When it comes to naming your kids, how much does the popularity of a name effect your final pick?
For example, I rediscovered a name I like (that’s in the Top 50) from my old list and was taken aback when I found out how popular it is right now.
I’d like to use the name someday, but I worry they’ll become their name and the initial of their last name. But then again, there is enough diversity nowadays that not many people find multiples of the same name in a classroom. I don’t know…
is penelope a very popular name where you are or do you seldom hear it in person?
I have never met a [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], I live in the midwest United States
For me, popularity would matter to some extent, I would hesitate to choose a name in the top 10-20 names without a really good reason (like an honor name, or if it was literally the only one my spouse and I both liked). But other than that I wouldn’t really care.
As someone who was never the only one with my name wherever I went (it was the 2nd most popular name the year I was born) I do want my kids to have a name that won’t be so popular that they will always have to use their last name to be able to be identified. However, I still want the name to be somewhat popular as in people will know right away how to spell it or will know how to pronounce it when they look at it. For example, Flavie and Delphine are my two favorites right now. Flavie is in the top 30 while Delphine is in the top 100. I would still 100% go with Flavie even if it’s the top 30 because I still never ever hear that name and there are only 182 kids with that name which might seem a lot but it isn’t so I guess it depends.
Penelope is not in the top 100 right now where I live but I have met a few Penelopes throughout my life.
that’s also very true! I feel like the most popular names nowadays aren’t AS popular as they were years ago. I’ve worked with kids for years and I’ve only met one Emma, one Olivia and I don’t remember meeting a Liam. It didn’t happen too often that there were two kids with the same name in the time I’ve worked with kids but when I was in elementary school we were 3 in my class with the same name and there was also two other guys who had the same name in my class.
I hope this makes sense because I can ramble a lot haha
Here’s where I’m at: I’d rather use a name that’s meaningful and gorgeous, but more popular on the charts now (for example, [name_f]Scarlett[/name_f], currently #14)… than a name that’s lost its sparkle, one that I’ve met countless people with (for example, [name_u]Lauren[/name_u], currently #327).
It’s more relative popularity to my own generation and classmates and encounters than statistical popularity of current names that makes a difference to me!
For me popularity doesn’t matter. I used to feel certain ways about popularity but now having named a child I actually do not care. I think your love for a name is way way more important than where the name falls on the popularity charts. Naming a child is a privilege and I think people forget that naming a child is such a privilege you may never get the opportunity to name another child. So I would strongly recommend choosing a name you love rather than focusing on popularity.
Also it’s really not like when I went to school twenty years ago parents had less exposure to different names so you would get numerous Victoria’s in a class. Whereas nowadays that isn’t the case. There is such a wide variety of different names that yes your child with a name ranked #35 in the charts may share her name with someone else in her school but most likely not in her class. For example [name_f]Lily[/name_f] is the top girls name in the UK currently I do hear off a lot of Lily’s but in my daughter’s preschool there isn’t a single one with my daughter [name_f]Lilia[/name_f] being the closest her class gets to having a [name_f]Lily[/name_f]!
I’ve always worked with kids and teens, so I do think popularity would impact my pick if I was to have a baby. There are certain names I’ve heard so so much that I couldn’t use, because they’ve lost their sparkle for me. Still, I do think it would depend on how much I loved the name, where it ranked and whether it seemed popular in my area.
Still, it’s worth considering that the most popular names are often used ‘less’ these days and there’s a lot more variation amongst first names - plus, you can never predict who your kid might end up in a class with
In terms of [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], I’m in the UK and I can only recall hearing of one young [name_f]Penelope[/name_f]
In my experience, the top names aren’t nearly as common as they seem. [name_f]My[/name_f] sister was born a couple years ago and her name was in the top 10 - there has only been one other child I’ve met with her name. Similarly, I’ve only come across 3 other names in the top 10 (for both genders) and the only double up has been [name_m]Oliver[/name_m]. Comparing this to my name which was #4 the year I was born, I had 5 others in my grade alone. I remember being called with my last initial when I was in daycare but it didn’t last once I got into primary school. If you find a name you love, that’s what matters!
In terms of [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], my cousin considered it for her little one but I haven’t met a young [name_f]Penelope[/name_f]
I think that it matters… to an extent. If I feel that I’ve heard a name too many times and that it has lost its sparkle, then I’m not going to choose it. For me, an example of that would be [name_f]Luna[/name_f] - I loved this name as a child, but (because of celebrities etc.) it has become incredibly popular within the past ten years and feels overexposed to me now.
