Do you secretly LOVE a highly popular name? Would you ever use it? Is there any names you are sooo annoyed are popular? What are your thoughts on the top 100 names? What do you think of parents that give their chidren popular names? I LOVE Lauren and Emilie and a few others and would only use them as middles.
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[name]Ellie[/name]/[name]Elle[/name] and [name]Charlotte[/name] are names I love. And I don’t know why 
I would only use them as middles though.
Well, me and my siblings names are in the Top 100, I think my parent could have brainstormed a little more. But my brothers’ name suit them very well.
~[name]Jasmine[/name]
We’re not sure where we’ll be in the next year or two so I’ll look at the top hundred for the two countries we might be in. I like a lot of popular names from both, actually.
Girls, US Top 100
[name]Emily[/name] - Doesn’t go great with our last name, husband not keen on it, I do love it. Husband thinks [name]Emerald[/name] is a palatable substitute.
[name]Elizabeth[/name] - [name]Love[/name], ultimate classic territory, it’s rarity is not the draw, lol.
[name]Lily[/name] - Can’t use. Forbidden by territorial friend. [name]Do[/name] love it though.
[name]Hannah[/name] - Husband veto, high school foe.
[name]Aaliyah[/name] - Husband vetoed outright, claims sounds too foreign.
[name]Claire[/name] - Husband’s most favourite girl’s name of all. On short list.
[name]Faith[/name] - Only as a middle, I think.
[name]Morgan[/name] - [name]One[/name] of husband’s favourites. I would probably push for [name]Morgana[/name] or [name]Morwenna[/name] instead. I don’t really love it.
[name]Caroline[/name] - [name]Love[/name] this, would use it, it’s down at 98th and I just think it’s classic anyway.
[name]Naomi[/name] - Can’t use. Hideous clash with surname.
Girls, NSW Australia Top 100 (the ones that aren’t doubles of above, which, most of the ones above do appear somewhere on the list, though not all)
[name]Zara[/name] - [name]Love[/name], but not my favourite Z girl, so probably not used.
[name]Ivy[/name] - [name]Love[/name], would use.
[name]Imogen[/name] - [name]Love[/name], would use, but husband hates.
[name]Annabelle[/name] - Hate this spelling, do like [name]Annabel[/name]. Would use, but husband hates.
[name]Alice[/name] - Like. Not sure if love.
[name]Phoebe[/name] - Like, sounds weird with our last name.
[name]Violet[/name] - Like, but [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Viola[/name] and [name]Vivienne[/name] and enough other V’s I’d probably not pick [name]Violet[/name] first.
[name]Erin[/name] - Cute, but somehow I would never think to use it.
[name]Caitlin[/name] - Like this a lot, only with this spelling, but its so popular I don’t know if I would use it. Maybe just a middle name, because there’s so many Kaitlins and Katelynns etc. pumping the numbers well beyond what [name]Caitlin[/name] itself gets.
[name]Isabel[/name] - Like it, but my mom would freak out with hatred and we already have an [name]Isabella[/name] in our circle.
Boys, US
[name]Aiden[/name] - I would never actually use [name]Aiden[/name], but I do [name]ADORE[/name] [name]Aidan[/name], and its on our shortlist for boys.
[name]Gabriel[/name] - [name]Love[/name] this, just not as a first name because I’m not sure I can deal with [name]Gabe[/name].
[name]Jonathan[/name] - I love, husband likes, would use.
[name]Isaac[/name] - Husband loves, I like, would use.
[name]Owen[/name] - [name]Love[/name]. <3. Not sure of spelling though. Husband wants Eoin.
Wyatt - Husband decreed “sounds too American,” vetoed.
Henry - Husband hates, vetoed.
Eli - Like, would probably use as middle, am afraid no one locally can pronounce it.
Levi - Love. Husband hates.
Dominic - Love, would use.
Josiah - Husband says “we’re not Amish.” He’s okay with Joel, though.
Nathaniel - Husband doesn’t care I’ve loved it forever.
NSW, Australia (the boys’ names that aren’t doubles)
Patrick - My husband: “Fuckin’ Patrick, I hate bloody Patrick, I got in a fistfight in Grade 10 with a Patrick.”
Finn - A favourite of my husband. I think I prefer Finnian or Phineas though.
Hamish - My sister called dibs.
Marcus - I only like Marcus, I hate Marc. Would not really use.
Aidan - I do love Aidan.
