Pros and cons of "popular" names

Nechie122

Our first choice name (Claire) is constantly listed on baby name forums and blogs as a fast mover in popularity (it's already 53 on the SSA website). My question is: does it matter? DH says having a popular name never bothered him -- then again, I didn't mind my less-popular name either.

And on a tangent, what do you think of the name Corinne?

ZTAsunshine

I had a popular name growing up and I did not mind.  My DD has a popular name according to the forums and boards but there is no other Olivia at her daycare.  We also know of none in our community.  I did not let popularity of the name decide what I was naming my DD. 

 I like Claire a lot better than Corinne.

scootRN

My name is Amanda...which was wildly popular at the time I was born.

On the positive side, I almost never have to spell my FN to anyone, which is what my mom was going for. She has a FN that she ALWAYS has to spell, and even then people misspell it and mispronounce it all the time.

On the more negative side, I am always one of several Amandas. It gets pretty annoying to be constantly looking up when someone calls your name...but not your name, if you know what I mean.

This also means I get saddled with NNs all the time, which isn't always bad...but has led to being called Prego at work right now...despite all my protests about spaghetti sauce.

ETA: I also really like the name Corrine. 

Dman85

I don't think it should matter if it is popular or not. All that matters is if you like it and maybe special reasons behind it

Jinsy80

I have a very unusual first name. It's a PITA to tell you the truth. Therefore, I insisted that the girls have common, easy to spell names. Hannah and Emily are pretty basic. I like Corrine more than Claire for a first name...

Wish Upon A Star

I was a Stephanie in the 80s, so I can, of course, speak to how annoying it is to be "Stephanie T." growing up.  The glimmer of hope is that the top names this year are not as popular as they were in the 80s. For example, in 1980- Jennifer was number one with 58,372 babies with that name. Isabella, the number 1 in 2009, has less than half of that, 22,067. So I dont know that you really have to worry about about number 53 in 2010 being the new "Ashley". (Of course, names that sound the same- Aidan, Hayden, Cayden, and Jaden start to add up).

I like Claire and Corinne- classic, feminine and timeless 

braveangel2

I don't have a popular name, and it's easy to say and spell, so most people haven't butchered it (I do get the occassional 'angle').

I've seen both sides of the argument though. Being the name nerd that I am, I'll talk to people about their names. I'm especially interested in people from previous generations who have names that are popular now. My mom is one of those, and she hated it. She was always confused for another name, which was slightly more popular at the time. 50 years later, her given name is a hot topic. But that doesn't change her point of view. Someone also posted recently of a guy in their 80s named, Gray who seemed relieved when she called out his name correctly (I guess he had gotten a lot of 'Gary' in his lifetime).

When it comes to my own naming choices, I like names that are familiar, but less common. I've seen Jennifers come on her and rant about being one a class of five, and having to settle for a nick name. I've also seen Jennifers come on here and say it never bothered them. It's tough, but you're going to have to bank on how your kid feels before you even meet them.

So here's what I would do...decide just exactly how important popularity is to the two of you...would it bother you guys to have your daughter referred to as Claire S.? Is it a name you loved, regardless of SSA ranking?

I like Claire personally, but popularity is one of the top two naming considerations we think about, but again, that's just me.

I could suggest that if you go with Claire, that you pick a lesser-used middle name to help her feel like she's an individual....middle names often get forgotten, but with a popular first name, it's a great way to show off a good name story, or give her something to help her stand out (note: not youneek, but legit names).

I also like Corinne, but I only like the one pronunciation - ke-rin. Visually it's lovely.

luckyluvr

I would go by how you feel about the name, not the popularity. You're going to be using this name for the rest of your life, hopefully, so you need to think it's the greatest, popular or not. I loved the name Emma and didn't care that it was #2 when DD was born. I still love it, and believe it or not, I hardly ever hear it around where I live.

vanceandlori

Hmm, we discussed this a lot and finally decided that a name around the 50s on the SSA website was not a deal breaker for us. With that being said, it looks like Brooke is falling fast off the SSA (well not off, but def. falling in rankings) with all of the trendier, popular names. You just never know.

 

I love CLAIRE and CORINNE. Very pretty and feminine.

KallieandJustin

My name is Kallie and it is ALWAYS mispronouced (Kaylee; Kiley, ect.).  I just learned to live with it and answer when something sounded 'like' my name.  Growing up the one thing that annoyed me is that I never got anything personalized because you couldn't ever find Kallie anything.  Having my DS (Ethan) I have enjoyed getting him a few things with his name on it because you can actually find it!

onislandtime

My name was only on the SSA list once, at #995. I have always had to correct people on the spelling. I guess if you had a popular name your kid wouldn't have to correct people all the time, so that is a plus.

I like Claire way better than Corinne.

saraboston

I love Corinne.

I hated being a popular name. I graduated HS with only 180 people and there were 4 Saras. So Inevitably, we were all known as Sara R, Sara B, Sara blah blah blah. I would have named my DD Olivia in a heart beat, but it's just too popular now and I don't want her to be Olivia K. It just doesn't have the same ring to it.

And boys never seem to care about their name as long as it didn't get them beat up

Mama_SAS

I avoid popular names because we have a very very very common last name.

DH has a very common first name as well and is always getting telemarketing calls and mail for other people with his name. My name is less common, but was #25 the year I was born. I don't get harassed as much as he does, but I get a fair amount of mail and calls meant for other people.

Manderlin923

I have one of the most popular 80's names. Growing up I was one of SEVERAL in my class and we four of us had the same beginning initial of our last name. So, I was known by my full name all the time, very annoying. Pros are I never have to spell my name...

I purposely am not picking any names in the top 500. My son's name isn't even in the top 1,000. It's not that there aren't lovely names in that are popular, it's just when I hear a name over and over it loses it's appeal to me.

FWIW, I MUCH prefer Corinne. Claire is just eh to me. It's a fine name but kind of boring. I love Clara though!

northtamarack

As a teacher, I have several Jacobs, several Lexies and several Matts.  It creates several interesting situations from behavior management to figuring out who's paper I am grading so that the right kid gets the right paper.  Because I have to deal with this on a daily basis, we will be trying very hard to go with unpopular/untrendy names.  We also have a very common last name, and I don't want my child to be one of a million John Smith's

elizabeth98

First off I love Claire

Secondly I am an Elizabeth and my husband is a Michael so we both know about growing up with a popular name. We are naming our daughter Ava because we BOTH love it.

I think sometimes people try a little too hard to be different and def overthink it.

As a pp said the popularity of names 30 years ago and the popularity of names today cannot be compared. Yes, there were 4 Sara's in a class back then, but today i have not ever met an olivia, sophia, ava, or emma (and i have been a pre school teacher for the last 11 years)

 Choose a name you love and go with it