My own name ([name_f]Jocelyn[/name_f], nickname [name_u]Josie[/name_u]) was fairly uncommon when I was a child in the 80s (though it’s really booming now) and I really liked feeling special in that way. My husband has a fairly common name and it never bothered him. It seems that many parents these days are very concerned with popularity for the reason I mentioned. That said, I wonder how important it will be to my actual child.
My husband and I are really fond of the name “[name_f]Imogen[/name_f]” but I stayed away with it for our first daughter because I worried that it was getting too popular. It does seem to be popular in the UK but despite all the nameberry views it hasn’t cracked the top 1,000. [name_m]Even[/name_m] if it does end up jumping to #34 as it is in [name_f]England[/name_f], I wonder how much that should really inform my feelings towards the name. My husband thinks I shouldn’t let popularity influence the decision. Is this a weird modern prejudice or should I let popularity play a role in what we end up naming daughter #2?
I don’t give it too much weight. I think if you’re worried about [name_f]Imogen[/name_f] in the U.S. You are definately worrying too much about it. I’m turned off from names that I meet often but I don’t give much weight to US rankings. The names I see most often aren’t in the Top ten anyway. Use [name_f]Imogen[/name_f] if you love it !
I have an ‘unusual’ name. In fact I have never met another one in person. I know of a few online but I have never come face to face with a woman with the same name as me. I quite liked that growing up. It did make me feel special. My husband also has a very unusual name and he likes it too.
That being said, popularity matters some to us. We have [name_f]Delilah[/name_f] on our list this go around but are unable to commit because we cannot get over how popular it is. I think in the end we will just pick something we love regardless of how popular it is but we definetly want to stay out of the top 100 if we can.
[name_f]Remember[/name_f] this, a name won’t guarantee uniqueness and a common name won’t mean that your child isn’t special. Think about why you have anxiety over the popularity of a name and what kind of magical properties you maybe giving to a unique name. [name_m]How[/name_m] are the people you admire the most? Chances are the majority of them have coomon names. Children often want to fit in rather than stand out anyway so it’s likely at some point in their life your child would prefer to be an [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] than an [name_f]Imogen[/name_f] anyway. Which isn’t to say that a child would resent their name but their name is just normal to them and not enchanting like it is to us as parents, or most anyone else for that matter.
I have a popular name and it never bothered me. If you want to give your child this feeling of “I’m special”, maybe a very unusual mn? In my case, I have a common name and a wonderful surname which I love.
You should worry about your relatives and friends using [name_f]Imogen[/name_f] as a given name for their own children rather than popularity. You can’t predict popularity, just use [name_f]Imogen[/name_f] if you think it’s the right name for your daughter.
It has as much importance as you want to give to it. If popularity bothers you, I would stay away from names that have been in high positions for decades; as are the classics [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] or [name_f]Grace[/name_f] (both of them two of my favourites) and the names that are right now in the top 10 and really close to it. You won’t avoid the chances that your kid will meet somebody else with the same name as they have, but that’s pretty impossible. You can obsess about a name’s popularity, choose a name outside the top 200 and still find somebody else with that name. These things are hard to predict, but I wouldn’t cross too much names from my list just because of popularity.
And I agree with @anaxandra. I have a VERY common name (a name way more common than [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] ever was) and being in this website made me apreciate it more. I’d rather have my convenctional and popular name than have a more unique name but that it’s totally laughable or just plain ugly.
With that being said. I would pick what I love. [name_f]Imogen[/name_f] has celtic origins, it’s a cool name and it is not really popular. I think, at the end of the day, it’s more important give your kid a name you truly love and that you put your heart in, than choosing a name you love less, but it is less popular.
I think it would depend on what you value in a name, which is informed by your own taste and experience. Some people just value uniqueness, and some parents don’t like popular names because, for example, they have bad experiences with having a popular name (being one of five in their class) and don’t want to saddle their kids with that. (In which case that can be remedied by picking an uncommon middle name.)
