And I’m not talking about the poorly misspelled common names (i.e. [name]Ayden[/name], Makynzeigh, [name]Alyvia[/name], etc). I’m talking about a legit, uncommon/unique name that no one or very few other people have.
I found a woman on here who named her baby the exact same name I would picked out for a future girl. It bothered me none the less and now I’m racking my brain trying to use come up with a unique name. My mom managed to do so for me, but why can’t I do so for a future daughter of mine?
For me, it’s not the top of my list. I prefer names that are not in the UK top 100, but if there’s a name I really love that is quite common then I try not to be too put off by that. Ultimately, I don’t want to choose a name I’ll regret just because my favourites were too popular. The only thing that would bother me is if a close friend or family member had the same name, or chose that name for their baby.
I personally choose names that aren’t so common. Then again, my mother is the only one of all my aunts and uncles to not have a [name]Jr[/name]-so standing out was started before me. =-)
It’s important to me, but I have kind of a weird view on things. For example, I would never go within the top 100, but if a close friend or a family member went with my very favorite name, with their permission, it wouldn’t bother me to name my child the same name, as long as I knew it wasn’t super common. Strange, I know. I enjoyed not being [name]Deirdre[/name] A./B./C. in school, as my name was uncommon, and I’d like my kids to be the only child with their name in class, if at all possible.
I think it’s harder for us nameberry folks because we tend to like more uncommon names with history and substance instead of the Ahleeayahs of the world. So oftentimes we all like similar names, but outside of this group of people those names wouldn’t be as popular. I would try not to worry about that other lady - clearly you both had great taste! I could see that happening down the road for me, too.
Well, I really want to use names that aren’t common, but if I really love a name, I’d use it anyway.
Ex: [name]Damien[/name] isn’t all that common, but it’s not unique either. The middle name [name]Quillon[/name], is though.
[name]Alexander[/name] is very common but i love it. The middle name [name]Constantine[/name] isn’t though.
[name]Amelia[/name] is very common but I love it. [name]Zephyrine[/name], not at all. There were only 13 people named this in [name]France[/name] in the last 50 years i think?
[name]Persephone[/name] [name]Elysia[/name] - neither are common but I think they’re easily understood.
When I pick an uncommon name, it has to be one that’s easily pronounceable and i love it when they mean something to me.
This is a site full of people who love uncommon names, so on here, uncommon names become common, but in the real world, they won’t be nearly as common on as here, usually. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. You most likely don’t live in the same area as the other woman, and don’t likely know her, so use the name you love!
I think it depends on your definition of unique. Are you going for a name that no one in the world has or that very few people have? If the woman on here who used the same name doesn’t live anywhere near you, I really wouldn’t waste my time worrying about it. In all reality, someone in the world will probably share a name with your baby regardless of what you name her. It sounds like no one where you live will have the same name so maybe he happy with that? If you really like the name I see no reason why you shouldn’t use it. It doesn’t make sense to change it just because someone you don’t even know used it too.
Honestly, I go back and forth. My biggest thing about unique names is that I don’t want my kid’s name to sound dated one day and I don’t want him/her to have to deal with a bunch of others with the same name making him/her feel like a copy or something.
At the same time, unique names nowadays are hard to come by and you run the risk of someone else picking the name now or down the line a few years and it becoming popular. Then you may have given up names you liked more because you wanted something unique and it didn’t end up being unique, so what’s the point?
I say factor it in but don’t let it make or break a name you love.
It depends. I wouldn’t use a name in the top 10 although I do love the name [name]Isabella[/name]. I loved it before I ever knew about the SSA list. My name is [name]Erica[/name], and it seems like a somewhat common name but I never had another [name]Erica[/name] in any classes. Only once in a dance class in 5th grade but she was two years older than me. So I always liked that. I’m not against naming a child a [name]Jr[/name]. but I wouldn’t do it if they had the same nickname (for example, if [name]William[/name] Sr. was [name]Will[/name], [name]William[/name] [name]Jr[/name]. would be [name]Billy[/name].) It all depends on the name and the area. I know a million girls named [name]Olivia[/name] but only two named [name]Isabella[/name].
It’s not important to me at all. In fact, I prefer names that are easily recognizable because they are (or were) so widely used. I’m not talking about names that might be popular currently. I prefer names that undoubtedly classic - names like [name]Alice[/name], [name]Mary[/name], and [name]Jane[/name], for example.
The interesting thing about these names is that they are often the ones that are overlooked, and, therefore, they can be more unusual because of it. This isn’t always the case, but my 3rd daughter is named [name]Jane[/name] and I have yet to meet another baby with her name.
Not at all. What was important to me: (1) the name is one that had a meaning to me personally (2) it honoured a deceased family member that I was personally close to in some way or carried on a family tradition (3) it had a positive meaning both historically and in terms of what the name actually meant (4) it was gender specific (5) it fit the child when the child was born.
