Would You Use a Top 5 Popular Baby Name?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is so hyper localized. Is there a way to check top 5 by zip code? I can guarantee Kathleen hasn’t been in the top 10 in many many years, but I had 3 of them in my class the past 2 years, yet no Isabella or Charlotte.

It's true. My kid has a top 20 name and we've only ever met one kid with the same name and it was on a playground years ago and we never saw them again. My best friend gave her kid a name that wasn't even in the top 1000 at the time and even now is in the 800s, and there are 3 kids with the name in her kid's preschool. I think she caught a hyperlocal trend whereas we benefit from the fact that so many people in this area won't use a name deemed too popular.

+2 We were in a gymnastics class with maybe 12-15 kids total and there were three boys named Logan. I'm sure all the Logan moms were like, WTF?? I could've just used Liam at this point! But I only have daughters so maybe Logan is a known popular name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My toddler is James. I knew it was popular (apparently #5 his birth year) but I really like the name and I consider it classic, so am fine that there will be lots of them. I also have a popular/classic name and usually had another kid or so in my grade with my name (but not always). Didn’t care about it at the time. Just choose a name you like.

James is such a classic. No one even notices if there is one or five or ten of them in a grade. It's not like if there were ten Brynleighs.

[Anonymous]

Use the name you love. Honestly. Even the most popular names now are WAY less common than Jennifer ever was. That was a real anomaly.

The top 5 names from when my kids were born aren't unusual names, but I can't say we are saturated with those names either. My kids have top 100 names, and we occasionally run into people with a shared name. But it's hardly regular. My daughter has one other kid in school, my son maybe 3 (his is more popular).

[Anonymous]

The top baby names now make up about 0.7% of total births. Roughly. When Jennifer was popular, there were multiple years when over 3% of all baby girls were named it. It was well over 1% of all baby girls for 20 years running.

Nothing even comes close to that now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. My name was SO popular in 80s/90s and there were always at least 4 of us in every class with the same name which was very annoying.

Ashley?

We have 20+ Ashley's now in our school where I teach. All of them Latina.

[Anonymous]

I have a Jack in a year when it was pretty common, but here in the DMV, with so many people from diverse areas, it was no big deal. He was the only Jack in his grade till he hit high school. Pick a name you love.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. My name was SO popular in 80s/90s and there were always at least 4 of us in every class with the same name which was very annoying.

Hope you're doing ok, Jennifer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. My name was SO popular in 80s/90s and there were always at least 4 of us in every class with the same name which was very annoying.

Hope you're doing ok, Jennifer.

Jennifer was more 70's. 80's and 90's brought us the Madisons and McKenzies and Hayleys.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. My name was SO popular in 80s/90s and there were always at least 4 of us in every class with the same name which was very annoying.

Ashley?

We have 20+ Ashley's now in our school where I teach. All of them Latina.

I was going to guess Jessica.

[Anonymous]

I was #4 in my birth year. There was only one other girl in my HS of 3000 students with my name. I never personally knew another me-name til I was in my 40s.

[Anonymous]

My sister was #4 in her birth year. I am surprised it wasn't #1 we knew so many kids with that name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The top baby names now make up about 0.7% of total births. Roughly. When Jennifer was popular, there were multiple years when over 3% of all baby girls were named it. It was well over 1% of all baby girls for 20 years running.

Nothing even comes close to that now.

Yes. 30 years ago, there were nearly 50,000 Michaels born and 35,000 Jessicas. In the year 2022, there were only 20,500 Liams and 16,500 Olivias. Being a top name in 2022 wouldn't have even gotten you on the Top 20 for boys names in 1993. Being named Olivia would be equivalent to being named Megan.

So far we've seen about one popular name per class, although there was a surge of 3 Abbys once, but two moved away, so we're back to one Abby.

[Anonymous]

Another vote for using the name you love. I have a 19 year old Jacob, named after Jacob had been the #1 name for years. I think there was only one other in his grade at elementary school. I did think twice about the popularity but he's named for my dad and it was important to me. He likes that he shares a name with Pop-Pop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The top baby names now make up about 0.7% of total births. Roughly. When Jennifer was popular, there were multiple years when over 3% of all baby girls were named it. It was well over 1% of all baby girls for 20 years running.

Nothing even comes close to that now.

This is the answer! You will no longer see classes having 5+ kids with the same name like we did in the 80s and 90s. So if you love a name, go for it!

[Anonymous]

My son's name is in the top 10 nationwide and top 5 for our state. He is 8 years old now and has never had another kid w/ his name in his class or even his grade at school, on any sports team or activity he's been in, none of his friends or peer group/neighborhood kids have the same name. My daughter's name is in the 600s for popularity for her birth year and we've met 3 other girls with that name through activities/classes!

Anyway, all this to say that the really popular names now aren't nearly as popular as they were when we were kids (see PP about .7% of kids getting the most popular names now whereas that was more like 2% of kids back in the 80s getting the top names. It's just very, very unlikely your kid will be one of 3 in a class anymore no matter what their name is. We don't know ANY Liams or Noahs and those are the 2 most popular names for boys. We only know 2 Olivias and 1 Emma and those are the most popular girl names.