Why do you pick a common name??

They're popular because lots of people like them I doubt they choose it purely because it's popular, it's just because it's a really nice name. I absolutely LOVE the name Olivia. I think it's gorgeous! But I don't want to use it because it's the top name I don't like the idea of my child either being known by her surname or Olivia#3. I can totally see why it's the top name and a big part of me debates using it anyway but I was in a class at school with 3 Amy's 3 Elizabeth's and 2 Louise's so it puts me off after seeing how they were often called their surnames.

Because they like it…

Aside from the obvious of them liking the name it could be also down to it being a “safe” name for them growing up with, going to school etc, having a more common and popular name avoids any risk of potentially being teased for having a more out there name. The majority of the popular names do well as a name to grow with into adulthood whereas a lot of the more unique names are cute while they are babies but can’t imagine a grown adult introducing themselves with it. That’s just my opinion anyway.

My husband and I chose a name we liked and then it ended up being a popular choice (Eden). I don’t care if her name is popular. I think it would be fun for her to meet other people with her name! I have an unusual name that NO ONE can pronounce right when reading it. I could never find my name on those travel trinkets or anything. I’ve only met one person in my life with my name. I also have to repeat my name 3x when meeting someone new and they STILL say it wrong. So…at least people know how to say popular names. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I chose my girls name and didn’t realise it was in a popular tv show I hadn’t watched. Within a few months it was in the top lists but I don’t mind at all. I’ve still yet to actually meet a girl with her name. I use a common name online and on the phone but my actual name is Gaelic. I find it just easier tbh and no spelling mistakes 🤷🏼‍♀️

@Abbie I thought that might be the case, which makes me sad because if that was the thought behind some names being picked ( not all before anyone comes for me!!) then if everyone went for what they truly loved as opposed to what's safe then everyone would have more unique names and then there wouldn't be the need for a safe name if that makes sense.

@Kassia I live in the UK and I wouldn't say Eden was popular but definitely heard it before. It's a lovely name. I see where you're coming from about knowing how to say popular names 😂. I don't have a really unusual name, everyone has definitely heard of my name but I also couldn't get trinkets etc of my name. I also have to spell my name for people as they tend to pronounce it the more common way but mine is spelt differently, so I understand what you mean.

@Sarah that makes sense. So you picked the name and then it became popular. I wasn't sure if some people would pick a name literally because it's in the top ten list or because they have heard of a number of other children with that name and it's popular, like Olivia mentioned above by Natalie.

I’m from the U.S., but live in the UK. It’s true I haven’t heard of many Edens here! In the U.S., however, I already know 3 people who named their baby Eden! 🤣 Isn’t it sad to not be able to find your name in the trinkets?! My sister’s name is Kayla and she alwayssss found her name! In the UK, especially, people mispronounce my name. My name is pronounced KAW-SEE-UH, but I’ve gotten “CA-see-uh” a lot here AFTER I say my name…and, when read, “CA-sha” and “kuh-see-uh” and “K-Asia” and so on. 🤣 Starbucks is always fun, though 😅 I don’t mind having a weird name, but I can definitely see the advantages to a more popular one!

Yeah all it takes sometimes is a tv show or a celeb naming their child that and it’s in the top lists. My friend had a baby girl called Ruby in the 2000s and then the kaiser chiefs brought out the song “Ruby” and suddenly it was super popular. Blooming Bridgerton was the reason for my girls name becoming popular 😂 I too never found my name on trinkets and had to get custom ones. Even back in Ireland, it’s only been popular to go back to traditional Gaelic names recently so in the 90s it was just Louise/Stacy/Hannah etc. So growing up Sarah was easier to use on the phone etc than Sorcha 🤣

I absolutely love unique names like Bellamy, Rudy and Malakai but Im worried they would get teased for it so we settled for Elijah (popular but funnily enough I know no kids my boys age with that name) and everyone says how much they love it!

@Sophie if we had a boy, we were going to name him Enoch or Elijah!

@Kassia ahhh 😍

@Kassia I see what you mean, reading your name I definitely pronounced it ka-see-uh. I was a little sad at first about the trinkets but quickly got over it 😂 I think what helped was my siblings and parents having unusual names so it was always a family thing that none of us could get trinkets. Probably would have been worse if one of my siblings could and I couldn't. I think you have a lovely name 😊.

