Popularity of a name,...

[mamasammy.livejournal.com]

l've been thinking alot lately about the popularity of names and how much it affects the way we name our children. Especially in this community I have noticed what a big deal popularity is and what a massive turn off it can be even with a name that you loved before its rise to the top (or close to the top). I know for me personally, in naming my daughter, I think I must've considered every name in every book,... The first thing I'd check was the name's popularity and the closer it was to number one, the more it turned me away from the name.

Anyway, I was looking over the SSA Popular Baby Names List for 2009 and I was really amazed at the numbers I saw. For example, the name Isabella, while it was the most popular female name in the United States in 2009--only 22,067 babies were named Isabella last year. Which turns out to be 1.1023%, doesn't seem so popular when you look at it that way. A measly 1.1%? As for boys, the number one male name in 2009 was Jacob,...  20,858 boys were given the name Jacob. Which means--.9952%. Not even 1%!

I won't bore you with all the numbers, because you can go to the SSA website and see for yourself, but its just food for thought I guess. Even now that I know this information, I still feel the same way about names. When I have another baby, I'll still like a less popular name over a more popular name, only based on its rank in the SSA. I love the name Owen and I think it sounds good with my last name and all, but if I have a son, I won't use that name because its too popular in my opinion. Silly, but true.

If you have children--how much did you let the popularity of a name affect your decision to name your baby?
If you don't have children--how important is the popularity of a name you would like to use for future children?

Thoughts?

Comments

[shweetnettie13.livejournal.com]

I don't have children yet but I will consider popularity when it comes to naming our kids. I don't want my child to be one of 5 Jennifers in a class, for example.

But, more importantly than that is our decision to use family names. The significance of a family name will outweigh the popularity aspect. For example, if we both love the name Henry - and it's a family name- we'd be more likely to stick with it even if there will be other Henrys in a class over using a name we just like and risking having multiples in one class.

[theljfromheck.livejournal.com]

It kind of effects it. I also happen to not even like any of the top names anyway, if a name I really love is popular I'd most likely still use it.

I misjudged the popularity of names when picking some, well I also went by older lists too. I assumed the name Jonas would be a lot more popular than Luna, apparently it's not even though I see a ton more Jonas' than I do Lunas.

[lissalynn.livejournal.com]

I think this is definitely interesting and something to think about!

One thing that did occur to me though is that while it may only be say 1%, a large portion may be from the same region (say, the Northeast, or even a certain state). The pediatric office I work in has 2,000 patients, and while I'm sure the actual number is less than 50, sometimes it seems like half of them are named Isabella or Sophia.

[lovetokate.livejournal.com]

Popularity doesn't turn me off of a name so much as a name's trendiness. If I love a name that is classic but happens to be popular at the moment...I'm not going to count it out just because of it's top 10 ranking. I'm pregnant with my third and a lot of the names we like happen to have high rankings on most of those types of lists. It's just very important to me to make the distinction between "popular" and "trendy."

Examples: My children are Emilie Claire and Hannah Paige. All names that are old, classics, and have a lot of meaning to my husband and I. Emilie was born in 2005, when "Emily" was the #1 most popular name for girls in the US (we chose the spelling we did as a nod to our French roots.) But I'd loved the name for years and years, the name had history in my family, etc. That #1 ranking wasn't going to stop me from choosing a name I felt was right. Years later and we haven't come across very many other kids her age with the same name...so I doubt there will be too many cases of her being one of 6 Emily's in her class or anything.

[lovetokate.livejournal.com]

I believe someone posted a link here where you could look up the most popular names by state in the US. It really surprised me to see how the rankings differed drastically from state to state...so I think you're definitely right about having high concentrations of certain names in certain regions.

[blue-raine.livejournal.com]

i dont care for that much. i dont have children yet, but if i ever may have some and my parnter likes the name, a boy will be a Jonah. Even if its on top of the lists, its my all time favorite name.
and for girls, i always loved Lily, since i was a kid. now, its in every list for years. it wouldnt be a big deal to me at all, but as im concidering more names for girls its not the only on the list.

