Using a popular name anyway?

[Anonymous]

I have a Noah and an Anna. It's not a big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my sister regrets naming my niece Ava. There's on in every class, on every team. And she does it does kind of feel less special. Not to mention the inconvenience of having to always specify the last name or reply to invites that were sent to the wrong Ava.

Interesting. I have 3 kids and have never met a kid named Ava. And I love that name and considered it for my daughter but ultimately decided it was too popular and now regret that since we never meet any!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of the names husband and I like for our second baby (a girl) is in the top 5 names nationally and locally. But does that really matter? It is one of the few names we both like and it goes well with our other kid's name and our last name and the family middle name we'd like to use. Uniqueness seems to be more of an issue for girl names -- like there are 2 James in our preschool class and 2 Will's when we were in daycare and no one seemed to care at all. How much does this really matter?

What do you mean?

Who would deliberately give their kid and unpopular name? Popular names are good — and popular for a reason.

It’s like people think their snowflake has to have some obscure name to be unique or something.

And don’t get me started on the “jennifer” phenomenon. Today’s most popular names don’t even come close to the saturation of jennifer in the 1970s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your child will be Name and last name initial (Ellie Q or Sophia G) through out childhood and then just called last name for the rest of her life.

The name in her generation will always be common.

This is very unlikely given the small percentage of kids who actually get these modern day popular names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the names husband and I like for our second baby (a girl) is in the top 5 names nationally and locally. But does that really matter? It is one of the few names we both like and it goes well with our other kid's name and our last name and the family middle name we'd like to use. Uniqueness seems to be more of an issue for girl names -- like there are 2 James in our preschool class and 2 Will's when we were in daycare and no one seemed to care at all. How much does this really matter?

What do you mean?

Who would deliberately give their kid and unpopular name? Popular names are good — and popular for a reason.

It’s like people think their snowflake has to have some obscure name to be unique or something.

And don’t get me started on the “jennifer” phenomenon. Today’s most popular names don’t even come close to the saturation of jennifer in the 1970s.

Explain Bertha(#7 in 1888).

[Anonymous]

From the midwest and we had a Jack in the early 90s - thought the name was cool and different. Little did we know it was already off and running in this area. When we moved here, 2 co-workers in my small office also named their kids Jack after me, so did a close friend. There were 4 Jack's on our street. Somehow it has not mattered much - it's still a great name (and fits him perfectly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Names follow trends. I do internally roll my eyes when I hear someone introduce their baby with a super common name. Like, come on, you couldn’t think out of the trend-pressure for one second?!

+1. No name is inherently prettier than another - it’s simply current fashion. I roll my eyes too.

The "current fashion" is to give your child a less popular name. That's why no names are as popular today as some where decades ago. Because so many people are looking for a unique name. Which is why this entire conversation is silly -- there are no "super popular" names. You are rolling your eyes at names given to a tiny fraction (less than 1% of all babies, generally much less, a few thousand children out of millions) for being overly trendy?

I don't roll my eyes at anyone's baby's names because I'm not a jerk, but I do think it's the people who are going out of their way to choose an unusual name are actually following more social pressure than anyone naming their kid Charlotte or Elizabeth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the names husband and I like for our second baby (a girl) is in the top 5 names nationally and locally. But does that really matter? It is one of the few names we both like and it goes well with our other kid's name and our last name and the family middle name we'd like to use. Uniqueness seems to be more of an issue for girl names -- like there are 2 James in our preschool class and 2 Will's when we were in daycare and no one seemed to care at all. How much does this really matter?

What do you mean?

Who would deliberately give their kid and unpopular name? Popular names are good — and popular for a reason.

It’s like people think their snowflake has to have some obscure name to be unique or something.

And don’t get me started on the “jennifer” phenomenon. Today’s most popular names don’t even come close to the saturation of jennifer in the 1970s.

Explain Bertha(#7 in 1888).

People had different aesthetics in the 1880s? Who cares what the most popular name in 1888 was? Explain why women used to paint lines on the back of their legs to make it look like they were wearing nylons, when women today mostly think nylons are dumb and ugly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Even with unusual names sometimes you get unlucky. My DD has two Selmas in her class. What are the odds of that?

This! I have a Zoe and we’ve never been in class or activity with another Zoe. Yet my kids have been in class with multiples of far less common names. Like you, OP, it was one of the only names DH and I both liked. She is 11, by the way, and NO regrets!

