For those of you with common names... ** UPDATE - he's here! still choosing, help pls

[ZooMa]

Some of my (long-time) favorite boys names are in the top 10/20/50 etc.

For those of you with more popular names growing up, how did you feel about it? Do you wish for something more unique?

I know there's more overall spread on names now, so #1 Jennifer back in the day may have 2-3 times the popularity of today's Sophia and Ava. The social security website (for the U.S.) is neat because it shows you the percentages and you can compare.

FWIW, I'm fixating on Alex(ander) for a boy which would be about 1 in every 130 boys born in 2013. That seems like a lot to me - enough that he will probably have to be known as Alex B. at some point in his life. Is that annoying?

Tell me your experiences.... TIA.

 

[ZooMa]

Also, Alex hit a high in the 1990s but is trending down. I wonder if catching the downside of a trend is a bad thing.

 

[staralfur]

My name was #29 the year I was born, I think there was usually at least one other girl in my grade with the same name. I do remember having my last name/initial tacked on to my name occasionally but I honestly don't remember it bothering me.

I also have experience with the other side! My mom gave me a common name but she also spelled it very differently. No one ever spelled it correctly, I was always spelling it out for people, correcting forms, etc. and I found that WAY more annoying than sharing a name with my peers.

I chose a pretty common name for my daughter and am drawn to more traditional names, I think partly because I hated the unique part of my name growing up.

 

[Buffyx]

I like my name, because I don't think it's extremely common, but it's still a normal name and people have heard of it. That's what I'm striving for with my child.

My husband likes really unique names, but I would hate to have to spell my name out and have people mispronounce it all the time. I once had 4 Sarah's in my class at school which would have been super annoying. I will try to stray from top 10, but if I love it, I love it!

 

[emyandpotato]

I hated having a common name! It didn't feel like a special or pretty name because of how many other people had it, so it just felt plain and boring. I spelt it differently for years to seem more unique.

But Alexander is different. It's a gorgeous name, and I don't think boys mind as much having common names. My OH has the second most common name for his year of birth- Christopher in 1992- and he said it never bothered him in the slightest.

 

[alibaba24]

Alexander is a brilliant name for loads of reasons I really love it. I don't know any boys with that name apart from my father. the thing with popularity is it changes all the time. you may pick a really uncommon name and it suddenly increase in popularity which is what I am experiencing at the minute

 

[miraclemomma]

My name is Katie...I was in a class with 4 others, and it was annoying but I either went by Kate or Katie Jo (my middle name)... Despite the irritation in high school I have still always liked my name...

 

[wannabemomy37]

My name is quite common and I went to school with another girl same name, but we went by different nicknames and I actually thought it was really cool! I love my name!!

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

Dont mind at all love my name x

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

P.s all my children have common names but they are the only ones at their school x

 

[Zephram]

My name was common for baby girls back in the 80s (but unheard of now!) and in high school I always had 1 or 2 other girls in my year with the same name, but it never really bothered me, it wasn't so common that I was referred to by my last initial. I have a friend called Katie that we still to this day refer to as Katie P, even though it's not like we don't know who we're talking about now as she's the only Katie in our lives now! So you do have to weigh up that possibility.

 

[george83]

Growing up I hated having a common name, I was one of 5 girls with the same name in my class. As I've got older it doesn't bother me and apart from the one friend I've kept in touch with since school I now don't know anybody else with the same name

 

[ellaford]

I am Eleanor. I go by Ella though which was less common when I was at school but Eleanor was quite common. I didn't mind it tbh. I had times when I wished I had a more uncommon name but overall I was happy with my name I would rather have a normal common name than a weird, uncommon one that nobody can pronounce. Alexander is lovely!

 

[tulip1975]

My name was #4 the year I was born. I had one other girl in my grade named Melissa, but fortunately we weren't always in the same class. I rarely see a Melissa out in the work world, but if I do, she is usually close to my age.

Jennifer, Amy, and Heather were the 3 more popular names, and they were everywhere. Everywhere.

Alexander made our top 3, but I had a trouble with it being #10 last year. My DH wants to nickname him Xander, but has now soured on how that sounds with his last name.

 

[ZooMa]

Thanks for the opinions, ladies. Keep them coming.

Alexander is #4 is my current state and the ones we'd most likely move to. I always liked it growing up, but it was only in the top 100 or maybe even top 50 then.... I guess it's more like naming a kid Michael, Chris or David from my generation. Argh.

Well, I have about 5 weeks. And hubby needs to weigh in, too.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

A name is such a tiny part of a person x

 

[lisaalove]

When I was younger I wished my name was different than others Lisa's so I'd tell everyone that myname actually had two a's in it. (Lisaa) that was really the only thing I ever wished was different I wished I had a little flare, ironically I was called Lisa B a lot in school and honestly it never annoyed me. I never really thought about it that way.

 

[jessmke]

I have a very common name (Jessica) and it didn't bother me that much in school, but was super annoying in sports. There were five Jessica's on my rugby team and three on my soccer team, which got very confusing when people are calling your name on the field. Some of us also had difficult last names so it wasn't easy to just use last names for each other.

I have two sisters. One of them also has a very common name (Ashley) and the other has an Irish name that is very uncommon in Canada and no one ever knew how to spell or pronounce it (Ailish). Ashley and I always had t-shirts with our names on them, name plates on our bedroom doors, etc. As a kid it always upset Ailish that she could never find anything with her name on it. My sisters have 7 kids between the two of them and have tried to go for a happy medium - their kids have names that are different enough that they don't share the same name with a bunch of kids in their class, but they aren't so out there that you wouldn't know how to pronounce or spell the name.

 

[Zephram]

When I was younger I wished my name was different than others Lisa's so I'd tell everyone that myname actually had two a's in it. (Lisaa) that was really the only thing I ever wished was different I wished I had a little flare, ironically I was called Lisa B a lot in school and honestly it never annoyed me. I never really thought about it that way.

This made me laugh as my friend Jennifer in primary school used to tell people her name had a silent H and was spelt Jehnnifer/Jehn so she felt different from all the other Jennifers!

 

[citrusfruit]

Just backing up others with uncommon names! Mine is uncommon and I didn't like the fact that I never met another person with my name, it felt strange as though I was singled out. I was quite a shy child and would honestly have loved to have a 'normal' name that people knew instantly how to spell!

Also, I am a teacher and it seems like the spread is quite wide. For example, I have never taught someone called Jack, even though it was number 1 for quite a while. It's difficult to know how things will turn out, so I would just go for the name you like! With Alexander, if he really hates it there are options - xander, Alex, al - to make it more unique.