*shurgs* you love the name? pick it. just dont do crazy variations cause you think you need to be more cool. :D

[mrssubee.livejournal.com]

there's also popularity in an area
I know by me- there is a huge Russian population and there are a million Alexander's and Alexandra's (Sasha)- it may not be that high on the popularity list in general- but by me- it MUST be #1
also, quite a large Italian population- there are a few Gianna'a - by a few I mean more than 1 in each class and I know quite a few Giovanni's, my daughter had 2 Vincenzo's in her class this year
-----------
when my daughter was born (in 2006) Ava was huge- it was a passing thought- I did find it beautiful -until throughout my pregnancy I knew of at least 3 other pregnant woman who were going with Ava

[birdsonthewire.livejournal.com]

this is a really good point actually. The odds of running into another child with the same name are greatly diminished when you look at it that way i suppose.

i still hate that the names i love have become so popular though. I thought i was being SUPER original when i came up with the name Ava several years ago and now it's like the 5th most popular girl name. I had no idea what to do when i got pregnant because i love the name so much buuuuut it's sky rocketed in popularity. Then i found out i'm having a boy so that's not a worry right now lol

And like you, Owen was my boy-name-of-choice since i was a child. It was going to be my name if i was a boy and I always loved it and wanted to name my son Owen. Now that i AM having a son, I won't name him Owen because it is SO SO popular. We're thinking of making his middle name Owen because it still has personal meaning to me but I don't know.

Even though the percentages really ARE small, it still really impacts me if a name is incredibly popular.

This was an interesting post

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

The popularity of a name does not turn me off. A lot of names I like are popular, and have been for over 100 years, like James (which has never been out of the Top 20) and Michael. The names that I don't like are the trendy ones like Braedyn or Myckinzee. Names with ridiculous spellings or no meaning/historical significance.

The other thing to consider with the more popular names is spelling. The total for Isabella/Isabelle/Isabel/Izabelle/Isabela/Isabell/Izabella is 28,026.

[iftherainstops.livejournal.com]

I don't have kids yet, but I have a fairly unique name I think, Audra. Growing up, the popular names seemed to be Jennifer, Jessica, Tiffany, Stacey, etc. I'm so glad that I didn't have a name like that, which does make me think about naming my kid. I don't want my kid to have to go by Isabella R, etc. So, even if it's only x% of all the names out there, it's still the most popular name out there, which would make me not want to choose it for my kid. If that makes sense :)

[azalea581.livejournal.com]

If you have children--how much did you let the popularity of a name affect your decision to name your baby?

Quite a bit!!!!
All my favorite names were very popular (Emma, Sophia, Eva). I purposely didn't pick a popular name.
I also didn't want a name that no one has ever heard of and couldn't pronounce.
So, I found a happy medium with Audrey. Though we meet other Audreys at play dates :(.

[sal_amanda]

I think it bugs me for girls more than boys. And maybe that's because I like so many more girl names than boy names. I have a few classic boy names that I like that tend to hover around the top of the list anyway, but a huge list of girl names that are all over the place. So for girls, it does make me rethink it. Charlotte has been on our list for a girl, but I'm strongly reconsidering it because of its recent popularity, but Henry is sticking around despite its own resurgence.

[twitchywoman.livejournal.com]

1% seems like a very large number to me. Considering there are thousands upon thousands of names, and 1 in 100 kids are named the same name is really quite a lot in my eyes.

I will consider popularity when I have kids. I am sad that one of my favs, Violet is number 141 right now. That is getting to be too popular for my tastes. I hope it diminishes in popularity by the time I have kids.

[willsjoy.livejournal.com]

My oldest is named Madeleine. For the year she was born (2008) her name is pretty popular, though not the spelling (the Madeline spelling is in the top 50). Madison is also really popular, and so the nickname "Maddy," which is used for both names, is more popular than just Madeleine. I cared about this some, but my husband didn't (his name is William, just btw, which has been in the top 10 for like, 50 years, lol) and I was fine with it as long as the spelling in unique.

Our second daughter (due any time now) is named Moira, which is not popular in the slightest. We didn't pick it for that reason, but there is a certain charm in that. :)

[laminy.livejournal.com]

I don't have children yet, but when I do, popularity will definitely factor into whether I use the name or not, especially for girls. My taste in boy names is a bit different than my taste in girl names, so I'm okay with having my boy names being quite popular, but my girl names, most of them are not in the top 1000, and that makes me really happy.

[la-jolie-vie.livejournal.com]

Hm, this is something that I've really thought about. I think you have a point, however I'd have to say that less than 1% can still, realistically, be a lot. In 1985, when most of my high school classmates were born, 0.8365% of the female population born was named Brittany. That is less than 1%, but looking back at high school, I can name sooo many. I don't want my child to end up being like one of the Ashleys on Recess. Lol

[bandnerd88.livejournal.com]

When I was born, my name had a popularity of almost 1%, and I still knew so many/heard it called out so many times that it made me hate how popular it was. 1% doesn't seem like a lot but it can be.

