Here in the U.S. you can search the social security index online of names by year and by state to see what is popular around where you live. I wonder if other countries have something similar. When we named our son we had no idea how popular his name is ([name]Gabriel[/name]) and though it bothers me a bit that I’ve been running into a few lately, he couldn’t be anything else. When I searched my state database it turns out that the number of boys in my state hasn’t actually gone up that much 38-42 boys are named that every year for the last decade or so even though the name has gone from around #30 to #7 here. I think the variety of names being given to kids now in my state accounts for the huge push for this name even though the number of [name]Gabriel[/name]'s hasn’t actually really increased.
[name]Even[/name] though [name]Sophia[/name] was only given to 1% of girls in 2012, that’s still like 12,000+ babies named [name]Sophia[/name], isn’t it? Plus all the ones named [name]Sofia[/name] or Sophya or whatever other invented spellings there are. Plus the [name]Sophie[/name]/[name]Sofie[/name], because they’re close enough to be mistaken for each other. And then you add in 2010, 2011, and 2013, because it’s not like kids only interact with kids born the same year. There’s going to be a whole lot of Sophias when you think about it that way.
Also popularity main-wide doesn’t really reflect popularity in individual states (for example, [name]Brinley[/name] isn’t even on the top 100 if i remember correctly…but in my state, i know at least 10 little girls named [name]Brinley[/name] that all live in my small town).
My name was number 35 the year i was born, and i didn’t meet another kid with the name until i was like 8, and she was several years younger than me. Now that I’m an adult, though, i hear it much more often. Actually, including me, my group of 6 closest friends has 3 of us with the same name.
If that can happen to a #35 name (and i don’t think mine has ever been higher than #35), it will definitely happen to a #1 name.
If you’re fine with her meeting plenty of other Sophias, then i say go for it with naming your kid [name]Sophia[/name]. But everyone should be aware that they will definitely meet other Sophias.
Unless you kre-8 your child’s name from scratch or it’s something no one would use, there’s always a chance that they could run into someone with their name. There were 139 little Linuses born last year. That means that between this year and last year, there are going to be around 250 guys the same age as mine that have the same first name. Who knows, they might run into each other some day. There were 555 [name]Sylvia[/name]'s born in 2009. Again, she might run into one someday, but in their cases, it will likely be a novelty and they will think it’s cool to find someone else with their name.
OTOH, there were 22,257 Isabellas born in 2009 and 18,899 Jacobs born in 2012. The chances of them running into someone of the same name is pretty likely. BUT, if you look at 1980, 58,383 Jennifers and 68,656 Michaels were born that year. Names aren’t nearly as overused as they were then. What the generation of current parents considers common isn’t what our kids will face. There is much more diversity in names. (But these numbers don’t take into account the variations, either.)
I’m just gonna call that false riiiiight now. A person with a popular name will run into other people with the same name consistently throughout their life. [name]Elizabeth[/name] has never been the most popular name but it’s common enough that I’m rarely the only one. [name]Even[/name] if I go a few months being the only [name]Elizabeth[/name] in any of my social circles, I was never the only one in my grade, certainly never the only one in the grades that I spent time socializing with. On a smallish high school campus (1000 kids), there were 10-15 of us any given year, and I was always hearing my name called when I wasn’t the one being spoken to. I once had a health class where all three Elizabeths in my grade were in the same class (which, by the way, if you’re dealing with younger kids, may force a nickname onto your child that you despise in the name of pragmatism). My sophomore year in college there were four Elizabeths on my floor of forty people, only twenty-five of whom were girls. Not trying to discourage choosing a popular name, if you love it, you should choose it. But experience leads me to a far different conclusion, and I remember the abundance of Zacharys and Danielles and Emilys and [name]Matthews[/name] running around on the playground throughout my childhood. A [name]Sophia[/name] will be running into other Sophias her whole life. And she may turn into a [name]Sophie[/name], [name]Soph[/name], [name]Soho[/name], [name]Fee[/name], [name]Sophia[/name] + Lastname, whatever you can imagine in the process. Haha that was way too long, but it took me a long time to like my name and accept being called by my first name and less than mellifluent last name for the rest of eternity, so I am sounding the warning bell. Forgive the drama.