[Anonymous]

Use the names you like. We named our son Benjamin, we call him Ben. That name seems to be fairly common. Interestingly, I was going to name him a different name that my husband didn’t agree with. My son knows this other name and he has said “really glad you didn’t need me that! I like my name.” so I can tell you having a common name has not impacted my son negatively at all.

[Anonymous]

Use a name you and DH LOVE!

You will be calling out that name for years and years to come.

If you run into *eyeroll* pp who wishes you named your kid something else, who cares.

My teen's name has jumped from top 100 to top 20 since he was born. Even so, in elementary school there were 3 in his class with same name. In college, he has yet to meet one person with his name. I love his name and would not change a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even with unusual names sometimes you get unlucky. My DD has two Selmas in her class. What are the odds of that?

This! I have a Zoe and we’ve never been in class or activity with another Zoe. Yet my kids have been in class with multiples of far less common names. Like you, OP, it was one of the only names DH and I both liked. She is 11, by the way, and NO regrets!

+2

My goddaughter has a very unusual name -- I did not even realize it was a name before it was her name, and the only other person I've ever heard of with the name is a fictional character, and I only learned of that character after she'd been given the name. It's a pretty name, but extremely unusual.

A few months ago I met a kid close to her age with the same name. It turns out they are in the same extracurricular. They now both go by [incredibly unusual first name]+[last initial]. And they even look kind of a like! What are the odds?!

Plus, I think it's particularly annoying for her parents because they specifically wanted a very unusual name. Whereas I think when you give your kid a name in the top 100 names or so, you just kind of assume you will meet other kids with that name and it's not devastating when it happens. It's just [shrug] we obviously have similar taste in names! And then you move on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Use what you like. If you don't mind it being popular, that's all that matters.

I guess the kid doesn’t matter.

The kid will be fine. No child has been harmed by a popular name.

I personally have always hated my name. It was popular and had no meaning to my parents.

+1

I’m still trying to change mine, but can’t find one that feels “real.”

But kids who have super unique names express the same sentiment. You can't predict how your child will feel about their name.

This. Go with the name you like. Popular generally may not mean popular in your immediate area. I worried a bit about having a Jacob when it had been the most popular name for a long time but it was meaningful for me and we picked it anyway. And, there was only one other Jacob in the whole ES. DD's name is much less common according to the charts but there were two others in the school with the same name, so about the same popularity in her school as "Jacob". And, even if it is popular, they may like that. DD has friends with the same name and they like being "name twins".

Any particular kid may like or not like their name for various reasons. If you go with a popular name, maybe pick a less popular middle name (or vice versa) so then they have the option of using that.

[Anonymous]

It's personal preference.

For us - I really didn't want a common name. My name was a top 10 when I was growing up, and back then, top 10 names were more dominant than they are now, so there were almost always multiple people with my name in each class. I hated it, and swore I'd give my kid's something less common.

Well, flash forwards and my husband and I really struggled to find name we both liked. Our tastes are just so different. I did remove any top 10 names from our short list, but we both liked Sebastian (#18) and I decided I could live with how common it's become.

I do kinda cringe when I hear another Sebastian (we've already run into two others and he's not even two yet), but I love the name and so I've made my peace. And it's still waaaaay less common than my name was growing up.

And my daughter's name is super super rare (not even in the top 1000) so that's nice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of the names husband and I like for our second baby (a girl) is in the top 5 names nationally and locally. But does that really matter? It is one of the few names we both like and it goes well with our other kid's name and our last name and the family middle name we'd like to use. Uniqueness seems to be more of an issue for girl names -- like there are 2 James in our preschool class and 2 Will's when we were in daycare and no one seemed to care at all. How much does this really matter?

What do you mean?

Who would deliberately give their kid and unpopular name? Popular names are good — and popular for a reason.

It’s like people think their snowflake has to have some obscure name to be unique or something.

And don’t get me started on the “jennifer” phenomenon. Today’s most popular names don’t even come close to the saturation of jennifer in the 1970s.

Explain Bertha(#7 in 1888).

People had different aesthetics in the 1880s? Who cares what the most popular name in 1888 was? Explain why women used to paint lines on the back of their legs to make it look like they were wearing nylons, when women today mostly think nylons are dumb and ugly.

You’re the one claiming that popular = good.