I like a *ton* of names, so even though I like some popular names I have no problem passing them up in favor of less popular names. I'll likely keep away from the top 100 if I can, or anything that's rising quickly. I'm grateful for the SSA list. My mom's excuse for giving me a popular name is, "But I didn't know anyone else with that name! I thought it sounded new and cool!" Yes mom, and everyone else had the same thought. :P

[mamasammy.livejournal.com]

Your comment makes me wonder...

Back when they didn't have internet and whatnot, and the SSA didn't have their useful popular baby names list.. How did so many people end up with the same name? Sheer coincidence?

I never really thought about it,... I guess I assumed that since the SSA has their list now that that's how people name all their kids the same name.

Its very crazy when you think about how many people's parents gave them the same names without even knowing it. What are the odds? Hmm..

[a-tergo-lupi.livejournal.com]

There was an article somewhere recently that talked about name list dilution recently. When our parents were kids, and even when we were kids, the most popular names were WAY more common than the most popular names now. We use more names now, so the most popular names take up a smaller chunk.

My mother, a Linda, was born in 1951. It was the #1 name that year and held 4% of the stock. In her graduating class in high school, there were 5 Lindas, 3 Melindas, 2 Belindas, and a Glenda (or something like that). Jennifer, the most popular name in my birth year of 1983, held 3% of girls. Mary was the most popular name in the country from 1880 at over 7%, as far back as the site goes, until 1946 at 4.1%. It's crazy stuff, really. So, even though some "classic" names aren't REALLY popular anymore, some of us are still turned off by them because of their sheer ubiquity.

I'm considering quite unpopular but still normal names. My favorite boy name (Soren) is in the 700s right now. My favorite girl names aren't on the charts, but have been used before. One was in the top 200s in the 1890s (Odessa). The other simply isn't (Lyra), but I think it will move its way into view soon. I am looking for unusual, but also for significance.

[a-tergo-lupi.livejournal.com]

Popular names tend to infiltrate the media when they're popular. There were tv, movies, books, and papers then. Before that, most names were very cultural or religious and there was much less variety.

Popular vs. Trendy

[velkoria.livejournal.com]

For me it's not about popularity but trend. As in, more classic names will always be more popular which is fine! I don't really mind naming my child Isabella because well it's a nice, legit name. With trends though that's really annoying... you know people hear a name and think 'oh you were born in the 80's' or 'your parents grew up in the 60's' or something like that? I don't like that...

Trends are ephemeral and kind of 'stigmatizing' if you know what I mean. I looove the name Aidan and to be honest I loved it before it was turned to Aiden for a trend and sure some -ayden names aren't THAT horrible but to be honest it just screams 'TREND!!' and that bugs me.

I don't know if I am making any sense but that's the way it is for me. I love the name Mary and I assure you there are more Mary's than Hayden's but... Hayden screams something completely different than Mary.

P.S.: Sorry for the double post, my cat jumped on the laptop and wanted to say hello!

[sal_amanda]

Don't get me started on the Brittany trend of the late 80s. I work at a very small college and there are at least 10 if not more, of various spellings, in every class. I was just joking to my co-worker the other day that I think we've reached our allowable max of students named Brittany so the rest just need to be declined from admissions.

Re: Popular vs. Trendy

[bandnerd88.livejournal.com]

you know people hear a name and think 'oh you were born in the 80's' or 'your parents grew up in the 60's' or something like that? I don't like that...

Yeah, that is what I don't like about my name. I'm pretty obviously a late 80's kid. My mom is obviously from the 60's (her name is Lisa). But my grandma is Mary, and so is one of my best friends, and my sister. If you were to give me the name Mary and ask me to guess when they were born I wouldn't know where to start, whereas if you said Ava I'd probably be able to give you a pretty close guess.

[la-jolie-vie.livejournal.com]

So, see, even though it was <1.0% of the total female population, it is really noticeable!

[wolfbane.livejournal.com]

I was an Ashley born in the late '80s, and I don't want my future kids to have to have a name as common as that. I wouldn't use an extremely popular name.

[penguiny7.livejournal.com]

This is exactly why I wouldn't let popularity influence my decision much at all. Yes, I think it would be nice to have a more unpopular name, but if you really like a name, who cares how popular it is.

I look at the Top 10 names on each gender and think... I don't really know any little kids with those names!

