How important is popularity to you?

abutler423 · April 2015

Question ladies... how important is popularity when you choose your baby name? DH is in love with Sophia but I hesitate because it is literally the number one name for the past 5 years. I love the name, and meaning, but I don't want my DD to be one of ten "Sophias" in her class.

Should we focus on what we really love, or think about popularity in this case? For the record, DD#1 is Annabelle Rose - which is usually top 50 popularity.

benmel31 · April 2015

I try to avoid loving first names in the top 20 or so. As a teacher, I often times have more than one of some names in a class, and I just don't want to add to that.

Sophia is a great name, but between Sophia and Sofia, there are a lot of little girls with that name running around.

That said, if you love it and don't love anything else as much, use it.

lizerspitz · April 2015

As an Elizabeth, it was annoying but manageable. I prefer not to have a top ten name child, though my husband and I have a favorite in the top 10 too. It is nice that people will know how to pronounce the name. With Elizabeth, there are more nicknames than the Sophia's of the world. That is something to consider. Using a strong following middle name could be a way to differentiate your Sophia from the others, like Sophia Grace and using two "first names."

wassuphoes · April 2015

I personally am trying to avoid top 500, but that's more my husband and I being name snobs then anything else. Which is really hard with 50 spelling variations for each name because everyone wants a special name for their kid.

If you love a name, and especially if it has meaning to you, go for it.

lifeonthehill · April 2015

My friend was a Jennifer. Growing up she swore up and down she would never use a popular name. Her daughter is 3 and is named Olivia. She fell in love with a name and used it anyways. She has had a few others in her daycare over the years. We will see how elementary school goes!

Personally I am trying to Avoid the top 20 for either gender. But if you love it use it!

bbiutmcph · April 2015

Personally I avoid top 50 at all cost and prefer close to 500. However when I really like a name then I weigh in on popularity and trends. For example is it super popular and only so for the past 3-5 years or is it a name that has been in the top 100 for the past 100 years. If it's been popular a long time then it's not going to time stamp my child and that's the main thing I want to avoid as I am a Jennifer of the 80's . Sofia for example is a name that while popular you can hear the name and truly not know of the person is 80, 18, 8 or 8 weeks.

Our first child has a name close to 500. Our second is in the 90's. However it's a name that while much more popular hasn't had a lot of quick increases that make it trendy.

Looking at trends is the best way to truly decide if it's too popular for you IMO. Take Aria for example it is one of the biggest and quickest trending names I have personally looked at in a long time. You can almost guarantee Aria is under 5 and that is far worse than knowing you might have another Sofia in your class.

MWoodside · April 2015

With DD1 it was very important not to pick a popular name. With DD2 we ended up with a top 10 name, but it's perfect for her.

abutler423 · April 2015

This was a huge help! Love the thought of thinking of trends vs current popularity / sudden increase of popularity. Thank you!

bbiutmcph said:
Personally I avoid top 50 at all cost and prefer close to 500. However when I really like a name then I weigh in on popularity and trends. For example is it super popular and only so for the past 3-5 years or is it a name that has been in the top 100 for the past 100 years. If it's been popular a long time then it's not going to time stamp my child and that's the main thing I want to avoid as I am a Jennifer of the 80's . Sofia for example is a name that while popular you can hear the name and truly not know of the person is 80, 18, 8 or 8 weeks.

Our first child has a name close to 500. Our second is in the 90's. However it's a name that while much more popular hasn't had a lot of quick increases that make it trendy.

Looking at trends is the best way to truly decide if it's too popular for you IMO. Take Aria for example it is one of the biggest and quickest trending names I have personally looked at in a long time. You can almost guarantee Aria is under 5 and that is far worse than knowing you might have another Sofia in your class.

mattandlora · April 2015

My philosophy was like yours. However, my husband has an extremely common name which he shared with multiple classmates. He didn't care. In the end, popularity was the tie-breaker if we were torn between 2 names. Otherwise, we didn't sweat it.

kristyn831 · April 2015

It doesn't matter to me. Your child isn't going to be in school forever. I was one of 8 "Chris's" in grade school out of a class of 60. It didn't bother me at all.

nurse714 · April 2015

I never knew anyone in school with my name and I liked that and wanted the same for my children, but MH loves Olivia and I love Emma... So not original, I know. I don't like that those names are so popular, but I have loved Emma for many years and if I ever was expecting a daughter, I would surely push for that name despite the popularity.