That said, I wouldn’t be put off a name by the fact that it ranks within the top 100, if the name doesn’t feel overused to me (especially if it’s a classic name and it isn’t going to date).
I feel that popularity is less important now that it was in past generations, since fewer babies nowadays receive popular names. So the likelihood of your child being the fourth Sophia/Isabella etc. in her class is slim. And with less popular names (e.g. top 50, rather than top 10), you’re even less likely to see names being repeated in a classroom.
I personally lean away from the more popular names. I used to love [name_f]Olivia[/name_f] and its lost the spark. I did name my son a more popular name but even with it being in such a high spot in my state, I haven’t met a child yet with it. [name_f]My[/name_f] daughters name is super uncommon here.
For [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], I haven’t heard it much here in MA
As someone who would prefer her children’s names to be out of the top 500, if not the top 1000, I think you can go overboard. I just wouldn’t want my child to feel like 1 of 20 Emilys/Kevins in the class.
I would say [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] is familiar but not overdone, at least here in east coast USA.
However, I will say its most popular year was last year 2022 (in the US) and it’s been rising pretty steadily. It’s on trend with the old-turned-new choices so it might be better as a middle if you are concerned about popularity.
I think popularity matters to an extent, but if you really love the name, you should still go for it!!. Most of the names that I love have been somewhat popular in the past 10-20 years (Elizabeth, [name_f]Ella[/name_f], [name_u]Evelyn[/name_u], [name_f]Anna[/name_f], [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], [name_f]Mila[/name_f], [name_f]Sophie[/name_f], Zoe…), but that wouldn’t stop me at all from using them?
As someone who knows like 10 other people my age with my name, I understand the issue. Generally I would stay away from the top 10-ish. But it would also depend on how popular the name is where I live. Like I love the name [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], and it’s super popular in the US right now. But where I live (near [name_m]Washington[/name_m] D.C), I don’t really know any. The youngest [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] I know of is 11, and youngest one I know personally is 16.
From where I live, [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] isn’t a super common name. I’ve only met [name_f]Penelope[/name_f], and she’s about 9 right now. I don’t really hear it in person, or even online.
In regards to Penelope… I have a friend who named her daughter [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] with nn [name_u]Penny[/name_u]. And a relative who named her dog [name_f]Penelope[/name_f]. So I do hear it but not overly I guess- east coast USA
I grew up with an overly popular name. Popularity is a factor for hubby and I. Because if going through life being [name_f]Kristina[/name_f] D or [name_f]Kristina[/name_f] with a K I have always wanted names that don’t necessarily sound “out there” but aren’t common.
For our most recent child hubby had thrown [name_u]Ezra[/name_u] onto the list and I vetoed it because of its rising popularity. Hubby kept trying to convince me he had never heard anyone with that name. Fast forward six months…. He now can’t stand the name because we hear it pop up so often. He now says “we dodged a bullet with that one.”
For me, it’s “Am I going to hear this so often I get sick of it?” [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] is like that where I am. I’m sure to hear Sophie/Sophia wherever there are kids, so I’d avoid it even though it’s a lovely name.
I know one young [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] in my extended circle and have heard it a few more times online (so, those ones aren’t in my state.)
Popularity has always mattered to me for a few reasons:
I would prefer not to already have strong personal associations with the names I choose for my children
my husbands last name is laughably common so choosing a common first name would mean a decent chance of running into people with the EXACT same name (have literally met four separate people with my husbands exact first name last name combo which could cause issues with banking, mail, dr offices, etc
I don’t particularly like the first name, last initial thing with common names (shoutout to poor [name_u]Jack[/name_u] S. in my daughters class who it constantly sounds like is being called Jack@ss by the other kids)
Now that being said, popularity clearly isn’t binary. While my daughters name wasn’t in the top 1000 when she was born I wouldn’t rule out potential sibling names in the 200s just because they were relatively more “common”
It doesn’t bother me at all. Both of my children’s names are in the top 100 in the country I live in, it doesn’t bother me. I think so much emphasis is placed on popularity being a big deal on NB when to the outside world… No one actually cares at all. It’s so much less stressful when naming a baby (which is SO stressful as is!) when you take the pressure off yourself of trying to pick an uncommon name.
Also, I only know one [name_f]Penelope[/name_f] and she’s in her 50s.