Anyway, sorry for the long post, I do think a lot of the top 100 is pretty solid. As far as actually use as first names all I’ve got there is: Claire, Zara, Ivy, and Caroline for girls. Probably just Claire and Ivy really.
On the boy’s side, I could see using for a FN and damn the popularity: Jonathan, Aidan, Isaac are the big three, and then possibly Owen and Finn.
I absolutely love the names [name]Emma[/name], [name]Scarlett[/name] and [name]Amelia[/name]. I highly doubt I’ll ever use [name]Emma[/name] (even though I only know one [name]Emma[/name] and she’s 16). [name]Scarlett[/name]'s more of a GP name, I can’t see myself using it on a real child. [name]Amelia[/name] on the other hand, I might depending on when I start having kids and how much more popular it gets (probably pretty popular it jumped like 11 spots this year alone and it’s number 25 in my state. 
)
Popularity of boy names doesn’t bother me at all as long as it’s not in the top 10. I dunno why; maybe because boys don’t seem to care as much about having a “unique” name.?
For girls, i love [name]Emily[/name], [name]Lucy[/name], and [name]Charlotte[/name], especially [name]Emily[/name], but it’s crazy popular around where I live.
There are plenty!
I love a lot of boy names, but it just doesn’t bother me as much when they “skyrocket”, actually they get more tolerant. I just wish some of these would plummet, but that is highly unlikely.
I love [name]Emma[/name], [name]Mia[/name], and [name]Madeleine[/name]!
I always tend to go off names that are too popular!
However, I’m constantly drawn to [name]Ruby[/name], [name]Freya[/name], [name]Scarlett[/name], [name]Sienna[/name], [name]Isla[/name] and [name]Willow[/name] for girl’s but all are too popular right now.
[name]Isaac[/name] is my favourite boy’s name and generally it is way too popular (#37) but I love it so much that I’m not put off. For boy’s I love [name]Riley[/name], [name]Oscar[/name] and [name]Jenson[/name] would they’re three of the hottest boy’s names in the UK. Also, I adore the name [name]Caden[/name] (despite the -aden trend) but would never use it.
I’ll use the 2011 SSA list of the top 100 names. Some popular names I like are…
[name]Emma[/name]
[name]Abigail[/name]
[name]Hannah[/name]
[name]Charlotte[/name]
[name]Elizabeth[/name]
[name]Lily[/name]
[name]Grace[/name]
[name]Amelia[/name]
[name]Zoe[/name]
[name]Audrey[/name]
[name]Claire[/name]
[name]Sophie[/name]
[name]Jocelyn[/name]
[name]Lucy[/name]
[name]Stella[/name]
[name]Alexandra[/name]
[name]Caroline[/name]
[name]Naomi[/name]
[name]Charlotte[/name] has been my favorite name since I was a little girl. Unfortunately many people have discovered how awesome it is as well
I also think [name]Mia[/name], [name]Lucy[/name] and [name]Sophie[/name] are adorable, but all are in the top 100.
I love the names [name]Chloe[/name], [name]Courtney[/name], [name]Britney[/name], and [name]Emma[/name] but they are so popular, I’d probably never use them
I really, REALLY like [name]Lily[/name] and [name]Violet[/name]. [name]Violet[/name]'s less popular than [name]Lily[/name] is, so I’m finding myself leaning towards that one if I had to choose, but it annoyed me that [name]Lily[/name] is so popular! I know three baby girls named [name]Lily[/name] in my town born in the last year…Guh. I’m not having kids for at least eight years though, so maybe it’ll die down!
[name]Charlotte[/name] of course is still my absolute favorite. I agree with @violetgray -I have always loved this name and I hate how many people have discovered how great of a name it is. I always loved it because it was classic but still special. It’s currently 24 in my home state of [name]Washington[/name].
Other personal favorites- [name]Grace[/name], [name]Audrey[/name], [name]Harper[/name], [name]Evelyn[/name],[name]Violet[/name],[name]Lucy[/name],[name]Norah[/name], and [name]Clara[/name], but they are all getting so popular. Sigh.
I also absolutely adore the name [name]Isabelle[/name] (I’m a huge Alias fan!) but she’d blend in with all of the Isabellas /any name ending in [name]Belle[/name] plus I already want to use [name]Belle[/name] as a middle name for [name]Charlotte[/name].