Sophia is the #1 girl's name, but it's a classic, so if you both love it, I would use it, and choose a not so popular middle name.

g8trkim · April 2015

benmel31 said:
I try to avoid loving first names in the top 20 or so. As a teacher, I often times have more than one of some names in a class, and I just don't want to add to that.

Sophia is a great name, but between Sophia and Sofia, there are a lot of little girls with that name running around.

That said, if you love it and don't love anything else as much, use it.

Ditto all of this. I've had three friends this year name their DD's Sophia. I teach elementary specials and I have one class with 3 girls named Ava and 3 boys named Sam. I wouldn't touch a name in the top 20 or even 50, but like PP said if you really love the name just use it.

apriljoy32 · April 2015

I try to avoid atleast top 20....but sometimes, you end up picking a name that will eventually become increasingly popular in years to come. As in our case with our son Declan. He is almost 11. Eleven years ago Declan was only a commonly used name in Ireland, and England. Obviously there were Declan's, but extremely rare. We've only met two. Pop culture plays a big part in my opinion...slap it on a few characters, and boom it starts trending. Our daughter is Nadia (13) which is still not too popular, so it may never get to that point. This time around I love Isla, but since I
can see the trending, I have my reservations. But I love the name....and nothing else is calling out to me!!

e1223 · April 2015

My main criteria for a name is that it's easy to pronounce and spell and will work for a kid and adult. Popularity isn't that important to me, but I'd prefer to avoid top 10. I agree that trendy, dated names would be worse though - Erin born in the 80s here, and the popularity of my name never bothered me, but it is definitely a dated name now. My kids are Anne and Lucas - Luke/Lucas is always super popular but it doesn't bother me. Next kid will likely have a top 50 name as well.

jessnjuan07 · April 2015

I am a Jessica born in the early 1980's so I had a real issue with being one of many in school and also being called Jennifer. I still do get called Jennifer but now that I am older I rather like my name and see that it suits me.

My favorite name for the longest time has been Isabella and I can't find a name that I like better so we will probably use it if I can convince my husband that we don't all have to have J names ( if we do, she will be Josephine or Johanna). I have a real issue with her having such a popular name so it has been a struggle. I guess we shall see what it turns out to be. I am not pregnant yet anyway.

JMU_Bride09 · April 2015

I think that a name that you love with meaning that you love should trump popularity. I'll share my experience with you: Since the time as a kid that I started to think about future baby names, I've always said that I would give my children very uncommon names. I never wanted them to be one of the gazillion Jennifers or Ashleys from my school days. Then, when it came time to name my children, I discovered that the most perfect names for them that I loved and that had strong meaning for DH and I were both in the top 50 (one is in the top 10). The popularity does bother me, but I do not regret giving them the names that I did. I think that if I had tossed out those names due to their popularity, I would regret that.

4N6s · April 2015

I would avoid the top 20 or so. I don't want my kid to be one of 3 Sophia's in the class.

Kate0034 · April 2015

If I truly love a name, I will use it despite popularity.

The one thing I can't get past is trendiness (like PP discussed). If a name becomes suddenly popular out of nowhere, it's trendy. If it has consistently been popular through the years, it's just a common classic.

This happened to me with the name Liam. My family is Irish and I've always planned to use Liam. However, when it made a huge and fast popularity jump, it lost its appeal to me. I still love the name, but I just can't picture myself having a kid with a trendy name. I'm still planning to use William, though.. It's a classic kind of popular, so despite it being common, I'm happy to use it.

saham07 · April 2015

The other side of this story is.....you can pick a name that is far beyond the 100 or 200 spot and within a few short years it is in the top 10! This happened to us. Our daughter's name was at almost 300 when we named her in 2000. Within 5 years, it is in the top 10 and has been there for 10 years. We love her name and can't imagine her with any other name. So, I say pick the name that you love, because you don't have any power over which names become popular. My daughter's name is Ava .

magsugar13 · April 2015

To me the name is so much more important than the popularity. The popularity will change her name never will, I'd rather choose a name I truly love than pick one I loved less due to popularity.

