Hello,
do you having a common name is an advantage or a disadvantage?
Thank You.
I think it depends on the last name if that’s being taken into consideration. My maiden name is so rare that I’m the only person in the whole world with my first and last name as well as my first, middle, and last. After my divorce I decided to keep my married name because there are multiple people with the same first and last name. My middle name is very uncommon.
My first name has always been moderately popular. I’ve never been in the same grade with another and have rarely had anyone in the same school with my name so that was always nice and I moved around a lot. I shared my name with my third grade teacher which I thought was neat when I was little.
Having a common name can allow you to blend in and an uncommon name can allow you to stand out just by having an uncommon name. I like both common and uncommon names. I think that if a child is given a common first name, it’s okay to give them an uncommon middle, and if someone has an uncommon first name, I think they should have a common middle in case they want to use it instead.
I think having a common name is nice, though I would say there’s a difference between common and extremely popular. I think having a top 5 name could become annoying, because chances are there are multiple in each class at school and kids would have to be known as [name_m]Liam[/name_m] H. or [name_f]Olivia[/name_f] J. for most of their childhood. At the same time, if a name is completely unheard of, it could get annoying having to constantly correct or teach the pronunciation and spelling.
Personally, I like names that are kind of a ‘sweet spot’ in the middle- heard of, easy to pronounce, but not too popular. I would consider names in the top 200 to be ‘common’ in a nice way, though the popular ones in the top 15 might be a bit too common.
There are some advantages for a common name- they are easy to spell and pronounce and very familiar. They can balance out an unusual surname too. It would be harder for people to find out how you are online/google you, and you are more likely to find stuff with your name written on it!
But I’d definitely give my kids an unusual name. I’d want them to feel individual and special. I think there are many, many beautiful names, that are recognisable and easy to spell, but also uncommon. I hated having to go by my last initial in high school when there was another girl with my same first name.
I’ve seen many friends complain when they hear someone calling out ‘[name_f]Olivia[/name_f]’ or ‘[name_f]Emma[/name_f]’ and in fact it’s not referring to them at all. I’ve seen people, such as my own father, deal with emails that weren’t meant for them just because somebody else had the exact same first and last name. Not to mention other annoying practical issues such as creating an email address or username. I also feel that while popular names now, such as [name_f]Ava[/name_f], [name_f]Emma[/name_f], and [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] sound beautiful, they will become the Sharons, Patricias and [name_f]Cindy[/name_f]'s of tomorrow. Using a trendy name at its height will permanently age your child, when they become adults everyone will know their approximate age.
I agree with others that there are advantages and disadvantages to both and my preference is generally for an uncommon, but not highly unusual name for my future kids. I agree that trendy and super popular at the moment names really end up dating someone, plus they deal with constantly having multiple people in the class or hearing their name everywhere. My name was it’s peak popularity around my time of birth ([name_f]Amber[/name_f] - late 80s), but I never once dealt with sharing a name with a classmate and I rarely hear my name called out in public. I believe there was one other [name_f]Amber[/name_f] in my graduating class of 550 and my name was in the top 20 in my year of birth. So, I think it only really becomes an issue if it is top 5-10.
I think names that are too unusual can also cause a lot of difficulty as well, but as long as a name is at least familiar or fairly simple, there are not many issues. I also don’t mind classic names that are always popular. For example, [name_u]James[/name_u] is one of my top names for a boy. I have always loved is strong feel and it is a family name for me (my dad and grandpa’s middle name) as well as a name of a favorite literary character. I love its versatility and range of possible nicknames ([name_m]Jim[/name_m]/[name_m]Jimmy[/name_m], [name_u]Jamie[/name_u], [name_u]Jem[/name_u]), think it fits a boy/man of all ages. But it is also timeless, it has never ranked out of the top 20. No one will identify my kid as a 2010s kid looking at a resume. I think a timeless,classic name is nice in that there are very few assumptions someone can make off of the name. You see [name_u]James[/name_u] on a resume, no one will stereotype age, race, education, socioeconomic class, nationality (or even gender now that it is becoming more widely used for girls). Enzi on the other hand will be my other sons name. It is definitely not common, but I don’t think it will cause him issues as far as pronunciation or people thinking it is too strange despite it being an incredibly common name. The spelling and pronunciation are very straight forward so it shouldn’t cause any issues there.
My own name is very unusual, I’ve never met anyone with it before and I love it. I remember feeling unique and special when I was younger, and it’s just great not sharing your name with anyone else. Sure, it gets mispronounced sometimes but it never bothered me. Also, since it’s something that people haven’t heard of I always get compliments when I introduce myself.
On the other hand, two of my best friends have very common names (think something like [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] and [name_f]Olivia[/name_f]) and they hate it. There are two of each in our class and no one knows who we’re talking to/about unless we call them things like “the short [name_f]Amelia[/name_f]” and “the tall [name_f]Amelia[/name_f]” which they find annoying too. In addition, popular names are what will probably be considered dated in 10-20 years, I doubt anyone wants a dated name
So from my experience I’d say that a common name is a disadvantage, despite being easy to spell and all
Depends on how you see it. I’ve always seen it as a disadvantage because it’s confusing to have multiple people with the same name in one place. I don’t turn around when I hear my name because I’ve gotten so used to it not being for me. Common names are also not always easy to spell. I’ve gotten [name_u]Abi[/name_u], [name_u]Abbey[/name_u], [name_u]Abbie[/name_u], and [name_f]Abbi[/name_f], and each person insisted that was how every [name_u]Abby[/name_u] spelled their name.