@Sarah love Sorcha it's lovely. Yes I see what you mean about a popular TV show changing trends. Suppose it can work in both positive and negative ways. At least if your daughters name is the one I'm thinking of because of Bridgeton it's positive 😊

@Dee very true, I was only saying to my husband yesterday I wonder what cause the shift in Ezra becoming popular. It's a lovely name but growing up I only knew of Bert very religious people with that name but it seems to have grown in popularity out of nowhere. The name I love for my son is super uncommon and I have been doubting myself for weeks before registering him that he could be teased for how unusual it is. I don't like common names on the whole but I'm really doubting myself, I feel really sad I can't make a decision so trying to work out why people pick the names they do. That's why I think it's odd the names of Alfie, Archie,poppy etc I think they are cute as a baby but can't imagine a 45 year old poppy as head of the police or as a secondary school teacher etc But maybe for the boys they are Alfred/Archibald on the birth certificate so have the option of the full name of they want

Well, most of us do have weird names, so I’m not too pressed. (Edmar, Elysa, Sloane, Kayla, Kassia (me) and Claudia)🤣 I like my name, even with the struggles. It is a good ice breaker 🤣 Whenever I’m at a place where they need to call my name (my last name is also weird), they ALWAYS pause and I know it is my turn. 🤣🤣

I’m the opposite I think why do some mothers obsess with trying to find the most unique name possible? I picked my kids names because I loved them, that’s it popular or not

@Sophie see that makes me sad that you felt that way. Although Elijah is a lovely name. I love Rudy I think that's a cool name. Would you have gone for the full name of Rudolph on his birth certificate?

I have a Harry and new baby will be Sophia. They’re both reasonably normal and ‘popular’ names. I chose them because they just felt right, whenever I tried to find an unusual name none would ever stick. Those two just happened to come up and I really liked them. My son is only one of a handful of Harry’s in his year of 230 kids. Having the same name as another child really doesn’t bother me or him.

@Sophie my nephew is Malakai, he’s 14 and has never been bullied or teased for it. He usually gets called Mal or Kai by his mates and teachers.

@Kassia My daughter is Eden (UK) I don't personally know of any others. I've seen one or two when we've been out but one was a boy. It's still fairly uncommon here thankfully 😊

@Sam yeah that's a fair point, Im not sure if some do go out of there way to find the most unique or whether its just because they like it🤷‍♀️ I know everyone's children are special to them but my brain thinks my child is so special why would I want him to be Jack A because there is a Jack B and Jack C (for example), if that makes sense.

If I had a boy, I would have chosen a popular name. Simply because we love the name. And I think loving a name is way more important than trying to be unique. I also think “common” names will start to become less common now that more parents are going for unique choices. For a girl we’ve gone for a unique name but that was purely coincidental not because we were intentionally looking for unique names. I have a unique surname and have had to deal with no one knowing how to pronounce or spell it my whole life and it’s been very annoying for me

@Laurie ayeeee we have the same taste in names! 😝 At the very least, I know her middle name is not at all common (Adira).

@Hayley that's fair enough. I would say Harry is very popular where I live but fair enough sounds like you picked it because you loved it not because it was popular.

@Michelle so picked because you love it, not because of how popular or not it was. That's nice 😊

The reason they are popular is because so many people love those names and couldn’t settle on another. My top girls name since at least high school has been Amelia, never met a single person named Amelia or even heard of any other than a few famous people like Amelia Earhart, then get to my 30s and finally get pregnant only to find Amelia is a top 5 girls name and has been for several years already. Damn! Turns out I had a boy but my top boys name Liam/William (who again I’ve met like 1 in my life) are also top 10 boys names. I went with something else less common but I still wonder if I should have just gone for it. I think certain names just end up really appealing to certain generations for some complex set of reasons. Which would explain why back before there were popularity rankings easily accessible online, there were even way more babies given the most popular names. It’s quite a weird phenomenon though, like a weird generational shared consciousness

@Jessica yeah I think you are right. Goes in cycles. Can definitely place a generation or time as a result of names being popular.

@Kassia to be fair, I think the US people would pronounce it wrong too. The closest name I can think of is Cassie and it's pronounced ca-see so it makes sense to say ca-see-uh phonetically speaking. Kaw-see-uh isn't intuitive to English.