For example, my husband and I agreed on [name]Caitlin[/name] [name]Louisa[/name] for our daughter going into labour. [name]Caitlin[/name] is Welsh/Irish version of [name]Catherine[/name], and my great-grandmother, [name]Sofie[/name] [name]Katarine[/name], had passed away nine months to when my daughter was due. I’m part Welsh; my now ex-husband part-Irish. It was the name of a Welsh girl I’d babysat for when I was twelve, and I’d always liked it. It could be pronounced a variety of ways in Irish, Welsh, or English, and could be translated into all European languages, and was gender specific. [name]Louisa[/name] was after my father’s grandmother, [name]Maria[/name] [name]Luise[/name], who was quite a character. [name]Caitlin[/name]/[name]Catherine[/name] means “pure” and [name]Louisa[/name] means “victorious” (sort of). So it fit all the criteria – and when my daughter was born, with her huge grey eyes and black hair, she was definitely [name]Kate[/name] and so the name fit.
Is her name common? Well, DeGrassi High came on after she was born so there are a ton of weirdly spelled Caitlins in [name]North[/name] [name]America[/name] but it didn’t bother me and I can say it doesn’t bother her. When my son [name]Thomas[/name] was born, there were no other boys named [name]Thomas[/name] that he knew. In the theatre group he hangs out with, there are three. Oddly enough, they are all [name]Thomas[/name] C. – my son, [name]Thomas[/name] [name]Caleb[/name], goes by [name]Tom[/name]; [name]Thomas[/name] [name]Christopher[/name], goes by [name]Thomas[/name], and [name]Thomas[/name] [name]Carson[/name], goes by [name]Carson[/name]. The guys think it’s funny.
[name]Do[/name] you love the name? Does it fit the child in your arms? That’s what matters.
It’s not important to me. I pick names I love, that sound good with my last name, and have positive associations. The popularity, or uniqueness of a name, is pretty far down on my list of naming criteria.
It’s not really important to me. I’d much rather choose a name I love than one that I don’t in an attempt to be different. I think most moms and moms-to-be try to find a name that they love that isn’t massively popular, yet not completely unheard of, a name that will make people go, “Oh, that’s different,” as opposed to “What kind of name is that?” or even “Not another one!”
My DS1’s name is [name]Aidan[/name], I know it’s not unique, but I love it. When I chose it, I didnt’ know how popular it was, so maybe I wouldn’t have chosen it, but finding boys’ names that DP and I both like is hard enough, so maybe we would used it anyway.
being unique is not high on my list, it’s more important to me that I love the name and could use it everyday, forever. My top boy’s choice is still in the top 100 in the UK, but I love it so much I don’t care. They type of names I like are more unusual, but I have trouble getting those by my other half.
I do like names that aren’t in my family or circle of friends though.
I always keep forgetting that most people aren’t name-nerds and typically go for names in the top 100. A good portion of the names that I like aren’t in the top 1000, and only a couple are in the top 100 ([name]Isaac[/name]).
It is tough loving a name and seeing it mentioned so many times on boards like nameberry.
I actually want to use more unique names because I grew up as a [name]Jennifer[/name] [name]Michelle[/name]. However, some names I am just in love with, so they are on my list. If a name is really popular, but I have strong, positive associations with it, I will keep it on the list. If it has negative associations or is too strongly attached to a pop-culture figure, I have to nix it. (I.e., [name]Isabella[/name]=Twilight; [name]Jasper[/name] does not.) My favorite boy’s name is [name]Sam[/name], which is extremely popular, but I want to use it because of [name]Sam[/name] Gamgee from [name]Lord[/name] of the Rings; he’s not the first [name]Sam[/name] people will think of, but he is my favorite [name]Sam[/name] from my favorite films, and I would love for my son to be like him. (Most of the names on my list are either associated with characters, authors, or family, too.)
I personally don’t aspire to use “unique” names, but I would prefer names that are less common, as to me it makes them more interesting; furthermore I grew up with an uber common first name and I really hated having 12 other [name]Jessica[/name]'s everywhere I went (it still happens even now.) A lot of “unique” names are just plain strange to me, so I prefer to say that I like “uncommon” names.
Having said that, I think it is more important to simply pick a name that both me and my OH love, that suits the child, and which sounds good with our surname; if it happens to be a fairly common name it won’t bother me too much as long as it isn’t, say, it the top 10!
That’s interesting; I don’t associate it with Twilight at all. My grandfather always called my little brother [name]Jasper[/name], and he was born in 1978. I think of [name]Edward[/name], [name]Jacob[/name], and [name]Isabella[/name] as being heavily associated with the series, but not [name]Jasper[/name] or [name]Alice[/name]. [name]Rosalie[/name] kind of falls in between. Maybe it’s because there are a lot of Jacobs and Isabellas/Isabels/etc. who are currently in their teens or because the name is so popular anyway…[name]Jasper[/name] is popular here, but I don’t know if it has caught on out there. (Or has it? :S )