Another favorite is [name]Emilia[/name] ,but most people will probably mistake it for [name]Amelia[/name] or [name]Emily[/name].
I don’t necessarily mind names in the top 100, ( or even parents using top 100 names) it’s just when I’ve loved a name for so long and wanted to use it for ages (such as [name]Charlotte[/name]) it’s disappointing that it has become so popular because the name has always been so special and personal to me, and some people use the same name just because they’re having trouble picking a name and it’s easy to glance at the top 100 and pick one, but don’t share the same love for the name. Does that make sense?
[name]Nathaniel[/name]'s #84 in the US. I love it anyway, but can’t use it.
Oh yeah… I also love [name]Lily[/name] and [name]Caroline[/name]. 
~[name]Jasmine[/name]
This post amuses me, lol.
I love popular names, and I’m not very secretive about it. Most of my favorites are either in the top 150ish or have variants that are, and yes, I would definitely use them. If my husband didn’t like any of the names I really loved, I can imagine that we’d compromise on top 100 names like [name]Isaac[/name], [name]Owen[/name], [name]Daniel[/name], [name]Joshua[/name], [name]Henry[/name], [name]Grace[/name], [name]Julia[/name], [name]Claire[/name], [name]Ella[/name], [name]Lillian[/name]/[name]Lily[/name], [name]Rachel[/name], [name]Lydia[/name], [name]Elizabeth[/name], [name]Ruby[/name], [name]Ariana[/name], etc. As long as they’re not trendy ([name]Nevaeh[/name]; [name]Aaliyah[/name], etc.) or unisex ([name]Bailey[/name], [name]Harper[/name], [name]Addison[/name], etc. on girls), I would consider them. I was a very shy child growing up, and I liked having a name that was “normal”, and I don’t see a problem with using those names still. Popular names these days are only a fraction of what popularity was in the 80s and 70s, anyway. Besides, popular names are popular because they’re good names. For the most part, anyway.
I really don’t care that any names are as popular as they are. I’d even use [name]Isabella[/name], even though it’s the second choice nationally. If [name]Olivia[/name] was the top girls’ name in [name]America[/name], I’d still use it. Popularity isn’t the end of the world, imo, lol. I don’t think parents are any less creative if they really only love popular names. My siblings and I have all had names that were in the top 20 at some point in our lives, and we never suffered for it, and we’re all really happy with our names. IDK. Sometimes I think Nameberry overemphasizes the importance of picking an obscure name.
[name]Lily[/name], [name]Lucy[/name], [name]Emma[/name], [name]Sophia[/name], [name]Chloe[/name] and a lot of others on the top 100.
But lately, names that I’ve loved for years that haven’t made it to the top 100 are becoming extremely popular, like: [name]Daphne[/name], [name]Penelope[/name], [name]Phoebe[/name], [name]Adeline[/name], and [name]Delilah[/name]. It makes me sad :c
[name]Ella[/name] and [name]Ava[/name] are actually favorites of mine, and I think they’d make a fabulous sibset. But I’d never use them. Popularity is a deal breaker for me!
For boys, I do like the AY-den names. There’s [name]Aiden[/name], [name]Caden[/name], Hadyen, [name]Braden[/name], and [name]Jayden[/name] ([name]Jaydon[/name]) that I’ve actually heard of and most I know of. Perhaps I could create a new AY-den name like [name]Tayden[/name] or Vaiden! LOL While [name]Ethan[/name] and [name]Evan[/name] area as common as robins these days, I like those, too.
For girls, [name]Emma[/name] is a nice name. But my wife, who’s an elementary teacher, has at least one or two [name]Emma[/name]'s every year.
For girls:
[name]Ruby[/name], [name]Mia[/name], [name]Lily[/name], [name]Lucy[/name], [name]Imogen[/name], [name]Alice[/name], [name]Eliza[/name], [name]Phoebe[/name] and [name]Rose[/name]. All of these I adore but despite popularity I think I could truly use [name]Lucy[/name] and [name]Imogen[/name]. So gorgeous!
For boys:
[name]Jack[/name], [name]Noah[/name], [name]Lachlan[/name], [name]James[/name], [name]Benjamin[/name], [name]Riley[/name], [name]Leo[/name], [name]Seth[/name] and [name]Hugo[/name]. Some of these have already been used by family and friends, and as for the others I don’t really mind the popularity. I would go ahead and use [name]Leo[/name], [name]Jack[/name] and [name]Lachlan[/name].