For our son, we didn't pay attention to popularity at all. His name is a nice, classic, name, and happens to have ranked 11th in our state the year he was born (20 something nationally, I think). It's plenty likely he'll end up being called First Name Last Initial a few times during his school years. Oh well.

The name we have picked out for a daughter is currently ranked close to 200 I think. I'm happy with that because I do think it would be neat to have a name people don't hear a lot on babies, but even if it was ranked much higher it wouldn't stop us from using it.

The names I do stay away from are names that are trendy by other definitions-- we like traditional names only!

[sarahness.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to avoid the top 10 names on the SSA list, but recently I just haven't cared.

I just want to find a name that we both *don't hate*. Is that so much to ask?

*sigh* 33 days until my due date and he's still nameless. :\

[sarahness.livejournal.com]

The thing is, popular names of the 80s were -more popular- than popular names of today.

For instance, Isabella is the #1 name for 2009 which = 22,067/1.1% of all girls born in 2009 have this name.

However, in 1987, Ashley was ranked #2 and 54,827 or 2.93% of baby girls were named Ashley that year.

But I do understand what you're saying, as a Sarah of the 80s.

[bluedano.livejournal.com]

Name popularity definitely factors into our name choices, but we also go by our own experience with the popularity of the name and not just by what the SSA says is popular. Andrew, for example, might be #15 but between the two of us we don't have any friends, family, or acquaintances who have a son with that name. On the other hand, there are four little girls ages 1-3 at my son's daycare named Isabel or Isabella, so that name would immediately be crossed off our list.

[sans-patrie.livejournal.com]

So funny because when I was named Charlotte (1984) the name was at the low point of its popularity (my Mom named me for her MIL, to get on her good side). I've never in my life met another Charlotte around my own age. But these days I seem to run into little girls named Charlotte ALL the time!

[makeitstopjamie.livejournal.com]

Just a thought. I had five Michaels in my English class my sophomore year of high school, two had the same last name. I think that's some of the dangers you get with the very classic boy names.

[makeitstopjamie.livejournal.com]

It does matter to me some. Like my husband and I both like Alexander, but my cousin who is going to have her baby within the next few weeks is planning on using that name. While we only see them a few times a year it would kinda bother me to use that name because it's already been used once in the family and there are so many other names out there.

Re: Popular vs. Trendy

[bookity.livejournal.com]

That's a very interesting point. That while Mary is a very common name it's not really one that you can put a timeline on. I myself am named Mary, and when I was in grade school there were 3 kids in my class whose mothers were named Mary. I thought it was an "old" name, but have since heard of or met 3 or 4 other Mary's my own age.
Timeless.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Well, as I said, I still don't find that to be a complete turn off. I mean, sure it is something to consider, but for me popularity alone is not enough to make me rule out a name. Plus, that could honestly happen with any name. The year I was born (1988) there were only 574 Annettes. The name was ranked 410. I still had a class with 2 Annettes in it, though one went by "Annie".

[mamasammy.livejournal.com]

I see your point, I should've included in my original post that I was born in 1988 and at the time, my name (Samantha) was the 8th most popular name according to the SSA and I'm now 22 and have only met/known of 3 other Samantha's, all at different times in my life.

One was the same age as me.
Two and three were both a couple years older than me.

[zante.livejournal.com]

Ehhh another Sarah from the 80's! XD

[falls2climb.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's that big a deal. I'm a Lauren born in 1980, and I've literally met one other Lauren my age - and this is after growing up in a fairly large city and going to a fairly large high school with only one other Lauren. Sure, I know there are thousands upon thousands of us born that year, but that doesn't mean we're crossing paths constantly. I teach high school and coach children's gymnastics near Charlotte, NC (again - a large metropolitan area), and I've met a grand total of one Aidan.

[daveandmonika.livejournal.com]

I think it matters more for daughters than sons for me because of girls and guys I knew growing up and now as an adult it mattered a lot more to the girls than the guys. My husband was never bothered by being one of three 'David's but my friend Amanda was really bugged by having such a common name.

[daveandmonika.livejournal.com]

I think at least some of it is whatever media influences you had growing up...there are names that weren't popular at all when we were little that it seems everyone held onto as wonderful and now that we're adults it's like everyone else did the same thing. For me that name was Sophia. I remember telling my then boyfriend now husband how much I had always loved that name but it was rising too fast.
...Didn't the animated video of Charlotte's web come out between our parent's generation and ours? So it would have influenced a generation of little kids who then grew up without knowing too many Charlotte's in real life but having this rosy picture from the movie.