Last name Johnson, first name ???

cjbrabeck

I am having difficulty fully committing to names. We have both a boy and girl name decided. But with the last name of Johnson, I am concerned that their popularity listing is holding me back. We tried coming up with unique names but keep going back to more traditional. I question the names we love because there are so many out there with the exact same name. Any advise?

gnrkrystle1

I'm a big supporter of traditional/classic names. There is nothing wrong with there being multiple Davids or Johns or Marks in a class. There is a reason they stand the test of time and others do not. Remember that when you pick a trendy name, it seems like a good idea now, in 2014, but it might not be later. Sometimes we don't need to reinvent the wheel. Pick a name you love and forget whether it's popular or not. 

moonraffe

My husband has the most common male name (first and last) in the States. I've never met another person with his exact name and I've lived all over the States. The biggest issue he has is getting an email address with his first.last name without a number (which he eventually did). On the opposite end was my full maiden name. I was the only one that appeared if you googled it. Anything about me was easy to find. Now with his last name, there are many more of my first/last combo and I like the anonimity it provides me (especially with my line of work, I hate when clients find me on social sites). I would say go with the name you love regardless of popularity.

FutureMrsW9

gnrkrystle1 said:

I'm a big supporter of traditional/classic names. There is nothing wrong with there being multiple Davids or Johns or Marks in a class. There is a reason they stand the test of time and others do not. Remember that when you pick a trendy name, it seems like a good idea now, in 2014, but it might not be later. Sometimes we don't need to reinvent the wheel. Pick a name you love and forget whether it's popular or not. 

This exactly!

tealowl

Pretty much any name with go with Johnson (or Smith, etc.). Johnson is my last name, but DD has her dads last name (it just sounded better with her fn), and baby to be will have S/O's last name, but his is pretty similar to Johnson, so they sound the same anyway.

Don't worry about common/popular names. I grew up with a billion Sarah's, we just had to be called with our last name initials.

I'm 32, and people still call me Sarah J. Plus, it's mega diffucult to Google me.

hmp1

mjreilly2 said:

Not Perter, Richard, Harrison?

Johnson is my last name and we used Richard as a middle. Peter and Harrison (but I would use Harris) are both family names on my side that I really want to use but can't pull the trigger for a first name.

I did the google test with the full name of my first son who has a top 20 name and didn't have a match with his first middle last name. We were set on James because of honoring my Grandfather. We went a little more non traditional for the middle name to make it more unique, Sawyer. We even got his email set up with his full name which we were not able to get for my second son with a less popular name, Leo.

Helenahhandbasket

There are lots of names that aren't very popular right now, that while might not be considered traditional (Michael, Elizabeth, Anne) are well known and highly recognizable.

I am thinking names like (totally random suggestions)

Raymond (rank is 249)

Craig (781)

Abram (392)

Malcolm (466)

Derek (182)

Meredith (668)

Helene (not ranked)

Cassandra (423)

Renee (897)

Daphne (420)

All of these names are highly recognizable, pronounceable but not currently popular/ trending.  Maybe something like that?