My name is [name]Sarah[/name] (I’m 24. It was very popular in '89) and I never was really bothered by being called “[name]Sarah[/name] C.” because from kindergarten to 7th grade there was another [name]Sarah[/name] in every one of my classes. People would say it so fast I was basically “Sarasee” 
My sister’s name is [name]Jocelyn[/name], much less common, there was one more [name]Jocelyn[/name] in our high school and we heard of a few in college, but she rarely runs into a [name]Jocelyn[/name]. Whenever I hear the name I turn my head, thinking, how is my sister here? Where is she? The only time we really would comment on the dichotomy of our names was when we’d be in Walmart as kids, looking at the personalized license plates and we could always find my name but never hers. That was a small victory for me over my little sister, haha. I would name my kid something popular if I liked it, it hasn’t been that bad for me.
However, I have a really, really unique last name, I’ve never met anyone I’m not related to with the name, so if I end up marrying a [name]Smith[/name] (heaven forbid) I would go with something more unique. I think either the first or last needs to make someone think of just your child. Not, " Are you talking about [name]Lizzie[/name] [name]Jones[/name], or [name]Izzie[/name] [name]Jones[/name]?" type thing
I completely agree with this. Since I’m a long way off from naming an actual child, the reason I prefer unusual names has nothing to do with concerns about my child running into other kids with the same name, although I see how that could be annoying. To me, it’s a matter of vibe and wow factor and uniqueness for uniqueness’ sake. Modern society places a lot of value on individuality and creativity, sometimes to the point of obnoxiousness (see: hipsters.) It’s hard for us Millenials not to get swept up in all of that.
But for me it’s more complicated. I like the images certain names evoke, the way they make me feel. [name]How[/name] strong these images and emotions are is often inversely proportional to how many people I’ve encountered and heard of with a name. As a name becomes more popular, its vibe becomes…diluted, for lack of a better word. For example, my best friend throughout elementary school was named [name]Olivia[/name]. It’s a very unusual name for our age group, and at the time I thought it felt sort of sparkly and mysterious and fun. Once you’ve met 17 Olivias, however, it’s hard to have a strong association with the name. Now the first thing I think of when I hear [name]Olivia[/name] is “popular.” There are exceptions, of course: [name]Zoe[/name]/[name]Zoey[/name] still feels extremely bouncy and spunky to me even though it’s #20.
So that’s why I prefer unique names and will always eschew popular ones.
On the “10 Sophies in every school” thing:
Your kid will almost certainly encounter someone else with their name over the course of their lifetime. There were three Connors (#57 when I was born) and three Emilys (#5) in my sixth grade class–as well as two Colleens (#184). My name was #774 the year I was born, and so far I’ve only met one other [name]Gwendolyn[/name]. But do I think people are calling my name when they really aren’t on a regular basis? Absolutely. My nickname, “[name]Gwen[/name],” sounds very similar to “[name]Quinn[/name],” especially in a southern accent, and I sometimes think people are calling me when they say “when,” “then,” etc. An unusual name isn’t a guarantee of a name-related-mix-up-free life, even if you are the only one in your class.
My name is [name]Alexis[/name], which was #3 the year I was born. I have only met two others with my same name (one was about 5 years or so older than me. The other was 1 year younger than me). However, I have met more [name]Emily[/name]'s that I can count. In my 8th grade class, there were 4 other [name]Emily[/name]'s, and it was a class of about 125.
My sister’s name is [name]Madison[/name], which was also #3 when she was born. In her 3rd grade class, there were 2 other [name]Madison[/name]'s. [name]Even[/name] worse, she couldn’t be called by her last initial because one of the [name]Madison[/name]'s in her class had the same one.
[name]Don[/name]'t even get me started on the [name]Caitlin[/name]'s and the fact that there are a million different ways to spell it.