What's your limit?

eileenmcgoo · November 2015

If you are someone who likes to check the Social Security site to check on the popularity of names, and you have a limit as to how high on the list a name can be before it's knocked off your list, what is that limit? For example, some will only use a name if it hasn't hit the top 1000, while others only care if it is in the top 10. Just curious.

lm45678 · November 2015

My top are William and Ava which I believe are both in the top 10... Uh oh!!! But William is after my dad and I am just in love with Ava Jane so I guess my answer is I don't care!

joforyoga · November 2015

Top ten is definitely out for me but realistically if a name is in the top hundred I don't think that means it's too crazy popular.our names are Claire (number 44) and Charlie (225). I find that the names in the top 10 I know at least a few so they are off the list, too on trend.

gingercatNJ · November 2015

I think we skipped over the first couple hundred, except Alexander, which is one of my all-time favorites.

I'm an Amy, which I think was #1 the year I was born, and hated that there were always a couple of us in every. Single. Class.

Knottie1442268460 · November 2015

I prefer uncommon. Don't have a number. But turns out were using Ella. Haha! Top 20. Oh well.

nurse714 · November 2015

My name wasn't in the top 100 the year I was born and still ended up with another in my class throughout grammar school.
I would prefer not in the top 100. My favorite boy name, (Edward), isn't in the top 100 and I love that, but my two favorite girl names are in the top ten, (Emma and Sophia), so I guess, I don't care if I really love the name.

emmy236 · November 2015

Honestly, SSA isn't the best source considering they list each spelling as a different entry. Names like Addison/Addyson/Addysyn etc are all separate. There are like 15 different spellings for Michaela, McKensie, Kaden, Aiden, etc. when you add all those different variants together,the numbers really change. Namenerds has a combined all spellings but it's based on UK records (really wish my coding skills were strong enough to make a comprehensive US list). We have a fairly common last name so I went to howmanyofme.com and put in first and last names and it helped. A good rule is to look through the top 250 or so and see how many times the name shows up in social security and add the numbers together. Then divide by total number of girl/boy babies for the year and that gives you a good idea of popularity (especially by state).

joforyoga · November 2015

Baby'smom said:
I prefer uncommon. Don't have a number. But turns out were using Ella. Haha! Top 20. Oh well.

I was gonna say....Ella? That one of the most popular trendy ones out there for the past while! Oh well if you love it you love it:)

bellie1223 · November 2015

We were looking for names that didn't make the top 1000, one of the three finalists ended up being #998 last year, but I think that's close enough...

dramaphile · November 2015

Top 20 for me, although one of our backup boy names is Liam, which is one of the few boy names we could agree one, and #1 on the SS list last year.

MamaWren919 · November 2015

I wouldn't consider something in the top 20. I would prefer something outside of the top 100. I think it's important to consider names with multiple spellings and rhymey/similar names (like all of the Ellies). I also think looking at your state list is really important.

3tobe79 · November 2015

No cut off number here either. My only necessity is that we love the name.
We have an Olivia and while I spent my pregnancy trying to come up with something else this was the name for us. Even now when we are at public places and there are two other Olivia's I still feel like our daughter is so unique and special to us that while her name doesn't stand out as a unique identifier i dont think it hinders her indivI duality and is very suitable to her as a person. I'm saying a lot to just sayI believe in going with what you love :-)

parenthood4 · November 2015

I would try to avoid top ten, but would still use a name in the top ten anyway if I really loved it. So I guess the popularity doesn't bother me too much

elle313 · November 2015

I'm happy if a name is out of the top 100, but if I really love a name I'd be flexible. When we didn't know this LO was a girl, we were considering Oliver or Henry for boys names, which are around the top 30. I loved them, so I kept them on my list even though their popularity did bother me a bit.

groovylocks · November 2015

Top 20 exclusion guarantees she's likely going to be the only one in her class with her name. Our daughter's name currently ranks somewhere in the 300s so we're not worried. However, I have a few names on standby for a boy in case the ultrasound screwed up. One of them hovers somewhere between 14-20 depending on what resorce you look at. It's a wonderful name so i'm not going to take it off the list. The other two names are quite rare, falling closer to 500+

Mamabeagle · November 2015

Nothing in the top 50 and preferably out of the top 100. Popularity was absolutely a deal breaker for us.

But strangely each of our boy names were in the 400s.

HoosOnFirst · November 2015

We said none in the top 50. Then picked Evelyn. And only then found out it was #16. Fail! We stuck with it anyway.

2-Step · November 2015

I generally try to stick to names above #20 over the past 5 years and that goes for the national list and my state list. Ours have been around 40-60 on the list at the time we used them.

ETA: my 1st sons name was in the 60s when I used it and he has had at least 1-2 kids with that name in his class since 3 years old and he's in 1st grade now. My younger son also has a kid with my older sons name in his class and there are a few others at his daycare. Meanwhile there has been only one Liam, Noah or Jackson! So you really never know what is going to become regionally popular all of the sudden either!

susykat77 · November 2015

I prefer more obscure names and for sure the top 10 are out. I'd prefer them not to be in the top 100 but I have no concrete rule.

@laurenm2123 - all I can think of when I hear Ava Jane is how much it sounds like you're saying, A va-jay like the nick name for your vagina. Maybe not a big deal if you don't plan on called her by both names? Maybe I am the only one that hears it that way.

edited for spelling

mrstrax · November 2015

I don't check SSA etc but I do check the new baby announcements at our local hospital and our (relatively large) church - DD is Lillian which was pretty high on the SSA list in 2014, but she's the only one reported within a full calendar year at the only hospital in the city and at church. She may end up one of a few if people move in etc, but as of now she's unlikely to be Lily T or have to pick between Lily and Lillian.

Elsa1984 · November 2015

A huge majority of our names were over 300+ on the SSA name list. I worked at a daycare that had almost 200 kids, I was in a Meetup mom's group that had around 400 children (we didnt meet all at the same time, but we did see the kids names online and such), and so I was hearing the same names over and over. Pretty much most names between 1-200, make me cringe. Not because they are horrible names, but because I am so tired of hearing them.

FutureMrsCaesar · November 2015

I'm currently expecting a little girl and I'm trying to stay out of the top 25-ish. It's not that I dislike them, I just feel like I hear them so much. The ones I currently like are in the 60-70s and 200's. Which is odd because my boys have super-common names, probably all in the top 10 at some point in the past 5 years. DS1 has 5 other Matthew's in his grade (divided among 5 classes) in his elementary school alone. I probably would have chosen differently had I know that, but I didn't realize it was THAT popular. I have a feeling Benjamin will be similar.

Latina211508 · November 2015

I personally wouldnt want my kids name in the top 10. But if I chose the name way before and I love the name then I guess it wouldn't matter where it landed.

KaLikeAWind · November 2015

If we liked a name and it was in the top 100, we tended to favor it less after learning its ranking. Luckily we didn't like any in the top 25, so we were saved there. The name we ended up choosing is not in the top 1000 at all via the SS website. There were plenty of times where we had said to each other 'too bad xx name is so popular right now, I'd consider it otherwise', so popularity did shape our list (among other considerations, of course) for sure

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