probably has more in common with NW DC than Roanoake.

Then you look at stats for both VA and DC, and probably MD too. It's just information. None of it is determinative and you have to decide for yourself how much weight to give it.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you do Robert?

#36 in DC (not OP).

And #80 nationally, though declining in popularity (it was #29 in 2000).

.2375% of all births in 2020.

The 1980 equivalents were Corey and Shane (#68 and 69), which I think of as very quintessentially 70s/80s names. However these were on the upswing and Robert is not.

I'd label Robert as common but not popular, and perhaps a good choice for someone who likes classic boy names like George, Charles, and Theodore, but wants to avoid duplicate names if you can (though the DC rank would be concerning to me if that matters to you and you are in the DMV).

Also, qualitative info here, but I will never hear the name "Rob" and not think of "Boston Rob" from Survivor, and I'm probably not alone among people age 40 and over. That's neither good nor bad, just a connotation you may want to be aware before making your choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just for fun, I plugged the top names and their percentage of births in 2020 into a spreadsheet so I could look at the numbers a bit. I thought this was interesting:

Olivia (#1) was given to 1% of all girls born in 2020.
Harper (#10) is the name that is exactly half as popular as Olivia, with .5% of all girls named Harper.
Willow (#48) is exactly half as popular as Harper, with .25%
Margaret (#126) is exactly half as popular as Willow, with .124%
Milani (#267) is half as popular as Margaret, with .062%

I like these stats because they show how few kids get any one name. But I also like how they kind of show what kinds of names are popping up at what level of popularity, and it's about what you'd expect. Olivia is classic and popular, so it's common. Harper and Willow are pretty but sound more modern, so they are "on trend" but a lot less common than Olivia. Margaret is a classic that is not in favor, so it's much lower down the list. Milani is an unusual name.

I think these are all great names but different kinds of parents are going to feel differently about how common, classic, modern, or unusual they are. The rankings really don't tell the whole story.

Don't forget to consider number of live births. Remember that the Baby Buster, aka Gen X, era, started in 1965 and live births in the US dropped below 4M births each year (the Baby Boom years all had more than 4M live births). It went down to a low of 3.1M from 1973-1976 and did not climb back up to 4M until 1989. So the most popular Jennifer era (where about 4% of the girls were named Jennifer) was during low birth eras. So about 65K girls were named Jennifer. Now, there are 4.1M live births per year and at 1%, that means about 21K girls are named Olivia. If you don't take into account number of live births, it would seem to be 4x as many girls named Jennifer in the 1970's than Olivia now, but it's really more like 3x as many.

In the 1980's live births hovered closer to 3.5M per year.

https://www.infoplease.com/us/population/live-births-and-birth-rates-year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just for fun, I plugged the top names and their percentage of births in 2020 into a spreadsheet so I could look at the numbers a bit. I thought this was interesting:

Olivia (#1) was given to 1% of all girls born in 2020.
Harper (#10) is the name that is exactly half as popular as Olivia, with .5% of all girls named Harper.
Willow (#48) is exactly half as popular as Harper, with .25%
Margaret (#126) is exactly half as popular as Willow, with .124%
Milani (#267) is half as popular as Margaret, with .062%

I like these stats because they show how few kids get any one name. But I also like how they kind of show what kinds of names are popping up at what level of popularity, and it's about what you'd expect. Olivia is classic and popular, so it's common. Harper and Willow are pretty but sound more modern, so they are "on trend" but a lot less common than Olivia. Margaret is a classic that is not in favor, so it's much lower down the list. Milani is an unusual name.

I think these are all great names but different kinds of parents are going to feel differently about how common, classic, modern, or unusual they are. The rankings really don't tell the whole story.

Don't forget to consider number of live births. Remember that the Baby Buster, aka Gen X, era, started in 1965 and live births in the US dropped below 4M births each year (the Baby Boom years all had more than 4M live births). It went down to a low of 3.1M from 1973-1976 and did not climb back up to 4M until 1989. So the most popular Jennifer era (where about 4% of the girls were named Jennifer) was during low birth eras. So about 65K girls were named Jennifer. Now, there are 4.1M live births per year and at 1%, that means about 21K girls are named Olivia. If you don't take into account number of live births, it would seem to be 4x as many girls named Jennifer in the 1970's than Olivia now, but it's really more like 3x as many.

In the 1980's live births hovered closer to 3.5M per year.

https://www.infoplease.com/us/population/live-births-and-birth-rates-year

That's why I'm going by percentage of births instead of number of births because it better accounts for these fluctuations in birth rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people who are going to name their kid a popular name are not going to read this thread.

+