But popularity in itself I think shouldn’t be a reason to throw out names you love. Popularity is less dependent on the rankings these days than the percentage of babies being given a popular name, and the percentage of babies being given a popular name in the part of the country where you live. And it’s fickle. Given enough time, there’s going to be a new number 1. If you settle on a name you like less rather than go for the too-popular name you love, you’ll be regretting that you did settle anyway when that name you chose becomes number 1 five years from now (and it’s hard to predict how names will do in the future). If you love a name, you’re going to love that name for a far longer, steadier time.
If you pick a name you love for your daughter and it does end up becoming #1, you’re still going to love it.
My favorites are all popular and climbing, but I would rather name a child something I love and believe to be a good name than regret choosing something else.
I feel like it shouldn’t matter, but for some reason it does to me. I have an extremely popular name and it’s never bothered me, but I do think I would have liked a more unique name. I was always [name_f]Emma[/name_f] H at school, and I preferred to avoid that when we named my daughter. I like lots of popular names, but I wanted to choose something a bit more inventive than [name_f]Ava[/name_f] or [name_m]Jack[/name_m].
Now we have a [name_f]Juno[/name_f], I think it’d be just plain odd to call her siblings names like [name_f]Eliza[/name_f], [name_f]Sophia[/name_f], [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] and [name_m]Jack[/name_m]. I like all those names, but being so popular they just don’t seem to “go” with [name_f]Juno[/name_f]. Had we called our daughter one of those names instead, I’d feel the same way about more “out there” choices like [name_f]Gaia[/name_f], [name_f]Minerva[/name_f] and [name_u]Rex[/name_u] for #2.
Maybe this makes me a bad person, but popularity is always on my radar. I get why some of the top names are just that- but so many other great choices out there too!
[name_f]Imogen[/name_f] I don’t think you have to worry about at all though.
I’m not fond of repetition in most cases. And it just so happens that seeing and hearing the same names repeated over and over and over again becomes quite tiresome, rather quickly. As such, popularity is very much a deal-breaker for me, as I cannot stand the thought of my child being one more [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] to add to the lot or “Oh! Another [name_u]James[/name_u]?” Popularity has a funny way of taking the most distinctive, charming, elegant classics and turning them into tedious, watered-down, standard, and uninspired choices, and I would hate for those same qualities to be attributed to my own child’s name.
Not only that but, a name that is common is a name that I could not possibly associate with my own child, simply because I’m so used to seeing it being worn by everyone else’s children. For example, [name_f]Ava[/name_f] couldn’t be my own daughter, because there’s already an [name_f]Ava[/name_f] down the street who belongs to my neighbour, and another [name_f]Ava[/name_f] whose the child of a cousin of mine, and yet another three Avas who are playmates of my best friend’s daughter. I’m so used to seeing the name being used on so many other children, that - even though I do like the name - I have trouble disconnecting from the other namesakes and focusing it on my daughter.
Therefore, as an extreme, any name in the top 1000 is off limits to me. Some might think I’m being silly and extreme, and perhaps I am! But at the end of the day, if it’s popular, if it’s going to be, or even if it might be in future years, it’s not going on my list.
Having said all that, if you love Imogen, then just use it. Don’t worry about other people’s opinions on popularity. You go with what you want!
I’ve always preferred unusual names over common ones, however when it comes to naming a real child I think I may prefer the more well known names. If my favourite name was no1, I’d be pretty annoyed but it wouldnt stop me using it. I do get bored of hearing some of the same names over and over though. I really like [name_f]Isabella[/name_f] but I’ve heard so many of them lately I wouldn’t use it myself.
Honestly, I don’t care. I’ll pick names I love despite their popularity. My name was never popular growing up (it’s [name_f]Eryn[/name_f], just like [name_f]Erin[/name_f]) but I have seen a handful of little Erins (no Eryns yet, though) running around lately… I think it’s boomed in the last 6 or 7 years a little when people were looking elsewhere… I’m not bothered either way. When someone used the name [name_f]Eryn[/name_f], I knew they meant me, which was either a blessing or a curse, lol. I have been the only [name_f]Eryn[/name_f] all my life in my family and friend circle, so I don’t know what it’d be like if I shared it with a few people.
