another s/o baby names post

little-peanut

How many of you would choose a name knowing it was widely popular?  I am absolutely in love with the name Olivia, specifically Olivia Grace, but both of those names are insanely popular right now.  Last year alone, Olivia was number 4.  Even though my name was #62 the year of my birth, I still grew up having about 4 other Kristen/Kristins in my class each year.  I would hate to have my kid be one of 14 Olivias in her class.

I am having a hard time this time around with names, both boys and girls.

PirateGirl04

I'm not a fan of popular names but if it was something I LOVED I would go for it.  I do have to say I would rather be named Olivia than Greenley or any of the other names in Moesten's post!

little-peanut

PirateGirl04:

I do have to say I would rather be named Olivia than Greenley or any of the other names in Moesten's post!

LOL.  No doubt!

CincyBride08

I would not pick a name that is widely popular. I was one of 5 Nicole's (although I spell it Nichole) in my high school. It sucked. I also hated going by Nichole P. in grade school. To me it was just one big headache. The teacher would say "Nicole" and 5 heads would turn.

Oh heres a funny story of having multiple names or similar sounding names. I was driving to my parents and passed a car that had a bunch of writing on the windows. It was for a team sport of some sort and it said "Kristin #12, Kirstin #78, Kailey #56, Kiley #78, Kate #55, and Stephanie #7" I thought it was a riot, the whole team is comprised of like 2 names. I get Brynn and the dog's name (Koda) confused from time to time, this poor couch probably doesn't have a chance in getting their names right.

Moesten

Funny you should mention this name. My friend has a 6 year old Olivia and I have asked her if it bothered her to run into so many Olivias. She said that in 6 years of school, daycare, gymnastics, and brownies they've never had another Olivia.

There is more variety in names these days. Meaning the most popular names don't represent the same percentage of babies born as it did several decades ago when people typically chose a smaller range of names. For example, in 2010 Isabella was the most popular girls name. It represented 1.1709% of all babies born that year. By contrast, in 1970 Jennifer was the most popular girls name but it represented more than twice the percentage of babies born at 2.5199% as Isabella. So there was a much larger proportion of Jennifers than there are Isabellas. Make sense?

Another way to look at it is sheer numbers. In 2010 there were 22,731 Isabellas born. In 1970 there were 46,151 Jennifers born. 

mikegirl07

one of our top boys names was Aiden.  But then we came to find out that it was ranked in the top 5 like 5 years in a row. so we decided against it even though we LOVED it.  We didnt want what you said.. 15 Aidens in the class.

Superchicy

I personally probably wouldn't use it as a first name, maybe a middle name.  Sophia was the big name for all the babies at work, There were 7 babies born in the last 3 years, 5 girls, 3 named Sophia.  If you really love it though, then I would use it.

mag2point0

There were a few names that were more popular that DH and I liked and I couldn't do it. It kind of drove him crazy, but there have only ever been a few people here and there that had the same name as me and I liked that. The most popular names are shared by fewer kids today, but I do think it's helpful to look at whether it's popular in your area/neighborhood/socioeconomic status. For instance, Avery and Jack aren't in the top 10, but I know several babies with each name born this year. So, maybe if it's not as popular amongst people you know, you won't know as many?

Miller238

I didn't realize Olivia was that popular.  I love the name.  If you do too, then use it! 

stillwaiting12

I say if it's the name you love, use it! Yes, there may be a few Olivia's but honestly I don't think it's that big of a deal. Just out of the circle of friends I hung out with in school that I am still close with there was an Erika, Brandy, Jessica, Erin, Julie, Kristen and myself, April. EVERY one of us had at least 1 or more name twins.

 My point behind that is whatever name you choose there is a chance that there will be another kid with the same name in their class at one point in time.

ryry1977

Personally I wouldn't use a popular name.  Anything that was in the top 100 of the previous year gets knocked off my list.

sistrkate

I say go for it.

When I was growing up, no one ever had the nickname Katie.  My given name is Katherine, and that was a pretty popular name among my age group -- but the nickname was always Kathy.  I totally WANTED to be one of those kids with an initial behind my name (like Katie B.), but it never happened in all my years of school.  I hated my name because it was so unique!

