babynames | (no subject)

I don't have a problem with popular names (except the lame or ugly ones), hell, my 10 year old son's name is Dylan (but there were barely any when I named him, and I named him after Bob Dylan).

But for the most part, I wouldn't use a popular name if I had another child- a name is supposed to be an identifier, in a way, and if you're one in a zillion... plus, it's confusing in school, work and just in general, when there's 3 Jims or Lisas or whatever.

Yeah, you named him right around the time of Beverly Hills 90210 - I think it totally killed that name.

Yeah, the funny thing was, I HATED that show. I didn't even think of the connection until after he was born and people kept asking me if I got the name from the show.

I've talked to my husband many many times about that question. I think part of it is that parents want their child to stand out in the crowd. Another part of it might be kind of like over-playing a song on the radio, where you get tired of it, like parents hear names too often and end up not liking the way they sound.

I don't think it's really having a 'problem' with popular names, because I'm sure that members of this community love names that are popular.

It's really just the thought of naming your child something that so many other children are named as well. For example, I couldn't tell you how many Jennifer's I have known throughout schooling. It was confusing, especially if you happened to have the same last initial as someone, your teacher couldn't distinguish you by calling you Jennifer L., you'd both answer.

It was confusing, especially if you happened to have the same last initial as someone, your teacher couldn't distinguish you by calling you Jennifer L., you'd both answer.

In elementary school, I was one of three Joannas in the class. That's not really a very common name, I suppose, except that our school had a heavy Polish population...among whom it IS common. And it was certainly not fun to have to be "Joanna M." all the time...

...although of course, "Joanna P." was even MORE unhappy, esp. in the lower grades when kids giggle about stuff like that :-/

Because my taste is just not the same as the majority.

Plus, I know what it's like to have a common name. It's a total pain, and I don't feel like inflicting that on my children. Plus, popular names have a tendancy to be very dated. Everyone will know what decade your child was likely born in based on their name.

i agree. i have a very common name, to the point where if i hear someone yell "Sarah" i don't even turn around or look. if they are talking to me, they can come up and touch my arm or use my last name. otherwise, i ignore it. i wish i had a less common name, so i could feel like if i call someone and say, "hi this is sarah" they will know WHICH out of the 50 sarahs they know is the one calling them.

therefore i will always avoid super popular names on my children.

That's a good question. I also think there's a difference between names that have always been popular (e.g. Elizabeth) and names that nobody had heard of five years ago but are now in the top ten (e.g. Jayden)

That's true too. I'm not as hateful towards traditional common names than new names. (Maddox, Madison, Mackenzie, Ava) etc.

Ava isnt a new name, it's just sad that it's so popular now because i love it.
I know two Ava's who are 19...
I have loved it because of Ava Gardner. My top girls name used to be Ava Lavinia, & then i found out it was her name, i think it's loooverly :-)
(i know so many baby Ava's now though... so yeah it is super super popular)

You're right, apologies. I didn't even bother looking it up since I knew it was in the top 10. It has been in the top 1000 forever.

Honestly, in 2000 it was my name of choice. I wanted a daughter named Ava Ann (because of Ava Gardner as well). In 2000, it would have been ok. It was before the name spiked up like crazy.(Before Reese Witherspoons daughter)

Now, sadly, I can't(refuse) to use it.

I am against the naming extremes. I call popular names extremes, I also call the un33k names extreme.

For instance. My name is Kimberley. Kim was number 5 for the 70's and 17 for the 80's (when I was born). I always knew at least 15 Kim's. It seemed like there was always another Kim around. This took a way some of my individuality. I always always thinking about a cool name I would call myself because mine sucked ass, and was so damn common. My husband's name is Michael (1 for 1960-1990) and he feels the same way.

Now of course, it isn't a big deal. I like having a three letter name. Keeps things simple. But I think that kids should have their own identity and their own name and if someone else has it, then it is RARE not a common everyday occurance.