My name was top 10 when I was a child (Elizabeth) but honestly I never had another one in my class until HS. even now I do not know many elizabeths.

LizWhiz87 · April 2015

magsugar13 said:
To me the name is so much more important than the popularity. The popularity will change her name never will, I'd rather choose a name I truly love than pick one I loved less due to popularity.

My name was top 10 when I was a child (Elizabeth) but honestly I never had another one in my class until HS. even now I do not know many elizabeths.

I am an Elizabeth as well, and I never remember having more than or or two other Elizabeths in the whole school. I know it has been a widely popular name for forever, but I just don't seem to run into any situations where I meet other Elizabeths.

mattandlora · April 2015

I agree with PP about the difference between a trendy name and a popular name. Names like Anne or Elizabeth, John or William are classic and will always be popular. You can't go wrong with those, even if multiple kids have the same name Names like Janet or Debbie, Jessica or Amy, etc, have a generation tied to them. DH and I wanted to avoid trendy, but had no problem going with a popular name if it was a classic. Our kids are William (Will) and Margaret (Maggie).

As a side note, you could name your DD Josephine with the NN Sophie. Josephine is rising in poparity but hasn't hit the top 20 yet. It also gives more NN options when she gets older, if she wants to use something else.

LouLouLove · April 2015

I've been struggling with this same thing. I have loved Silas for years, and while it is currently not in the top 20, I worry since Justin Timberlake just used it that it will shoot up in popularity. It's an old name, but I worry he will be one of five in his class and it will feel trendy since a celeb used it. Part of me wants to cross it off the list because of this, the other part of me thinks I should just use it if I love it. I could give my kid a more uncommon name that could be super common in a few years. My name is Emma and it was very uncommon growing up, as in I never met another Emma until I was in college. The million Emmas now are still not in my age range so it's no big deal, but my name is now definitely super popular.

daystardreams · April 2015

Popularity is very important to me but not to DH so we compromise in the middle. Personally I prefer names not in the top 500 but his favorites are usually top 20 so I put them on the list too. I'm sure the fights will get more real as time progresses.

However I thought I would add that I am a Head Start teacher and this year we had two Annabellas and one Annabelle. (Three Isabellas and one Arabella) enrolled. So out of 68 kids but not a single Sophia. It really is just chance who will be in future classes.

We also have two little boys named Mathias. What are the chances of that?!

holli0801 · April 2015

LouLouLove said:
I've been struggling with this same thing. I have loved Silas for years, and while it is currently not in the top 20, I worry since Justin Timberlake just used it that it will shoot up in popularity. It's an old name, but I worry he will be one of five in his class and it will feel trendy since a celeb used it. Part of me wants to cross it off the list because of this, the other part of me thinks I should just use it if I love it. I could give my kid a more uncommon name that could be super common in a few years. My name is Emma and it was very uncommon growing up, as in I never met another Emma until I was in college. The million Emmas now are still not in my age range so it's no big deal, but my name is now definitely super popular.

Yes!!!! I cried when I heard of Silas Timberlake! (I blame the hormones!) We are due in August and had our heart set on Silas! We have been calling him that for months. I have always been anti-top-20 names. And I'm so worried about the popularity too! But I think I'm going with it anyway.. Nothing else seems to fit now that we have been set on Silas.

My advice now (which has changed bc of this experience)--Go with your heart!

wcm2b · April 2015

The thing with popularity for me personally is that when I hear the baby's name announced I don't feel as excited if it is a very very common name. I am just underwhelmed. BUT I think that is because I am a teacher and I hear so many names all day long.

The other side to it is that the popular names are so common for a reason- they are great names!

