Are popular names really that bad?

[SaraEmily]

Would you choose a popular name that you love or go with a less common name that you like a little less, for the sake of avoiding a popular name?

 

[cherrylips100]

It's difficult but I think loving the name you've chosen is more important than striving to find something unusual that you don't like as much. You can never know whether a name will suddenly get popular and there's always the possibility that a name is unpopular for a reason.

 

[joeyjo]

If it was super popular it would put me off a little having been one of many with my name - it def ages me to being between 28 & 38!

DS1 is George which is more popular in the uk than I realised, we lived overseas when he was born & do again now. It will likely get more popular with the Royal baby. I like it coz it works across Europe too, also peppa pig means most of the Spanish kids pronounce it perfectly

 

[xjesx]

doesnt hold weight for me.

I have one of the top names of the 80s.

I have no problem with it.

It has not hindered me in anyway.

 

[Lucy139]

If I loved the name I would use it weather it was popular or not!! X

 

[littlejenx]

totally puts me off. thats why im really struggling to name my second son. wish it didnt bother me so much x

 

[JJKCB]

doubt many of my choices would become popular

 

[xxenigmaxx]

It only bothers me when you know there will be 4 kids in your child's class with the same name. I really like Connor, but my friend told me her son has tons of Connor's in his class, so that name is off my list (but still considering it for a middle name!)

 

[Sarah lo]

We went for a really popular name for our first (Olivia) it was the one of only 2 names we agreed on, the other being francesca but when she was born she was an Olivia without a doubt. I still love her name but at the same time I regret picking such a popular name for her.

My name was super popular when I was born and all my life I've never been more than 100 yards away from another sarah (we're just like rats lol), at school I was always sarah H. My best friend is also called sarah and we always get referred to as sarah 1 and sarah 2 or just "sarahs". If someone shouts my name in the street I usually don't even bother to look as its most likely a different sarah they want.

So yeah it bothers me a bit that my daughter will go through the same thing. They've already started putting Olivia E on all her art work at nursery but as I say she just was an Olivia when she was born.

We have our girl and boys names picked for #2 already (I think! ) and I've already checked they don't appear anywhere in the top 100 baby names for the past 10 years

 

[Mapleroo]

We are struggling with the same quandary (or at least my DH is). Our daughter is named after her great grandmother and I want this baby (if she's a girl) to be named after my great grandmother. The problem is even though we both love the name, it's really popular right now (Lily). I would prefer not to have such a popular name, but for me it's more important that our baby have a name that is special and has meaning like our other daughter. My husband however thinks that the fact it's so popular is a deal breaker. My other option is to name her after my grandmother, but that is 'Verna'. As much as I loved my gran... Not a huge fan of the name lol. Although likely never to be popular!

 

[joeyjo]

We are struggling with the same quandary (or at least my DH is). Our daughter is named after her great grandmother and I want this baby (if she's a girl) to be named after my great grandmother. The problem is even though we both love the name, it's really popular right now (Lily). I would prefer not to have such a popular name, but for me it's more important that our baby have a name that is special and has meaning like our other daughter. My husband however thinks that the fact it's so popular is a deal breaker. My other option is to name her after my grandmother, but that is 'Verna'. As much as I loved my gran... Not a huge fan of the name lol. Although likely never to be popular!

I actually bizarrely like verna!
Do either have middle names y

 

[joeyjo]

We are struggling with the same quandary (or at least my DH is). Our daughter is named after her great grandmother and I want this baby (if she's a girl) to be named after my great grandmother. The problem is even though we both love the name, it's really popular right now (Lily). I would prefer not to have such a popular name, but for me it's more important that our baby have a name that is special and has meaning like our other daughter. My husband however thinks that the fact it's so popular is a deal breaker. My other option is to name her after my grandmother, but that is 'Verna'. As much as I loved my gran... Not a huge fan of the name lol. Although likely never to be popular!

I actually bizarrely like verna!
Use lily if u like it but think
Do either have middle names yOu could use

 

[Mapleroo]

We are struggling with the same quandary (or at least my DH is). Our daughter is named after her great grandmother and I want this baby (if she's a girl) to be named after my great grandmother. The problem is even though we both love the name, it's really popular right now (Lily). I would prefer not to have such a popular name, but for me it's more important that our baby have a name that is special and has meaning like our other daughter. My husband however thinks that the fact it's so popular is a deal breaker. My other option is to name her after my grandmother, but that is 'Verna'. As much as I loved my gran... Not a huge fan of the name lol. Although likely never to be popular!

I actually bizarrely like verna!
Do either have middle names y

Wahoo! So glad you like it. I don't even think it's one that would even grow on me. Her middle name is 'Emily' but that is my sisters name so that's out. All the other grandmother's /great grandmother's middle names are May or Mae (everyone is so original, I know!) And so our Dd name is Anna Mae. I do have another grandma that's first name is Laurel, but we were not close at all, so that doesn't seem right either. I would use 'Emily' as a middle name, grandma Verna and I were extremely close but DH doesn't think it's a good middle name. Grrrr

 

[Varenne]

It would depend on whether or not it met my other (very loosely defined) name "criteria". I suppose if I were to try and put them into words it'd look something like this:

Not so popular as to risk him/her being the 3rd or 4th in the class
Have a solid (not silly) meaning
Be easy enough to pronounce
Sound classy with a slightly unique twist
Sound appropriately masculine/feminine
Be spelt in a sensible manner
Flow well with the rest of the name
Not have silly initials or high potential for bullying

If it met them all but was slightly more popular than I wanted I'd still go for it. My current favourite girl name is like this. I do have a limit though. I wouldn't choose top 5 I don't think.

 

[Wishing_well]

It would put me off.

I prefer my children to be individuals in every sense of the word. Plus my choices aren't popular.

 

[boobee]

For me... Yes! I grew up with the exact same name as my best friend AND younger cousin. We had to be distinguised "little and big" due to age difference and at school as me and my best friend sat next to each other I was "left" and she was "right". I want my child's name to be at least a little bit individual! I did have a name in mind for our daughter but have totally gone off it as loads of people have suddenly called their little girl it.
It may seem silly to others and I know that once I choose a name it could get popular and someone out there will have that name too but I personally want something that will stand out

 

[amytrisha]

For boys we like really common names, mainly Oliver, Oscar or Harry. It wouldn't put me off, I want my child to have a name I like and if I don't like a more unusual one then I wouldn't name my child it

 

[CloverMouse]

It depends how popular for me. I couldn't do lily or jacob but top 100... maybe if I loved it

 

[Tami]

Our daughter is Lily...we didn't let it's popularity stop us, but we haven't actually met anyone else with a child called Lily.

If you like a name or it has significant meaning to you then don't let someone else using it put you off.

 

[nic18]

I would stick to what I loved