I use the above as whether or not I’ll pick a name based on popularity, but I have a few favourites that are very popular. [name_f]Imogen[/name_f] is a favourite of mine and I’m English, so it’s sort of common here. I know 0 Imogens though, and the only one I have heard of is a friend of my sister (who is 16-17). No little Imogens. A child is going to be special no matter what they’re named, so I wouldn’t bother about looking elsewhere for a more unusual name just for them to feel “special”, I think we’ll care more about their name than they do anyway. If you pick a somewhat popular name, how about ‘evening’ it out as such with an unusual middle name? That’s how I do it. If it’s a popular FN, it’s a not-so-popular MN.
I used to deny popularity meant anything to me, but it sort of does. It’s not so much the whole “I don’t want my child to be one of a bunch of whatever the name is”, I get bored of hearing the same names over and over. I grew up split time between a big city and w small town, and live in a small town…small towns equals everyone named the same thing. In the city, it was so nice to hear tons of different names (though different doesn’t mean good…I came across a Sparkle…). Around here though, it’s “oh, another [name_f]Braelyn[/name_f]/[name_m]Harlan[/name_m]/[name_f]Sophie[/name_f]/[name_f]Emma[/name_f]/[name_m]Chayse[/name_m]/[name_u]Brayden[/name_u]/[name_m]Zaedan[/name_m]/[name_m]Caiden[/name_m]/etc?”. If I truly loved a name, I wouldn’t focus much on popularity because I’m not going to bend because a few people on this huge planet share the same name. But I do like to look for less popular names in our area.
[name_f]Imogen[/name_f] actually has grown on me! I read a book where she was one of the central characters and that association made me like the name. I can’t speak on popularity charts in different places, but if you guys really love the name, go for it. As I said before, there’s so many people on this earth that of course there are going to be people with the same name. There may be another [name_f]Imogen[/name_f], but she will be YOUR [name_f]Imogen[/name_f] curious: do you pronounce it “ihm-o-gen” or “ihm-O-gene”? I’ve heard both.
Thank you all for your honest thoughts and insights. It’s an interesting conversation. I went back and re-listened to an old Freakonomics episode I remembered (“[name_m]How[/name_m] much does your name really matter” Freakonomics - The hidden side of everything) and it helped me sort through some of this as well.
Popularity isn’t the first thing on my mind when I fall in love with names. . . but it is a serious contention when I “seriously” put names on my list.
I love [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f], it has familial significance to me, but I don’t want my daughter to be [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f] N. in class. My own name was in the mid 400s the year I was born, and I haven’t too many people (particularly my age) with my name and I liked it that way. I feel that is the case with all the -bellas and -aydens this decade. They’re lovely names, but they just feel so ubiquitous. I’d much rather have a 500s -1000 name, or even off the 1000 list altogether.
I think of popularity as part of a balance, along with personal meaning, sound, historical meaning, style, etc. And popularity weighs heavily for me because I have a very common last name. For example, I think [name_f]Emma[/name_f] is a lovely name and it has family significance on my husband’s side of the family, but it’s so popular that we’d never consider it. (Possibly as a middle).
The factors weigh differently for everyone, though I admit I can’t quite understand the mentality of parents who choose Top 10 names — even if you love it, are you really sure you love it more than every other name out there? It seems a little limited or lazy, not that I’d judge anyone individually. They’re lovely names or they wouldn’t be that popular to begin with.
I do think the worst-case scenario for popularity is that a relatively uncommon name skyrockets right when you choose it or slightly after, and then your child ends up in the peak. (We reluctantly crossed [name_f]Hazel[/name_f] off our list for this reason.) The popularity of always-popular names like [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] and [name_u]Michael[/name_u] isn’t as much of a problem, because no one selects them thinking they’ll be unique. My name was in the No. 1 spot about 20 years before I was born — not at all fashionable, but on a practical level it was great growing up, because it’s a familiar name but unusual among my peers.
curious: do you pronounce it “ihm-o-gen” or “ihm-O-gene”? I’ve heard both.