Now that I am married and my last name is Smith, my boys have no chance of having a name that someone else doesn't already have, unless we had made up their first names.  The pedi's office has 3 Justin T Smiths, and 4 Tyler A Smiths.

If you love the name, I would absolutely use it.  Don't settle for a name you don't love as much just because it isn't as popular.  You have a unique last name, so she's going to be one of a kind anyway. 

andailey

I could have written this post about 6 months ago. As you can see, we named DD #2 Olivia, and we couldn't be happier with our choice. Finding out that we were expecting another girl proved to be difficult when we sat down to consider names, because we didn't have a ton of other girl names when I was PG with DD #1. Both DH and I love classic, timeless names, and we both made lists that we liked then compared them. Olivia was the only name that was found on both lists. This helped us tremendously.

Yes, Olivia was #4 on the most popular name lists last year, but we didn't let this change our minds. I am a high school teacher, and for me, selecting a name that had a positive association and not one that reminded me of a former student was tough. Also, I see a lot of popular trends in my classes like Kaitlyn, Kayla, Madison/Addison, but I have never ever taught an Olivia. In addition, there are only 2 other Olivias at my high school of 2700+ students. My girlfriend teaches elementary school in my district, so I asked for her opinion on some popular names. She didn't know of any Olivias in her 'pod.' All of these factors were taken into consideration when we selected Olivia Kate's name.

I agree with sistrkate - we didn't want to 'settle' on a name that we truly didn't love or think was meant for our baby girl simply to avoid the popularity factor.

mrs.george2be04

I would without hesitation, and this is coming from a Jennifer born in the early 80s.  I have never felt like my life has been hindered in any way by having a popular name.  Granted, I really don't know "that" many Jennifers, but still.

We named our son Logan, because we both loved the name.  Heck, it was the only name we could agree on.  It's been in the top 20 consistently for the past 5 years, but I don't care.  If you really love the name, go for it!

Ttimes3

Obviously, we don't care what is/isn't popular. We picked names that we like. Period. FWIW, on this board alone, I find that there is more overlap/trending of the less popular names than that of the more/most popular names.

mrs.dilligaf

It was a consideration for us, and I admit I was a little disappointed when we went to the pedi and heard her say "Oh, another Molly.  That's getting really popular!"  I don't know that I would change it for that reason though.

warriormomerin

If you love a name, then use it. The whole popular name thing is so subjective. Have you ever actually looked at the real # of children with that name? It's usually not that big of a number. When you factor in that so many people are using youneek names and spellings, I think it levels out the playing field even more.

DD's name was ranked #90, seven years ago when I named her. It's now #23, yet we've only ever met a handful of kids with her name IRL and most of them have been boys. I'm always hearing how popular her name is though.

I was one of four Erin's in my graduating class of 120. Yes, it was kind of annoying, but I'd rather be an Erin than an Aerann, a Naveah, or an Aden/Kaden/Jaden (no offense to anyone who has and/or likes those names) KWIM?

segerama

I prefer classic and timeless names.  These also tend to be the most popular names.  I figure they are popular for a reason.  I would rather have a daughter named Kate than some bizarre name. 

l.m.k.

I think this is a really tough balance to strike. There are a couple of names that I love that really give me pause based on the popularity (Katherine, Olivia, Elizabeth, Daniel, Benjamin, John (Jack)). Anything in the top 50 makes me think twice. 

It's also hard to know how popular a name really is going to be in your area or schools. For example, when I was pregnant with Nora, our second choice for her name was Katherine, nn Kate. Whenever I mentioned it to someone, I never got a "oh, that's a popular name" or "my cousin/sister/friend has a daughter named Kate" response. Similarly, I don't know a single baby named Elizabeth. I do know a handful of Natalies, a whole lot of Audreys, an even more Lily/Lillian/Lillanas, but those names don't appear as high on the SSA list. 

So who knows. I'd pick a name you like, letting the popularity weigh in based on however much it means to you, and then go with what you can agree on.