Go with what you want for your little one and don't worry about others! What do you want to be calling the most precious thing you have?

theGDpaterfamilias · April 2015

It's worth noting that the top 20 now isn't at all the top 20 of our childhood. Whereas names used to take hold and spread over a few years, now the trendy names dissipate FAST and there isn't such a gap between the commonality of name #1 and name #50. For instance, the top girl name of 1983 in my home state was Jennifer used 2,250 times. Twenty years later it's Emma, used 640 times. As far as commonality goes, using the #1 name now is like using the #15 name 20 years ago.

TL;DR: Emma isn't the new Jennifer, it's the new Angela.

MamaWren919 · April 2015

I would like to stay out of top 20, but I think if you have your heart set on a name you should go for it. I'm a Jennifer, but Sophia today does not equal Jennifer in the 80s. I'm a teacher, and while you might have 2 Sophias/Sophies in a class that is the most and not even that common. There's just such variety in names these days that I rarely have duplicates.

LouLouLove · April 2015

hollieileen said:

LouLouLove said:
I've been struggling with this same thing. I have loved Silas for years, and while it is currently not in the top 20, I worry since Justin Timberlake just used it that it will shoot up in popularity. It's an old name, but I worry he will be one of five in his class and it will feel trendy since a celeb used it. Part of me wants to cross it off the list because of this, the other part of me thinks I should just use it if I love it. I could give my kid a more uncommon name that could be super common in a few years. My name is Emma and it was very uncommon growing up, as in I never met another Emma until I was in college. The million Emmas now are still not in my age range so it's no big deal, but my name is now definitely super popular.
Yes!!!! I cried when I heard of Silas Timberlake! (I blame the hormones!) We are due in August and had our heart set on Silas! We have been calling him that for months. I have always been anti-top-20 names. And I'm so worried about the popularity too! But I think I'm going with it anyway.. Nothing else seems to fit now that we have been set on Silas.

My advice now (which has changed bc of this experience)--Go with your heart!

I'm glad I'm not alone! I felt like I was irrationally upset with Justin Timberlake. I saw an US Weekly poll asking what people thought of the name Silas and only like 53% liked it which oddly made me happy. I figure the fewer people who like it, the less popular it will become haha. I might still go with it because I do love it, it's just so hard to predict how popular it will get!

Also, after we had picked out Lincoln for our first son Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell used it for their daughter. Freaking celebrities keep stealing my baby names!

aliciaspinnet · April 2015

DHs family keep telling us that our current favourite boys name (Rohan) is too popular. We keep trying to tell them that it's only popular in India, and our child will be raised in Australia. If anything, I'm worried that it's too "out there" for Oz!

emmy236 · April 2015

I think a lot depends on your last name. We have a fairly common last name (it's also becoming a trendy first name) so for us we wanted a lesser known name. Luckily we had some great family names to work from.

ETA: I will take a beautiful classic name like Sophia over any awful trendy made up name.

MrsCFB · April 2015

screw popularity; use what you like.

SaraFaye715 · April 2015

As a Sara, who went to school with at least five other Sarahs, and is often confused at work when someone is talking to the other Sarah, I thought I wanted an unpopular name. Then I got married, and went from having an easy to spell, one syllable last name to a three syllable, barely anyone pronounces it right, last name. What's worse than having a popular name is having one that is so odd or uncommon that no one can spell it. My goal is to give my babies a name that is classic and easy to spell and pronounce, because their entire life they will be spelling their last name.

SaraFaye715 · April 2015

Having a common, normal name doesn't make your child any more or less unique. Their name is important, but in the end it doesn't dictate who they become. Give them a solid name that won't be embarrassing to put on a resume one day.

saham07 · April 2015

aliciaspinnet said:
DHs family keep telling us that our current favourite boys name (Rohan) is too popular. We keep trying to tell them that it's only popular in India, and our child will be raised in Australia. If anything, I'm worried that it's too "out there" for Oz!

