My DH and I had just about settled on a first name ([name]Ruth[/name] after my great-grandmother) for our little girl due in [name]August[/name] until a new contender showed up on the scene earlier this week: [name]Beatrix[/name].
I keep thinking of that name and already call her a “busy bee” whenever she’s in a kicking mood, but am worried it’s due to become popular, especially in our town that I think would trend toward classic but quirky names ([name]Hazel[/name], [name]Olive[/name], [name]Iris[/name] and the like). I keep seeing it in lists of names in this forum, and the Nameberry experts predict it may be due for a surge in 3-5 years. At the same time, it does not crack the top 1000 as listed by the SSA in 2009. We really want to avoid uber-popular names if we can - I’m a [name]Jessica[/name] and sometime wish I had a more unique name, even though I was a “leading edge” [name]Jessica[/name] and was usually the only one in my class with that name.
Maybe I need to get over the popularity aspect and just use a name we really like, as long as we don’t choose one of the top 20 names from the previous years.
I personally dont think you have anything to worry about. I could never imagine [name]Beatrix[/name] cracking the top 100. I dont think it will every make it past the top 200 to be honest. I think it is a great name and I like it better than [name]Ruth[/name]. The “busy bea” nickname makes it super sweet.
I don’t think [name]Beatrix[/name] is popular at all. I don’t know anyone named [name]Beatrix[/name]. It is one of my favorite names, and if my husband liked it I’d use it, but I don’t picture most people I know using it. I think that those of us on Nameberry tend to like a lot of the same names, but they’re not necessarily the ones that get used a lot in general.
Thanks! This is our first and most of our friends here aren’t (yet) in the kids stage so I’ve not really gotten a sense of baby names around here. I wish the hospitals here would publish the names of babies born there! I’ve been trying to figure out how it is that Nameberry is predicting a surge in popularity of [name]Beatrix[/name] in the next 3-5 years when it’s not even in the top 1000 right now. And you are probably right that Nameberry is probably not the best indication of overall popularity of names!
I absolutely love the name [name]Beatrix[/name], and it has some great nickname possibilities. I’ve never met anyone named [name]Beatrix[/name] or [name]Beatrice[/name], so I don’t think you should worry about it becoming overly popular. I agree that I prefer [name]Beatrix[/name] to [name]Ruth[/name], you should go for it!