For the spellings from hell - I think that takes away some dignity of the name. Kymbirrlay is still Kimberley, still (was) popular, still the same sounding word just cut up all to hell and left by the side of the road to die. If I got a resume with that spelling, I think I would have more of a tendency not to take the applicant seriously.

While I don't know any Ava's now, give it 10 years when all the Ava's born in the last few years grow up. It will be as common as Mike, John, and Amanda.

yeah, like the Kimiii (with 3 "i"s) my husband knows. it's still the name Kimmy, it's just grossly misspelled. it doesn't make the name any "cooler."

::shoot me:: Kimiii??

yeah. it's not a nickname either. it's her full name. K-I-M-I-I-I. *sigh* people are nuts.

I dont want my kids to be one of many in their year- I like names that arent so popular, or at least names that arent boring, as in there are many of them & they've been popular for ages.

Sarah
Laura
Haylie
Rachel
Rebecca

James
George
David
Richard
Peter

You get the picture...

I have a problem with popular names because I would like to see my children having different names. I don't want my children going to school with a hundreds Rebecca's or Sophies, and similarly have at least 10 of them in each class. It would be confusing for the poor kids. That's why I am looking at LESS common names for my children. I have a son named Blake, I have only ever known one Blake in my life ever in 29 years. No offence to those who have common names, I have a common name and I know how annoying it can be to have heaps of girls with the same name around you, you don't know who is referring to who, and if it's even you they are talking to! I am pregnant with my second child now and she / he will have a LESS common name for sure. That's just my opinion....

omg i love the name blake! thats what I wanted to name my son origionally (Blake Alexander), but my boyfriend hated the name lol so, hes Dylan.

My little boy is Blake Carter! I chose the MN Carter because it was also different! And Blake suits him so well.

Sophie is number 3 in england, the funny thing is though i only know one Sophie, not even a friend, just an aquaintance. Though i guess that shows the rise in popularity, 19 years ago the name wasnt popular at all... if i was born now i'm sure by the time i reached shcool age i'd know loads.

ah, i say this as i'm Sophy. (nope, never met anyone with this stupid spelling either) lol didnt mention that there!

I actually like some popular names, especially for boys. I just tend to try to stay clear of them because I know how annoying it is to have to refer to yourself by last initial even after high school. I don't like completely unique names, but I like ones that probably won't have more than one or two kids in each elementary school class.

yeah, i LIKE a lot of the common/popular names, but i wouldn't use them and sometimes feel annoyed when other people use them because they feel the name is original or different, when it is in the top 10... but i do like a lot of the names at the same time i'm against them. :P

I totally agree with this. there are quite a few names that I've liked for a long time (e.g. Olivia). But when every 3rd girl is an Olivia it's kind of annoying. like I couldn't come up with ANY other name? so I like them but am also against their actual use.

i don't have a problem with popular names, i just don't prefer them on my children. i will have exceptions though, like ethan. and when someone posts a list with 5 popular names and 2 not-as-popular names, it seems to make sense to encourage someone to pick one of the latter names. *shrug* just my 2 cents.

Because it's boring.

Because there are thousands of wonderful names out there going unused to that the same 20 names can get used over and over and over.

Because I have a popular name and I know the problems it can bring.

Because the purpose of a name is to identify an individual. If the name isn't doing that and you still have to ask, "wait, which Ethan? Ava who?" then the name is failing its primary purpose.

I have to totally agree! You hit the nail on the head there! Well said!

IAWTCx1,000,000

My name was very uncommon when I was younger and I hated it. I always thought that it is an ugly name because no other kids were named Annika.
But now that I am older I like it. I have always been the only Annika in school and it is just better than when there are 10 other girls with the same name around. It's just confusing.

But now during the last 5 years, my name gained popularity and there are so many little girls called Annika and I just hate it.

(btw, I live in Germany.)

It's not so much disliking the names, it's disliking the idea of using the name. I know I don't want my kid to be Mike B. for his entire school career.

Some of the popular names are really cute, and if they weren't so popular, I'd use them in a heartbeat, I just don't want my kid to always have to use their last name identifying themselves.