Rohan and various spellings are pretty common in the U.S. Also

queenbone · April 2015

For me it really depends upon how common your last name is and how common the FN-LN combination will be. My married name is in the top 10 while my maiden name was ethnic and very uncommon. My FN reached its peak at #3 the year I was born. My FN was never a problem for me growing up even though it was popular, but now, I have to give my birthdate at the salon because they have 7 clients with my FN-LN combination and one other person with the same middle initial. My DH's FN was also very popular for our generation and he has had a lot of trouble in work related scenarios because people sometimes omit or use the wrong middle initial for him.

In my children's classes I have found that the names that have been repeated w/i a class are 1) not highly ranked names and 2) duplicate names don't really happen that often anyway. I don't know a lot of children with top 10 names.

VesperLove · April 2015

I've been struggling with this as well. DH and I have been together for seven years (only married 6 months) but we have talked about baby names since the beginning should we end up married/starting a family. We both have always loved the name Olivia. Before we even met it was always a name we saw ourselves naming our child and it was a strange coincidence when we met that we both loved that name. So, we've always said we'd name our first daughter that. In the last few years though it has become SO popular. I hesitate to move forward with the name but DH said popularity doesn't matter and that we loved it long before it became so popular. I do agree with him and that's why I'll still consider it. I never thought I'd care much about popularity but now that this decision is real (if we have a girl) I'm starting to think I actually do care and want something a little less trendy

blah.

aliciaspinnet · April 2015

saham07 said:

aliciaspinnet said:
DHs family keep telling us that our current favourite boys name (Rohan) is too popular. We keep trying to tell them that it's only popular in India, and our child will be raised in Australia. If anything, I'm worried that it's too "out there" for Oz!

Rohan and various spellings are pretty common in the U.S. Also

Behindthename says it's no. 600 in popularity in the U.S., so still fairly uncommon but not outlandish. I guess once you factor in related names like Rowan it's more common (although we'll probably use the Indian pronunciation rather than the Irish).

holli0801 · April 2015

LouLouLove said:

hollieileen said:

LouLouLove said:
I've been struggling with this same thing. I have loved Silas for years, and while it is currently not in the top 20, I worry since Justin Timberlake just used it that it will shoot up in popularity. It's an old name, but I worry he will be one of five in his class and it will feel trendy since a celeb used it. Part of me wants to cross it off the list because of this, the other part of me thinks I should just use it if I love it. I could give my kid a more uncommon name that could be super common in a few years. My name is Emma and it was very uncommon growing up, as in I never met another Emma until I was in college. The million Emmas now are still not in my age range so it's no big deal, but my name is now definitely super popular.
Yes!!!! I cried when I heard of Silas Timberlake! (I blame the hormones!) We are due in August and had our heart set on Silas! We have been calling him that for months. I have always been anti-top-20 names. And I'm so worried about the popularity too! But I think I'm going with it anyway.. Nothing else seems to fit now that we have been set on Silas.

My advice now (which has changed bc of this experience)--Go with your heart!
I'm glad I'm not alone! I felt like I was irrationally upset with Justin Timberlake. I saw an US Weekly poll asking what people thought of the name Silas and only like 53% liked it which oddly made me happy. I figure the fewer people who like it, the less popular it will become haha. I might still go with it because I do love it, it's just so hard to predict how popular it will get!

Also, after we had picked out Lincoln for our first son Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell used it for their daughter. Freaking celebrities keep stealing my baby names!

I know! I much prefer them using geographic directions, fruits, etc :-p

oneblessedmess · April 2015

As a preschool teacher who started out the year with three Isabellas and two Sophias in her class of 11, I have to say popularity does matter to me somewhat. They all ended up being called Isabella or Sophia Lastname. And sometimes, I would hear other teachers just calling them by their last name. I know I want to try to avoid that for my child. Our #1 name pick so far is in the top 100 but I've never heard it on a child before so I'm okay with that.

Maladroit · April 2015

I just wanted to give my son a name people were somewhat familiar with, but that he wouldn't have 3-4 kids in his class with the same name. Popularity was a pretty big consideration...I don't like super common or trendy names.

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