@Ashley I am from the U.S. haha I’m saying most of the people in the UK pronounce it wrong AFTER I introduce myself 🥲 in the U.S., more people pronounce it correctly after my standard 3x introduction. Here, a lot of people use sharp As for a lot of words like pasta, taco, etc. so I guess they just have trouble hearing the soft A in my name being said in my American accent. In the U.S., I’ve only had one person (biology teacher) pronounce my name correctly when reading it (which was a huge surprise). My name is Brazilian, so I’m not complaining. I’m just saying how it is a strange difference I’ve noticed! Hahaha

Of we were having a girl we picked a name fairly unique as we haven't met any little girl with that name but seen randomly plenty of movies where the main character is called that name and I read a book with a woman with that name in it. Hoping to have a girl. One day to be able to call her this name 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼 For a boy I love a very popular name but I only realised how popular it was recently. I'm yet to have met a baby boy with that name though. And I've also met a man in his mid 30s a few years ago with that name and it fitted nicely too. Really. Hope I can convince my husband now. He likes it but doesn't love it love it. 😂 You'd hope most people pick names because they just love them rather than go top 10 and pick just to be trendy. I hate when people try to be unique wirh spellings, I find it so tacky. Like I heard someone call their boy Livaï and I'm sure it's because of how Levi is pronounced in English but they wanted a French spelling. 🙄 So weird.

@Aurélie 😂 that spelling is rather unique!!

I picked a top 10 name for my son not because it was popular but because it was a name that both my partner and I really liked. We're from the UK and we've been to lots of baby/toddler classes and my son is in nursery and we've yet to meet another child with the same name. I'm sure it will happen one day. Popularity is not the same as it was 10-20 years ago as people are more open to finding a rare or unique name so you're less likely to be 1 of 5 so and so's in a class or workplace. I'm pregnant with a baby girl and the name we've chosen is one I've loved since I was a teen and it wasn't that popular back then but now it is and it doesn't bother me. My partner loves the name too and I'd much rather we give our children names we love than names that are different just to avoid popularity and meeting someone else who has the same name as them 😊

My son is called Noah which is always a top name. In all honesty, I've loved that name since I started watching ER, a million years ago. Luckily my husband liked it too. I didn't consider the popularity of it to be honest, I just loved it. And we've barely met any other Noahs so it isn't that popular where we live

I’m kind of the same like wouldn’t want a super popular name.

@Joanne that's fair, so again picked because you loved it not just because it's popular ☺️

@Lisa love the name Noah, it's so classy, so I definitely understand why that one is popular. Used to love Noah in ER😂

@Amber just looked at your profile and your son's name is super unusual, I've never heard of that before. I live in the UK and from my limited experience (this app alone!) it appears there are more unique and varied names used in the US. Maybe it's down to a much bigger country/ population. But don't see the same name repeated on this app like I do for names used in the UK.

@Grace, yes definitely l. I think some may have misunderstood me. I'm not saying to pick a name because it is unique, you obviously have to like/ love it too. But if a name was too popular it would make me steer away from it.

@Hayley that’s good! It’s a cute name, and Kai is a cute nickname I love that! I know not everyone would, but it’s just a worry of mine! It was on my list of boy names x

No definitely not Rudolph, just Rudy :)

I think if I had popular it would be coincidence but it'd be something with a unique spelling.. I love the name crystal but I wanted to spell it Kristyl.. but we ended up going with Kiara (no one liked kristyl). But I've always liked unique and different

I’m with you. I love the name Chloe and even though it’s not in the top 10, I still think it’s too popular. I may use it as a middle name if I have another daughter. To me personally I find names that are too common boring, I wanted something just a little bit more interesting, but not too interesting like Apple or Saint.

I would love to pick a name that's not in the popular list but unfortunately, I simply don't like any other names so it's that name (which I've liked for years and hasn't always been top 10), or I pick a name I don't like which clearly I wouldn't do!

OP I agree with you 100%, I could never name my child a popular name

My kids have normal but not overused names, I mean they aren't even in the top 80/100 let alone top 10 And I adore each and every one of them and they have a very special meaning which suits my children too

We gave a name which has a nickname variant and coincidentally the nickname rose to #9 throughout the year but it wasn't that popular before. His actual full name doesn't make top 100 but we call him by the nickname. Not bothered, he can choose another nickname option (lots open to him) or to be called by his full name. It was always my favourite name since I was 15 and it wasn't popular then. It was so hard to agree on a name with my partner as well and the name is not common in his country but it is known and ok for his family to pronounce

@Alex I had a cheeky look at your profile, I love your baby boy's name! It's in my top 10 currently. 😊 But I would use just the shorten version I don't think I'd give him the full longer version. I'm French and my husband British so we also need to find a name that can be pronounced easily in both languages.

@Alex I quite like that. I always think it should be the full name on birth certificates and then you can go by whatever nickname you want throughout your life as what suits a baby doesn't always suit a teenager or adult. It's nice you have given your son that option.