Does popularity matter?

I think it depends on the name. I agree with what has been said. If I absolutely adore a name, nothing will faze me from using it. For example, that name for me is [name]Charlotte[/name]. I’ve loved it since I was a kid because I think it’s classic,lush,and beautiful, and it has a great range of nicknames. I also love the namesakes that come with it! I hate that it’s growing in popularity, but I’d still use it nonetheless.

It would bother me if the name was trendy. I guess I’d rather have a [name]Charlotte[/name], because despite it’s current popularity it’ll age better, than say a [name]Hailey[/name] or [name]Briana[/name].(No offense to anyone named [name]Hailey[/name] or [name]Briana[/name] though,haha. )

Although I do understand not wanting to have my child grow up with a name that multiple classmates also have. That, and the only time I might be hesitant against using a popular name is if I had a common last name. For example, my name is [name]Susan[/name], which is more of a grandma name, so I was the only [name]Susan[/name] in the midst of all of the Emilys, Megans/Meghans/Meagans, Saras/Sarahs,Ashleys, and Kristens/Kristins and so on. However I have the most common Vietnamese last name ([name]Nguyen[/name]) so it’s difficult to do certain random things, like sign up for an e-mail account that doesn’t have a bunch of numbers because “susan.nguyen” has already been taken.

Also, one thing that might deter me from choosing a popular name is if a celebrity uses the name and the name is I guess forever tied to that celebrity. For example, despite SMG named her little girl [name]Charlotte[/name] [name]Grace[/name] ( I adore her and her family) but people don’t automatically refer to the name [name]Charlotte[/name] as [name]Sarah[/name]'s baby. But then you have a name like [name]Shiloh[/name] which is kind of forever Brangelina’s daughter. Then you have a name like [name]Violet[/name] -while [name]Jennifer[/name] [name]Garner[/name] (one of my absolute favorite people) named her eldest [name]Violet[/name] and it is an association, I’m sure there are plenty of people that think of their grandmother when thinking of [name]Violet[/name]. However, another name I’m on the fence about using is [name]Harper[/name]. My first reaction is [name]Harper[/name] [name]Lee[/name], the author of one of my favorite books, but there have been so many celebrities that have used [name]Harper[/name] (namely [name]Neil[/name] and [name]David[/name], and [name]David[/name] and [name]Victoria[/name]) that there is that reaction “Oh, like this celebrity?” and that bothers me a little bit.

But then again I feel popularity stats are somewhat exaggerated. You might think you’re picking a unique name, but then you’ll meet a kid with that name. And then you’ll rarely hear the most popular names in your area.

So yes and no, it affects my decision to an extent.

If I love 2 or more names equally, I’ll consider popularity as a way to choose between them, but it generally doesn’t matter to me otherwise. I think it’s not the big deal it’s often made out to be. The most popular names of today are less common than the most popular names were a decade ago. My son’s name was #15 the year he was born, and he has been the only one in his classes up to this point (new class lists come out a week from Thursday, so I’ll see if his record holds).

As some other posters have said, I think it helps that I have an unusual last name.