So interesting to read all of these perspectives!
I have a very common name for my age group and 10-20 years above. However, it’s also a classic name that has never really been unpopular, though like every name it’s had its ups and downs.
I honestly have never minded it. Sure, there were others with my name in all my classes at school, and now I meet other mums, work colleagues, etc. with the same name a lot, but it’s really not a big deal. I have an uncommon and quite grand married surname, which I think my simple, classic first name complements well. My surname + [name_f]Anastasia[/name_f] or [name_f]Rosamund[/name_f] or something would definitely be overkill.
My own children have short, simple names which are neither really common nor really uncommon — top 500 or so. So far we’ve met a handful of other children with the same first names, and no one has struggled with spelling or pronunciation.
I think it’s a tempting idea to give your kids totally fabulous, utterly unique names that no one else has heard of, let alone thought of using, but practically speaking I think it would be a bit of a headache to have a name like that.
Of course, there are some extremely underused names that are nevertheless familiar to most people, and I think they make a great choice, but picking a really unusual, unfamiliar name purely on that basis alone strikes me as quite short-sighted.
My name is common but not overly popular, (#53 the year I was born). My maiden name is unusual yet easy to spell and say, so I was the only one with my exact name. While I knew maybe 3 other [name_u]Shannon[/name_u]'s growing up so it wasn’t insane. I had 1 other in my graduating class. In comparison I had 14 [name_u]Michael[/name_u]'s and 6 [name_m]Matthew[/name_m]'s in my graduating class (literally 10% of the class was named [name_u]Michael[/name_u]), and 7 [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f]'s including 2 with the exact same first and last name. My one sister has another familiar name (#89 the year of her birth) but spelling isn’t straight forward so she hates that. She has mentioned she rather have [name_f]Emily[/name_f]'s name. My youngest sister is [name_f]Emily[/name_f] in the sea of [name_f]Emily[/name_f]'s. She has 6 other [name_f]Emily[/name_f]'s in her class so she isn’t a fan of that, but loves that her name is easily to spell and pronounce. My other sister has a double barreled name that is more unusual, though we have met others with the same or similar combos. She really loves her name and has embraced it, but I don’t think I would of been able to. I liked that my name was familiar but not insanely popular, and easy to spell and say.
On the other hand my fiance’s name was number #23 when he was born, but he has a pretty common last name. He has had a lot of issues with having such a popular first and last name. There are 2 other people with his exact name at the dentist he uses and he has received calls for other’s appointments. He is also a [name_m]Junior[/name_m] which just complies the paperwork issues with his name. We also had issues adopting a dog and had to fill out extra paperwork with proof of who my fiance was(like a birth certificate) as there is a registered animal abuser with my fiances exact name in the area.
In short, I think familiar, yet not overly popular names, between like 50-500 that are easy to spell is what I would like for my children, especially with my fiance’s common last name. I don’t want my kids to have to deal with a sea of [name_m]Liam[/name_m]'s/[name_f]Olivia[/name_f]'s like my fiance and sister had to deal with.
My preference is definitely for the uncommon, I have an uncommon name and I love it and when I have children I aim to give them more uncommon names (I feel that it would be weird not to, I can’t imagine being a child with a top 10 name with a mother with my name, I feel like it would feel lesser somehow). When I was little I was a bit jealous of the girls with normal names and I wished I was [name_f]Emily[/name_f] or [name_f]Jessica[/name_f] so I could get things with my name on, but as I grew up I loved being one of, at most, a couple of people with that name, and not having to have the first letter of my surname tacked onto my name all the time. I think if I had been born today, where it is so easy to buy personalised things online, it would have been even less of an issue. I know a few people in teaching and they have also said that they are veering more towards uncommon names as they have seen how annoying it is for children who go their whole school life with multiple children with the same name as them.
My name was typical 80s and second only to [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f]; unfortunately, my daughter ended up with a top 5 name as well which I always planned to avoid. However, I’ve met more kids with far less popular names than hers (who knew [name_u]Eloise[/name_u], [name_m]Nolan[/name_m], [name_u]Piper[/name_u], and [name_f]Adelyn[/name_f] were so popular?) so as it turns out, popularity seems relative.
One of the things I liked was that I easily blended in. You introduce yourself, and no one does a double take or side-eyes you or asks you to repeat yourself. The downside was being FirstName LastInitial (or last 2 initials) for the majority of my school years. I hated that. My mom also gave me an unconventional spelling, which I have never liked. However, one of the reasons why I was OK with ultimately giving my daughter a popular name was because we are in the digital age now where everyone has an online presence. I would rather my child be [name_f]Emma[/name_f] or [name_u]Mason[/name_u] [name_m]Smith[/name_m] than [name_m]Hendrix[/name_m] [name_m]Smith[/name_m] so that they are not quite as easily “found”.