Owen, Nora...becoming too common?

ali26 · October 2012

Right now these are our top boy/girl names. Owen was our boy name 2 years ago and we still like it; Nora has always been a favorite of mine and DH decided he likes it as well.

Both have somewhat of a personal meaning. DH has an uncle/Godfather Owen who he has always had a good relationship with, and Nora was my great grandmother's name. I've just noticed that in the last two years both seem to be growing in popularity, Owen more than Nora, although I personally know of two Nora's under 2 (and the baby on the show Parenthood). I don't want an really uncommon name but I don't want to pick a name that will suddenly blow up either. Thoughts?

FWIW DD is Keira Natalie. I don't expect Keira to ever get really popular since I know not everyone likes it, and we've probably met three other Keira's in her age range since she's been born.

ali26 · October 2012

Just realized I have no ticker....I am only 12 weeks so plenty of time to decide!

caramia582 · October 2012

Funny- both those are very high on our list as well for #2! (A boy for us would almost definitely be Owen at this point; DS1 is Cameron). I think these names fall in the "common because they are so good" category. KWIM? They are great names, but yea, popular. I hear them a lot at the playground. I don't think they will "suddenly" blow up, since both have been around for a while. I think they will always be just classic mainstays. Bonus points for the family meaning, and I love both of them with Keira (another name I love, we have similar taste)!

ali26 · October 2012

caramia582:
Funny- both those are very high on our list as well for #2! (A boy for us would almost definitely be Owen at this point; DS1 is Cameron). I think these names fall in the "common because they are so good" category. KWIM? They are great names, but yea, popular. I hear them a lot at the playground. I don't think they will "suddenly" blow up, since both have been around for a while. I think they will always be just classic mainstays. Bonus points for the family meaning, and I love both of them with Keira (another name I love, we have similar taste)!

Cameron is on our list too!!

kayjay10 · October 2012

Idani:
I think both Owen and Nora are great names. They are technically popular but they aren't where I live. They also are both names that age well and aren't the trendy popular type of names that are annoying when you hear them. I say if you both like them use them.

I agree with this. They are common on this board, but I don't know any IRL, so they must not be common in my area.

penelopemaria · October 2012

I dont love Owen.. it's just ok, but it doesn't do anything form me

However... Nora is so gorgeous!! I absolutely love it.

Littledeer84 · October 2012

DD is Nora. After we named her it seemed like we started hearing the name everywhere! It has jumped a lot in popularity in the last decade according to the SSA, and it seems to be most popular in the upper midwest...minnesota, north dakota, wisconsin.

atcwag · October 2012

Friends of ours named their daughter Nora. It's definitely not "common" at this point, but I really feel it's headed that way. I would think she would be an "older" Nora in school with lots of them headed down the line after her.

CAM718 · October 2012

I think both are quite popular in my area. I took DS to story time for kids under 3 at the library the other day, there were only about 20 kids there, 1 Nora 1 Norah and 3 Owens!

CeCe8579 · October 2012

I like them both and they are somewhat popular but I would use them. I don't think they are overly popular!

LemonBlush · October 2012

I personally have heard of quite a few Owens IRL so I think it is too common. I adore Nora though.

gutsymama · October 2012

LOVE Nora! It's definitely on my list, and maybe my #1 right now, and I'm concerned about the growing popularity too. I don't know any Noras, but I'm not around small children all that much besides a few friends' children. I was surprised to see it so much on here, but recently saw that it is ranked relatively high in my state.

I've been wondering, though, what those rankings actually translate to in real life. I also checked my name in the year I was born, and it was top 20 in my state - but I only knew one other person with my name all the way through school. I think there were a few more in the grades above and below me, but I don't remember ever having another person with the same name in any of my classes. Maybe that's just a fluke, though?

ames71 · October 2012

This one will be Nora (Honora). It's gained a bit in popularity (#137 for 2011?up from #159 in 2010), but I don't think we're looking at the next Isabella or anything.

It's tough to find something that both parents love and that has significance, too. If you're concerned about it becoming too common in the next few years, you could pick a long form first name and use Nora for a nn.

happy_un-bride · October 2012

Owen feels pretty popular, but I'm kind of out of the loop; and I tend not to care about name popularity.

As for Nora, I don't know and kids with this name. I work with an Elanore who goes by Nora. I like that it gives you the flexibilty to use different NN - i.e. Ella, Elle, Nora

MrsJ723 · October 2012

I think it depends where you are. Where I live Nora is fairly popular, but you don't hear Owen too often.

BethPSU · October 2012

We almost named DS2 Owen, but then I started hearing it everywhere. I still like the name, but it is super popular around me. We went with Pierce and haven't run into any others yet.

This time Nora was one of our 2 girl names that we took to the hospital. DH was more sold on Isla so that is her name. The only thing with Nora is that there are 2 spellings of it and then you also get the kids named Eleanor,Elenore, and Honora that also go by Nora so I think it is pretty common.

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