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Haha, I was always the second of two Melissa's all through grade school to Junior high. Luckily she prefered to be called Mel, though.

Once I got into high school, another Melissa started at my work. So now I'm Melissa W... or really fun, MW. ::glares::

I'd only really go out of my way to avoid the names in the top ten. Even then, if I had a name I was in love with, it might not stop me from using it.

After all, I'm a Jennifer and there was always at least one other Jennifer in every class I took throughout my school years, and it didn't kill me!

I'm definitely staying out of the top 50. That's not an easy task regarding FH's penchant for popular names, but my child will not be the 4th Ella or Aidan in his or her class. What's the point of a name if you choose something everyone else is choosing? I'm not saying it's necessary to create a name (or modify one using as many ks and ys as possible), but use one that you won't hear more than once per playgroup. As a poster said above, there are thousands of names but only a handful are being used.

Oh, and having the #1 girl's name (for how many years now?) is annoying. I know from experience.

I think men don't get it anyway. they say a name. you say that 20,001 little baby girls born in the past few years all have this name. they don't see the problem...

and I have to agree. why choose one everyone else is choosing? when I ask someone what their kid's name is and they say "Ryan" or "Madison", I find it hard to be like "oh, cute!" when I feel like "another one? well. that's. boring."

Men definitely don't get it...at least mine doesn't. I suggest something slightly different (ex. Fiona) and he gags. Then, he suggests Jennifer.

*sigh*

My name is Carlie and I *always* hated being the only one. I especially hated not being able to find a pencil or placemat or door hanger with my name. Always Carrie, and Carl, never Carlie. I still, at age 26, inspect any pre-printed name display for mine. Still not there.

Because of this (and the spelling problems, and mispronunciations of my name - it's seriously NOT CHARLIE), I want my kids to have short, easy to prn and spell names, popular or not. I love Ava, Kira and Mia, no matter how popular they are right now! I've met one Kira, and no Avas and no Mias ever, so they are not popular to me like Madison, or Brianna, which are my little cousins' names

I still look for stuff with my name--Elise--on it.. in my entire life, I've found some "Elise rocks!" stickers, a name plaque, and a little mug a friend found for me. Everything else had to be altered.

Totally relate.

I am completly with on this, my name is Josie I mean I love it and all but I hate being the only Josie, there's never anything pre-printed for me the closest of seen to my name is Jose. People always pronounce my name Jozie I hate it! one time in an art camp I was in they made a spelling typo and I was Jossie!

A lot of the names I love are popular, I mean I love almost all of the -aden names, Ava, Abigail, Jessica, Sydney, Liam, Nathan, and much more! And it doesn't matter to me if there popular, I mean come on! Popular just means a lot of people like that name, all though I do hate a lot of them for eg. Emily, Madison, etc. But I only hate them not because of there popularity, its just the name itself which makes me cringe. But yeah I just don't care if the name is popular or not.

On the other hand, my name is Michelle and I can rarely find pre-printed stuff with my name because it was always sold out.

i don't get it either. personally, if i liked the name and it had meaning to me and my hubby, then id name my child that. i could give two shnits if it were 'popular' or not. however, i would never name my child based on what was popular at the time(ie- oh! sarah is popular,lets name our daughter that!) but any way you look at it..eventually names are gonna cycle through and at some point in time they will all be popular(except for the god-awful ones that are made up..lets hope that never happens).

Finally some people in this group who understands me! lol!

lol!

Some popular names I'm okay with (Emily, Isabel) because they're classic, legit names, but others (Mackenzie, Makayla) are childish and only popular because they're "cute" and I hate that.

A lot of people don't want their child to have the same name as 3 other kids in his/her class.

Sarah D.
Sara M.
Sarah P.
Sarah T.
Sarah T.

Ryan D.
Ryan L.
Ryan M.
Ryan S.

That was half of my 5th grade class. This is why I check the frequency rates of a name before considering it. I was once Julie M. on a softball team with two other Julie Bs. It's annoying as hell to grow up trying to distinguish your own identity when you can't even distinguish your own name.

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I know I'm tons late replying to this.

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