Popularity Question for Pierce
One of the names on our boy list is Pierce. I seem to have a partial hang up though, on the fact that it's by far the most popular name on my list. Pierce rang in at #481 with 561 babies being named Pierce in 2009.
To give some background, my name is Tess, and I have only ever met one other person with my given name. I really, really like that level of uniqueness, and there are 2x as many Pierces being born now as there were Tesses in '85 (and a higher percentage too). To me, that sounds like SO many more... but is it??
I have only ever met one Pierce, but the fact it's so much higher than our other choices worries me (even more since other choices would be future sibs). It also makes me anxious that it could spike in popularity in the next few years. So what do you guys think? Would a little Pierce be likely to meet other Pierces? Does it have the potential to jump higher in the rankings?
(FWIW, our girl picks are Philippa/Pippa, Romilly, and Cecily, and the other boys in the running are Rex and Clive)
Re: Popularity Question for Pierce
LOVE Pierce
STRONGLY dislike REX & Clive
I also highly doubt that there will be many other Pierces around like in his same classroom, etc.. it's not trendy at all IMO
Married since 06/19/2004|Anna born 11/19/2006|Charles born 11/1/11
Double undergrad graduation May 2011| Me: Psychology, DH: Communication| A long journey!
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I would advise you to step away from the ssa website. I get that you enjoyed being the only Tess at your high school, but seriously, it is not that big of a deal. You are way overanalyzing this.
I think you should pick a name that you love and use it no matter what. You never know how popular a name is going to get anyway. Stephanie Meyer could pen a novel with a child named Clive and it could jump to number one in five years flat. You just never know. I get not wanting to choose a name in the 100. But 481 is way down on the list to be worrying about this.
ETA: I do appreciate the fact that even though you want your son to have a wholly unique name, you aren't just making names up. Pierce is a great name. I think you should go for it.
Thanks ladies!
I know I'm WAY more concerned with this than I should be, I guess it just irks me that it seems to stand out from our other names as being decidedly more popular (uncommon though it may still be).
www.cozylittlecave.com
FWIW I don't know any Pierces around me. And I would consider a ranking in the 400s that to be a very low ranking, not popular at all.
I think it's a nice name (much better than your other boy choices IMO). You should go with it!
Thank you! I was really glad to read your experience with it- actually having a little Pierce and all!
Your other's name is Reid- right? I remember seeing you write about them before and love both names! (and such cuties too!) If you see this, which I know you might not, I'd love to hear your experience with how popular Reid/Reed seems to be.
I think perhaps I felt like Pierce was more popular based on people's reactions. The way people seem to react to it, I'm surprised it isn't more popular- everyone seems to love it from what I've seen/read!
www.cozylittlecave.com
Overall, we were looking for a name that we felt was fairly unpopular, but not unheard of. Reed's name was a no-brainer for us since it is my father's mn and was my grandmother's maiden name (and we just so happened to love it). I had chosen it before we were ever even pregnant. We originally chose Owen for DS #2, but then I was overwhelmed by how popular it was getting and I felt like there were little Owens everywhere. Thankfully, I stumbled on the name Pierce and my DH loved it too. I think you are safe with anything outside the top 100 if you are hoping to having an unpopular name. Randomly, I have seen it twice on The Baby Story (where I originally heard it).
Pierce is less popular than Reed since both Reed and Reid are each ranked around 400 (676 Reeds and 895 Reids). Regardless, we don't know any other Reed's IRL. However, I do see it discussed on this board a lot more often than Pierce. I would agree with you that people generally have a very favorable opinion of Pierce and it is ranked surprisingly low. It might rise a bit, but I don't think it will be making the top 100 anytime soon. Good luck!